10 Reasons Not To Move To Tucson (Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley: high school, taxes, to live in)

[SocialTatts]

By nuetral I mean that I understand why someone would want to move here. It is just like any good place that was invaded and exploited. Look at Costa Rica! It is an awesome country that many Americans are now retiring to. The locals hate Americans now. They bring in thier big money and rudeness. I have been to 40 countries and every state except Alaska. I have seen the same things in every local. People that try to feed off the rich and then the locals that love thier home and hate the invasion. I loved the old west feeling that Tucson had. It is now just as yankee as anywhere else with liberal attitudes. i miss that old west atmosphere. If you are thinking about The Phoenix Metro it is LA in Arizona. Guess i will move back east? I hear they have a ton of openings! I am sure I can get a good deal on a house since everyone moves out and heads to AZ and Florida.

[Daniel_T]

Tucson is an urban craphole. The city is in desperate need of repair. For a town this size, it shouldn't be as nasty as it is. The people have really let the city go.

[db025]

I keep hearing people whine about "teachers" salary. I started working for United Airlines as a mechanic in July 1995 at $13.07 per hour. I got a dime more for working nights. At the time I had been working as an aircraft mechanic for almost 30 years. That $13 and change per hour equated to less that $27,400 per year. Not a bad wage in maybe Little Rock, but I was working at SFO. There is NOTHING affordable in that neighbor hood! The first place I rented had bullet holes in the walls when I came home one morning. I'd been there less than a month, and had to sue the realtor to break the lease. Naturally he never said anything about the drugs and weekly gun fights.

For those reading this thinking " .. dumb a$$ raggy .." consider this:
- the guy flying the plane, the ATP, is required to have 1,500 hours training.
- your basic BS degree requires 127 college credit, about 1,680 hours of training.
- the guy with the rag in his pocket, the aircraft mechanic, has an option:
- he can have 4,800 hours OJT working on airframe and power plants (engines) or
- he can go to a FAA APPROVED vocational school or study the same FAA APPROVED courses at the college of his choice.
The complete course of study for A(irframe) & P(ower plant) licenses requires 1,900 hours and covers 43 subject areas. Once this is completed he can go to the local FAA office and begin taking the battery of nine tests. First is the General written. When the results come back, if he has passed he can make an appointment to take the General practical and oral. Next he can take the written Airframe and/or Power plant written. He must take both if he wants to work on the engines AND the rest of the aircraft. When he receives the results for these written tests he can make appointments for the practical and oral for each. He must pass all nine tests to be issued a real live license from the Federal Government - the only mechanical business to hold such a license.

He must pay to take each written, and can retake the test three times if he fails. He must pay for the oral and each practical, and can redo three times. He also must arrange for an aircraft to preform his practical tests on, and pay for the use of the aircraft. Then he must lay out $4,000 to $5,000 for his own basic tools if wants to get a job.

Like the teacher, every time he moves he will start at the bottom of the payroll. Unlike the teacher, unless he goes to work for a major airline right out of school or long term contractor (both very rare) he will may end up working for 15-20 different small companies in as many years. Why does he do it? Because there ain't nothin like playin' airplanes for a livin'. Especially if you get to fly post maintenance test flights. If they fed me, clothed me, and gave me a place to flop I'd do it again for another 44 years.

[JoeWLaw]

Its awful hot (think Minnesota in reverse) and there are very few real neighborhoods where people actually talk. It takes an hour to cross town in traffic and you won't be able to enjoy outside much from May thru September. Its beautiful in Winter...

[Pa715]

how long have you lived in Marana? we are looking at moving this summer to tucson area. I would like to know more about the area as far as bugs and snakes things like that,if you could halp that would be great.Thanks

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by Pa715

how long have you lived in Marana? we are looking at moving this summer to tucson area. I would like to know more about the area as far as bugs and snakes things like that,if you could halp that would be great.Thanks

as long as you're not sticking your hand under rocks, etc, desert animals should not be a issue. contact toen of Marana for a moving pack, tells you all about the areas, wildlife, temps, etc, etc. if you want to be where stuff is booming, NW side of town is where to be.

good luck.

[Arizona?]

Originally Posted by odinloki1

I moved to Arizona as a for a teaching job because the economy in MI was killed by greedy cowardly companies whose profits weren't big enough. Before I list my reasons I will state that for a lot of people here this is ideal and thats great but its not for me and I just need to vent.

1. The housing costs: As a teacher housing in your district (unless its poor and crime ridden) is unaffordable, at least in other states if you work hard and put in time (do extracurriculars and such) you get paid for your time. Here if you put in 200 extra hours on a project you get maybe 500 bucks. I didn't go into teaching for the money but I did want to be able to get by and you can't unless you don't eat or don't have health insurance. I just left teaching for the healthcare field (and I was a good teacher and my kids had good test scores and I never missed a day in 2 years) and I don't regret leaving teaching here, but I know if I was somewhere where the culture and policy made me feel worthwhile I would have stayed.

2. The long drives: this goes to finding a decent apartment because I can't afford a house and there's no safe apartments (no major crimes) nearby, the public transportation doesn't go to my school because its on the edge of the urban sprawl.

3. The lack of community: everyone moves in and out so fast that you don't get to know your neighbors. I don't know any of my neighbors and the last time I tried introducing myself just to be friendly, I was given the cold shoulder and a look like I had 3 heads. I've been here 2 years and know none of my neighbors. Its hard living anywhere when everyone is so closed off you can't make friends.

4. The dry overpowering heat: You have to take a big bottle of water everywhere it seems especially because tap water has a weird taste. Skin cancer (yeah I know everyone loves the sunshine, but I like my skin better). You really can't go out and do anything outside from May-October because of the heat and oppressing sunshine. I like to hike and backpack but you can't for the majority of the year because you can't carry enough water. At least back in the midwest I could go outside for the majority of the year and all I need is a light coat here you can't go out because you can't carry enough stuff to survive.

5. Pollution: long commutes, no trees to eat up the smog LA, here we come!!

6. No trees. THere really aren't trees here, they're bushes. Trees are taller than houses and provide shade.

7. No grass, I understand why you don't have it, but there are days where I enjoyed laying outside and having a nap on a warm 75 degree day. Its kinda hard to lay on rocks and dirt. Especially when you have to worry about rocks and scorpions.

I can go on but obviously you get the idea, for me this is hell on earth. I wil say that I have known some good people and at least the public radio stations are good and the sushi restaurants are also good, but there's not much else that I can say is great. I will leave at first opportunity but unfortunately the economy is not allowing me to. For all of you that do love it here thats great and I'm glad you have a situation that you enjoy.

Thank-you for your detailed input. I am trying to decide where I want to be next & Tucson is one possibility. Too many choices........how do you pick just one!

[mquintana]

i lived in Tucson for a little while and being a Florida native, I really enjoyed living out there in the big AZ. I liked Tucson because it was big enough to have everything you need but not too big. The only thing that threw me for a loop was the turn lights. Here in Fl and everywhere else the turn lane turns first and then the on going traffic goes, in Tucson it's ass backwards and the on going traffic turns first then the people who are turning go....so weird!

[Arizona?]

Originally Posted by mquintana

i lived in Tucson for a little while and being a Florida native, I really enjoyed living out there in the big AZ. I liked Tucson because it was big enough to have everything you need but not too big. The only thing that threw me for a loop was the turn lights. Here in Fl and everywhere else the turn lane turns first and then the on going traffic goes, in Tucson it's ass backwards and the on going traffic turns first then the people who are turning go....so weird!

It`s a somewhat minor thing, but I think the left turn signals in Tucson are highly functional...I`ve never been anywhere else where the turn comes after traffic going straight ahead, but I liked that. I`ve been everywhere from places like DC to Seattle & I wish they`d all follow Tucson`s example on that.

[challenger604]

The "backward" way also occurs in parts of downtown Chicago. I think it's designed that way to protect pedestrians in the crossings.