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My mom and I are looking to move by early next year and we're going between Colorado and Utah. We're originally from South Dakota (born and raised -- well at least I am) but we've been living in Arizona for past 7 years now. The heat is too much with my medical issues and we both genuinely miss snow. Also, our Comicon sucks so it's a bonus to know that Utah has such an awesome Comicon. Not dying during outdoor concerts would be great, too.
However, we know very little about Utah. All I keep finding on Utah keeps personally turning me off from it, though I'd really like to live in Utah considering the activities I could get involved in (Comicon, Sundance, etc). I've heard there's a water monopoly, that the air is god awful, that Mormons dominate politics and that you will be reprimanded/judged for swearing or saying "jesus christ", etc etc. I'd like some honest thoughts and opinions (and hopefully some positives?) from people who have actually lived in Utah.
On top of that, I'd really like to narrow down the cities we should be visiting/looking at eventually. My mom has stated that she's looking at living in the Salt Lake City area, but I feel like all we hear about is that area and I'd like to know if that area is for us as well as what other areas might suit us. My mom makes six figures and we're looking for houses only, preferably 2 bed 2 bath at the very least, though it'll probably end up being 3 bed 3 bath or more. I'm pursuing degrees concurrently as a full time student, but I'm looking to work in the IT area in hospitals once I've graduated. We're looking to live close to shopping areas and restaurants instead of rural middle of nowhere. If it's a little rural, that's okay. We just don't want to have to drive an hour to get to grocery stores (at the very least), malls, movie theaters, restaurants, etc (not always counting traffic of course, more so meaning the distance). We'd like to stick to nicer areas. I don't know if it's necessary to add this as I'm not super familiar with Utah, but I'm actually biracial (dominantly black though) and my mom is white. I'd really appreciate sticking to areas that are open-minded in that aspect and possibly have other ethnicities as well? If there's already a mix and racial prejudice isn't a massive issue anywhere in Utah, feel free to ignore. I just wanted to ensure I included everything possible. As long as it's not totally rural with nothing around whatsoever and it's not run down, I'm interested in hearing any city ideas!
If anything I've said about Utah on the negative aspect can be debunked, please let me know. I'm really leaning towards Utah but I want to be fully informed of both the negatives and the positives. I greatly appreciate any help/opinions given! Also, this is my first time posting a thread on here so forgive me if I messed anything up.
EDIT: Forgot to add, I am not a Mormon and both my mom and myself are not religious whatsoever.
ComicCon is awesome. As is Fan-X and a number of other nerd-based conventions.
Sundance is... less awesome... I'm not a movie buff, so this may play into it, but to me Sundance is just people trying to catch a glimpse of some famous person while they pretend like they know film. It's crowded and not my thing.
I don't know about any "water monopoly", but water is pretty scarce. Utah is the 2nd driest state in the nation (after Nevada) and it shows. There are public pools and water parks around, but if water conservation is high on your list of concers, I'd avoid Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, California, West Texas... the water resources in these places are already over taxed.
The air really is God awful. I recent moved from Utah to the heart of American industry and the air quality here is far better than it is in Salt Lake/Provo/Ogden. Salt Lake air is visibly bad in the winter, but the heat of the summer brings some pretty nasty Ozone days too.
Mormons do dominate politics in 90% of the state, but SLC has a female mayor who recently married her wife. She's not my favorite mayor (especially after the homeless shelter fiasco), but that should tell you how different the city is from the rest of the state. SLC is a tiny little island of blue, all surrounded by a sea of deep, Mormon-infused red. And yes, it is just the city proper. Some of the inner-ring burbs are purple, but South Valley is quite red. State politics are basically a burning trainwreck if you're a liberal.
I'd really suggest you stick to Salt Lake City, and my favorite neighborhoods are Sugar House, Liberty Wells, and the Avenues. Based on your post you'd likely love these parts of town and most of Salt Lake City proper. Other parts (suburbs, exurbs) you may find aren't quite to your liking. The negatives about Utah are actually pretty spot on, in my opinion. But Salt Lake City is diverse enough that it isn't as noticeable as it is in the rest of the state.
I'd say Geo is about on target (with the exception of his love of the liberal ways of life found in Detroit, a bastion of democratic success). One of the things I continue to like (and there aren't a lot) about Utah is it's hanging onto a bit of the conservative ways. Far too much liberalism in this country already and it's destroyed more than it' share of areas. But I digress. Indeed the air quality is an area of great weakness here sadly. And quite frankly I only see it getting worse with the continued growth. Traffic is also going to continue to get more towards the proverbial gridlock which it already gets at times of the day (we do have some of the country's worst drivers....nothing to be proud of). I consider the weather in Utah overall quite tolerable in the grand scheme of things. North of here gets a lot more snow, and south is a lot hotter, so it's a good middle ground.
Yeah sure the Mormon influences are fairly obvious. In this area it's ALL about kids (as many as possible is the choice) so trying to have a more adult focused life ain't happening here. Indeed Salt Lake City proper is more of the cosmopolitan experience as it is most diverse. Outside of Salt Lake proper and you'll have burbs or outlying areas of more "white bread" or "Hispanic" influences. To some degree one can pick and choose their preferences. There certainly is no shortage of medical and dental care available (if you have insurance and can afford it). Fun parks for kids, movie theaters galore, concerts, sports you name it......plenty of all that. Rents and overall cost of living is steadily creeping upward as one would expect with the levels of growth Utah has been experiencing. You may well prefer it over Arizona for all the reasons you mentioned so good luck to ya.
IMO, Latinos face more prejudice in SLC as there are so many of them. The African American population is rather small and faces less discrimination as they are seen as less "a threat." Salt lake is where you want to move unless you can afford Park City. Will your mom's job come with her?
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 06-22-2017 at 08:37 AM..
I'd say Geo is about on target (with the exception of his love of the liberal ways of life found in Detroit, a bastion of democratic success). One of the things I continue to like (and there aren't a lot) about Utah is it's hanging onto a bit of the conservative ways. Far too much liberalism in this country already and it's destroyed more than it' share of areas.
Overall Metro Detroit is fairly moderate. You have liberal cities like Detroit, Ann Arbor and Ferndale, but very conservative ones like Northville, Rochester Hills, and Macomb. My current town (Berkley) is about as liberal as Sugar House (leans, but not too far). The issues found in the City of Detroit are almost entirely contained to the city alone, and were caused primarily by a single party (admittedly democrats) which took control of a city embroiled in racial conflict for decades, and obtained every elected office without challenge. This led to severe corruption which came to a head with Kwame - a former mayor now serving 28 years for corruption. These kinds of issues arise due to corruption and uncontested elections, not due to a single ideology. You'd be surprised at how far the City of Detroit has come from its 2013 bankruptcy to where it is today in 2017. This despite continued Democratic leadership but now from every spectrum of "left" imaginable. This helps assure current leadership isn't corrupt (.. or at least as corrupt?). Sorry, that's a really long winded way of saying, "Moderation and options in all things help prevent corruption. There is no silver bullet of perfect ideology."
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah
IMO, Latinos face more prejudice in SLC as there are so many of them. The African American population is rather small and faces less discrimination as they are seen as less "a threat." Salt lake is where you want to move unless you can afford Park City. Will your mom's job come with her?
I would agree with this statement. In SLC a black person is almost kind of a novelty. Very few, if any, people will actually express anything negative toward you, but you may receive some stereotypes like, "Oh, hey, so you're good at basketball then, right?" - The Hispanic population definitely bears the brunt of racism in Utah, even to the point where some will begin considering a neighborhood undesirable if a disproportionately large percentage of its residents are Hispanic.
Just a heads up, Comicon in Utah pales in comparison to Phoenix Comicon. Not even close to as organized or as good.
As for where to live, judging by your moms income plus wanting to work in IT I would suggest any of the following: South Jordan, West Jordan, Daybreak, Sandy, Draper, Lehi or American Fork.
This is gonna be long since I failed to reply until now, so I apologize.
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Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie
Much of what you've said are accurate.
ComicCon is awesome. As is Fan-X and a number of other nerd-based conventions.
Sundance is... less awesome... I'm not a movie buff, so this may play into it, but to me Sundance is just people trying to catch a glimpse of some famous person while they pretend like they know film. It's crowded and not my thing.
I don't know about any "water monopoly", but water is pretty scarce. Utah is the 2nd driest state in the nation (after Nevada) and it shows. There are public pools and water parks around, but if water conservation is high on your list of concers, I'd avoid Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, California, West Texas... the water resources in these places are already over taxed.
The air really is God awful. I recent moved from Utah to the heart of American industry and the air quality here is far better than it is in Salt Lake/Provo/Ogden. Salt Lake air is visibly bad in the winter, but the heat of the summer brings some pretty nasty Ozone days too.
Mormons do dominate politics in 90% of the state, but SLC has a female mayor who recently married her wife. She's not my favorite mayor (especially after the homeless shelter fiasco), but that should tell you how different the city is from the rest of the state. SLC is a tiny little island of blue, all surrounded by a sea of deep, Mormon-infused red. And yes, it is just the city proper. Some of the inner-ring burbs are purple, but South Valley is quite red. State politics are basically a burning trainwreck if you're a liberal.
I'd really suggest you stick to Salt Lake City, and my favorite neighborhoods are Sugar House, Liberty Wells, and the Avenues. Based on your post you'd likely love these parts of town and most of Salt Lake City proper. Other parts (suburbs, exurbs) you may find aren't quite to your liking. The negatives about Utah are actually pretty spot on, in my opinion. But Salt Lake City is diverse enough that it isn't as noticeable as it is in the rest of the state.
I didn't even know they had something like Phoenix Comicon's Fanfest! This past Fan-X lineup is amazing too and it seems to be RIGHT around my birthday! Perfect!!! As for Sundance, I totally get what you mean. While I love the prospects of possibly meeting celebrities, I have anxiety and I generally keep to myself and I've legitimately ran into a celebrity accidentally before (Chloe Grace Moretz at Halloween Horror Nights in California) and didn't ask her for a picture because I felt bad about the prospect of bothering her while she was just trying to enjoy herself. I'm more interested in seeing films (especially before they hit theaters) as I'm a HUGE film buff. I have a massive movie/TV collection. I also have issues getting involved in activities here because it's too hot 90% of the time. My friend I've known for years that lives in Pennsylvania actually travels and volunteers at Sundance every year so it would be great to be able to see her every year and possibly volunteer as well. Glad to hear about the water, I'm not really knowledgeable on what it's like but if you say it's because it's dry then I'm sure Arizona's not cheap either. Thank you for all of this info, you really hit my concerns and you've been awesome.
When we come visit (which I hope will happen during Salt Lake Comicon), I will definitely check out the areas you listed. Everything you've said has put me back onto Utah and helped me out a lot, I'm just hoping the visit goes over well and it's what we're looking for!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcisive
Indeed the air quality is an area of great weakness here sadly. And quite frankly I only see it getting worse with the continued growth. Traffic is also going to continue to get more towards the proverbial gridlock which it already gets at times of the day (we do have some of the country's worst drivers....nothing to be proud of). I consider the weather in Utah overall quite tolerable in the grand scheme of things. North of here gets a lot more snow, and south is a lot hotter, so it's a good middle ground.
Yeah sure the Mormon influences are fairly obvious. In this area it's ALL about kids (as many as possible is the choice) so trying to have a more adult focused life ain't happening here. Indeed Salt Lake City proper is more of the cosmopolitan experience as it is most diverse. Outside of Salt Lake proper and you'll have burbs or outlying areas of more "white bread" or "Hispanic" influences. To some degree one can pick and choose their preferences. There certainly is no shortage of medical and dental care available (if you have insurance and can afford it). Fun parks for kids, movie theaters galore, concerts, sports you name it......plenty of all that. Rents and overall cost of living is steadily creeping upward as one would expect with the levels of growth Utah has been experiencing. You may well prefer it over Arizona for all the reasons you mentioned so good luck to ya.
Traffic is alright, Phoenix traffic is god awful. I don't know how many times lanes are blocked on the interstate or closed off entirely thanks to our moronic drivers causing an accident. We now have these things called safety corridors (which I'm absolutely not opposed to) due to how many accidents occur. People seriously can't stay in their actual lanes here, it's so frustrating. I'll do anything to get out of here at this point, honestly. I'll take anything over our current temps here -- 118 degrees and the lowest it gets at night/morning is 88 degrees. It's ridiculous and it's hard for the AC to keep up during the day. And thank you for the good luck! I really hope it's what I'm looking for!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah
IMO, Latinos face more prejudice in SLC as there are so many of them. The African American population is rather small and faces less discrimination as they are seen as less "a threat." Salt lake is where you want to move unless you can afford Park City. Will your mom's job come with her?
Okay, that's extremely reassuring. I mean of course that sucks for Latinos but I'm just grateful that racism towards black people isn't a big thing in Utah. I dealt with it a lot growing up in South Dakota and as with Utah, Arizona is more racist towards Latinos than anyone else. I'm going to look into Park City. I don't know if we'll be able to afford it on just my mom's income, but I'm certain that it's something we for sure could afford once I graduate and get a job myself. But I don't know what the house buying market is like, there's a HUGE chance my mom could afford Park City on her own as she's really good with her money and she's just about to sell her house and make a pretty good amount off of it. My mom's job will definitely come with her! She works remotely from home and only has to fly out to Pennsylvania every few months or so, so it doesn't matter where she lives. Thank you for asking and thanks for giving me a good idea about the racial part!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie
I would agree with this statement. In SLC a black person is almost kind of a novelty. Very few, if any, people will actually express anything negative toward you, but you may receive some stereotypes like, "Oh, hey, so you're good at basketball then, right?" - The Hispanic population definitely bears the brunt of racism in Utah, even to the point where some will begin considering a neighborhood undesirable if a disproportionately large percentage of its residents are Hispanic.
VERY glad to hear this. I'm not super sensitive about those sort of comments. Of course if someone mentions watermelon I'll say I absolutely hate it and if someone mentions swimming I can say I'm like a fish when it comes to swimming. Easy. I was more so worried about nasty names like calling black people monkeys. I don't mind dumb comments like that. Super easy to brush off and I won't be bothered. As I said up above, it's the same here in Arizona. Latinos are really the main (and usually only) ones racially profiled here. I mean, look at Arpaio. If Utah and Arizona are similar but not in the aspect of weather (god I hate the summer temps) then I'm happy!
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Originally Posted by Hrothgar
Just a heads up, Comicon in Utah pales in comparison to Phoenix Comicon. Not even close to as organized or as good.
As for where to live, judging by your moms income plus wanting to work in IT I would suggest any of the following: South Jordan, West Jordan, Daybreak, Sandy, Draper, Lehi or American Fork.
I'd beg to differ. We don't get tons of big names and this past Comicon alone we had a lot of the bigger names cancel due to sudden scheduling conflicts. SLC got Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, and Hayley Atwell all in the same year (plus numerous other names). I die inside thinking about it and how I could've gone. We have consistently bad organization and lines. Not only did tons of people cancel, but they schedule photo ops so poorly that people were in line for I believe 6 hours (from both photo op times he had that day) just to meet Dick Van Dyke because they oversold. They banned costume props last minute without working things out logistically so people were in line for hours once they implemented the very shoddy "security screenings" with only 2 or 3 people doing them while there were thousands in line. Nobody knew where the line began and ended and even cops and workers couldn't tell us. They even did a badge preorder and shipped out system this year if you wanted to help "ease" lines and it made no difference this year. To make matters worse, they do it during Memorial Day weekend so not only is it probably hard to secure actors and the like anyway, but on top of that it's god awfully hot. This makes the 2-4 hour lines unbearable. I feel bad for the people who cosplay every year. Tons of people are done after the mess this year and I'm one of them. Even if I moved to Colorado over Utah (which I'm feeling is unlikely unless the visit suddenly changes my mind), I would go to Salt Lake Comicon over Phoenix Comicon absolutely any day. I'm already having flashbacks to all the issues they've had the past 2 years, yikes. Sorry I rambled, I just hate how disorganized they are. We actually had a photo op with Anthony Michael Hall and they didn't update their (supposed to be) constantly updated changes page with the fact that his flight got delayed I guess and he wasn't going to be in until 4 pm. That was at 10:30 in the morning. We didn't even find out until we got in and then a photo op person told us. They're a mess. And that wasn't the only person whose flight apparently got delayed or something but Anthony Michael Hall is the only one they didn't put on any of their pages that his photo op was delayed. UGH. Okay, rant over lol.
Thank you so much!! I'll look into all of the places you listed. You guys are super helpful in here. I'm glad I went with posting here rather than reddit, especially since the Utah reddit is so dead. Thank you again.
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