Don't Believe the Hype : Tucson, Arizona (Phoenix, South Tucson: relocating, budget, travel)

[azloafer]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth726

My boyfriend's job is relocating him to Tucson in November. I really don't know much about the area and am having a hard time deciding whether or not I should join him. I am 26, currently living in Buffalo, NY, so this would be a giant culture shock for both of us. I would be leaving a good job and a city with lots to do. Need some honest opinions on what it is like to live in Tucson. Thanks.

The best advice that I can give is that you should not give up your job and living arrangements without spending a little time in Tucson first. Take a week or two as a vacation first. Tucson is not at all like NY. Best of luck.

[observe]

It seems to me like most of the supports of Tucson are people that don't actually live here. Almost all of the people I know that live here or have lived here want out, or at least agree that Tucson's significantly worse than most of the rest of the country. Granted, it's (marginally) better than your El Pasos and Fresnos and Alberquerques, but that's kind of like saying it's the least dangerous serial killer.

Please do not group Albuquerque together with El Paso & Fresno.
You may be talking about Albuquerque 10 years ago, however Albuquerque has grown up and drastically changed over the last 10 years.
Albuquerque is turning into a very nice city, with the freeways getting landscaped, Downtown re-developement and a nice high tech job market just to name a few.

[TucsonDesertRat]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth726

My boyfriend's job is relocating him to Tucson in November. I really don't know much about the area and am having a hard time deciding whether or not I should join him. I am 26, currently living in Buffalo, NY, so this would be a giant culture shock for both of us. I would be leaving a good job and a city with lots to do. Need some honest opinions on what it is like to live in Tucson. Thanks.

If you are worried about having what to do and you like the nightlife ... *don't* come to Tucson. There is not a lot to do here if you are a big city type and like lots to do late at night.

There are the 6th Street bars down by UfoA, there's a hand full of clubs downtown on Congress (a long drive if you live anywhere safe ) and there is a spattering of clubs around town ... biker bars dance clubs and gentleman’s clubs.

I mostly hang out in the desert for fun, but you gotta like that sort of thing and, unless it is a park with a high volume of visitors, I would not go out in the desert unarmed as it has gotten really weird out there over the past five/ten years or so ...

The only Yanks I know who like it here are retirees who spend the balance of their time either on the golf course, in the hospital, or at home with their oxygen tanks - lol.

Honestly though. Take what you hear about crime here seriously, but with a grain of salt as well. YES there is WAY too much crime here but a large portion of it is drug user on drug user crime. Sure there are a lot of regular citizens that get caught in the cross fire so to speak, but it is mostly property crimes, grand heft auto, mail theft, and identity theft.

One of my 'hobbies' is listening to the Police scanner and I can tell you with out a doubt that is the best way to check the pulse on a towns crime stats.

I live on the East side of mid town and gun fire is an almost DAILY occurrence. Friday and Saturday nights are the worst and I routinely hear gun battles in the distance and then listen to the police response on my scanner.

I don’t think I had lived in this area more than a few days till the first time a meth head knocked on my door begging for money. It is AMAZING how much violence goes on that never makes the 6 o'clock news in this town!

All that being said, this *is* an open carry state so I just carry a firearm and I have yet to be bothered.

But seriously, you probably don't have anything to worry about. Just don’t hang out around Grant and Alvernon at night (dood are you nuts? ), stay out of South Tucson, and try and not look like you have anything worth stealing and you should make out all right …

Oh yea, I forgot, you can just about forget about decent paying jobs ... they are few and far between. Other than the service industries and retail sales, if you are not ex-military and/or don't have a decent govt security clearance then you are stuck working in a call center. The only obvious choice is to be a professional with your own practice of some sort or to own your own business ... or unless you are a nurse ... plenty of snow birds with one foot in the grave to go round out here ...

As the saying goes, if you wanna live in Tucson you have to be willing to take half your pay in sunshine ...

[TucsonDesertRat]

Originally Posted by Quag7

... There is crime in Tucson but it is mostly drug and gang related. Avoid gangs and drugs and you'll probably never encounter violence. There are gangs, there are drugs. Most of those are in certain parts of town. Avoid those parts if you can. ...

That is easier said than done if you can not afford the outrageous prices that houses are going for.

I've got a better than average paying gig (albeit I work from home for a company based in Texas) and my wife works for TUSD while she is finishing her degree and we can't even come close to being able to afford to live in a nice area of town.

My sister just bought a decent house on the East side and it cost her $450K. I'm not willing to go into hock for the rest of my life just to live on the nice side of town ...

Of course, I live here because I love the desert and the violence doesn't rattle me ... if it rattles somone then they should not live here.

[cloud dweller]

Attention,
All non criminals.Get together and chase the bad guys out,bikers,thugs,all gangs all colors.Organize and arm yourselves.This is easily done.
Punks travel in groups,have you noticed? They fear the MAN.

[dtill96]

Actually Tucson is a great place to live. All across the nation housing prices are dropping, however in Tucson, with some small exceptions, Tucson housing prices are holding steady. Also Tucson is rapidly growing, not only on the north and northwest side. Passages of Tucson, a mega mall scheduled to start construction within the year is designed to draw in customer's in a 600 hundred mile radius. check out Passages of Tucson. Crime statistics don't always tell the true story either. I've lived in the southeast side of tucson for over 5 years and I haven't experienced any crime.

[TucsonDesertRat]

Actually, both my neighbor and I pretty much have done just that in our neighborhood. If we see anyone loitering around that we do not know we go and find out where they belong and if they don't belong in our neighborhood we put the fear of Sam Colt in 'em ...

My neighbor even goes as far as camping out on his roof with a gun and a scope and if he spots anything suspicious he calls it in. Thanks to him the cops *finally* stopped the girls from hooking down at the corner Stop and Rob.

Welcome to the Wild Wild West - lol

[azg20p11]

i have lived here for 22 years, i have seen alot of changes, some bad, but most good. all i have to say is that tucson is a great place! if there is to much crime here for you, maybee you should stop hanging out with your meth head friends. an upstanding citizen can live a healthy life here without ever once dealing with crime, drugs, or gangs. that cant be said about many places.

and if your worried about illegals taking the job that you cant find, i urge you to get out of the landscapping field. its hot anyways... what are you thinking?

i can walk anywhere around my neighborhood, without ever fearing anything more than a coyote.

yes, we have a couple ghettos/barrios, but they are on one side of town, it costs 1/2 peso to rent for a month, and there is nothing you would ever need in that area. fresh tamales?

[ohnonothimagain]

Oh my gosh-I lived in Tucson for over 10 years, and while it's still my favorite city to live in(weather-mountains-scenery) it's a difficult city to make a living. For example-A lot of jobs REQUIRE people to be bi-lingual to get a job; most employers think that $ 7.00-9.00 an hour is a livable wage; rentals and homes are getting way too expensive; and yet like many I tried hard to make a go of it there. There's so many jobs taken over by illegals that the rest of the workforce has a hard time finding decent paying jobs in Tucson. All that said-I still love it there-there's few things on earth as pretty to me as a Tucson sunset. If I were rich I'd move back there. There are a lot of nice areas-but the same as anywhere else there's bad areas too. Tucson has gotten so big so fast it can't get out of its own way. Some growth is good-too much unbridled growth isn't.

[mjwyogini]

I moved to Tucson a month ago. I came from Massachusetts, before that, North Carolina, and before that Arizona for 6 years. I lived then in Phoenix for one year and in Flagstaff for 5.
I LOVE Tucson. I read a lot of these posts here on this website before I moved, and what I find is that those who dis Tucson do NOT know what they are talking about. AT ALL. I find NOTHING of the negativity that some people have posted about Tucson. I work in the Southside, and I have had NO TROUBLE whatsoever. I found 2 jobs after one week of living here, and I was able to choose.
What I think about when people write or say negative things about an area is this: most people are working off of their own fears and prejudices; they have never taken the time to get to know the people they are talking down; or they have listened to others' fears and racist attitudes, so that they never venture into an "area" that is "suppose" to be "bad."
I find it SO true that a person really has to find out for themselves about an area, because so many people are subject to their own perspective on things; and much of that perspective is skewed by how they see the world, which is mostly how THEY Are as people, not how the world really is.
I hear that there is a problem with Meth. I see some down and out people. There are down and out people everywhere, and in the Northeast and even in Durham, North Carolina..it is MUCH worse.
Also, the complaining about the traffic...this is NOTHING. I find it serene compared to northeastern cities and even North Carolina. The drivers there are much RUDER also. I find the drivers here almost polite in comparison. So you see, it all has to do with HOW YOU SEE THINGS, and WHAT YOUR EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN!

So, If anyone of you is comtemplating a move, don't listen to all the complaining negative people. Find out for yourself. Don't even listen to me! You will see that this place has wonderful things happening, and it is beautiful; it all depends on what kind of person YOU are. Take care, many blessings, and happy exploring!