Phoenix, AZ vs. Denver, CO (living, better, compare, places)

[Denverpro]

I'm not sure if the heat would bother me as much as the style of homes. The whole idea of having a gravel back yard with cinder block walls and live around 1-story tract homes all shaded in some form of the color brown literally makes me want to throw up.

Don't get me wrong Denver's 50-60's construction is like 1 step away from mobile home as far as construction quality, but at least there is some trees (even if they are brown 6 months out of the year).

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by Denverpro

I'm not sure if the heat would bother me as much as the style of homes. The whole idea of having a gravel back yard with cinder block walls and live around 1-story tract homes all shaded in some form of the color brown literally makes me want to throw up.

Don't get me wrong Denver's 50-60's construction is like 1 step away from mobile home as far as construction quality, but at least there is some trees (even if they are brown 6 months out of the year).

Older homes in the city of Phoenix and Tempe have grass yards and trees

[locolife]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

Older homes in the city of Phoenix and Tempe have grass yards and trees

I also find those to be the best parts of the city to live, more interesting, artsy, cultural, local companies, etc..

[deepblue38]

Originally Posted by Denverpro

I'm not sure if the heat would bother me as much as the style of homes. The whole idea of having a gravel back yard with cinder block walls and live around 1-story tract homes all shaded in some form of the color brown literally makes me want to throw up.

Don't get me wrong Denver's 50-60's construction is like 1 step away from mobile home as far as construction quality, but at least there is some trees (even if they are brown 6 months out of the year).

Like you said, the trees and grass are nice in Denver, but brown and dead for 6 months is somewhat depressing. While Phoenix does have a lot of gravel landscaping, to see the trees that are there, have leaves in the middle of winter, bushes blooming, fruit trees, palm trees, green grass in the parks, is always good for a person's mental health.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by Denverpro

I'm not sure if the heat would bother me as much as the style of homes. The whole idea of having a gravel back yard with cinder block walls and live around 1-story tract homes all shaded in some form of the color brown literally makes me want to throw up.

Don't get me wrong Denver's 50-60's construction is like 1 step away from mobile home as far as construction quality, but at least there is some trees (even if they are brown 6 months out of the year).

Well yes, I hate the "desert landscaping" that people utilize here in Phoenix metro. Many people just want something cheap to install and maintain. Gravel fits the bill on both fronts. Toss in a couple of cacti/succulents, and voila... they have landscaping.

These areas can be avoided entirely if one has enough housing budget, and in any event a person can largely do whatever they want on their own property (subject to any HOA rules). We have flood irrigation where we live, so we're not limited by water. Tons of things grow here, and you can have something interesting going on in the yard the entire year, but most people just don't care. Even without huge amounts of water one can have an interesting yard... but it puts a limit on certain things, such as pines which grow quite well here if given enough water. And of course large amounts of grass will create a big water bill.

With that said, once retirement hits the wife and I are out of here. I find the heat really oppressive. First week of April is finished... high temps were in 91-98 range every day. Last summer was awful, and I'm already dreading the next 6-7 months.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

4-5 stories isn’t quite enough to create the density where rail public transportation works. You eventually grow to the point where car-dependent infrastructure fails.

European cities disagree. So do New York and Chicago neighborhoods.

[Denverpro]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

European cities disagree. So do New York and Chicago neighborhoods.

What in the world are you two talking about? You can ride a bike across the whole city of Boulder in 15 minutes. Most Denverites drive to Boulder just to go to the flatirons. Not really anything else other than mountains we don't have in Denver. Not really a place for career advancement either so a terrible choice to live unless you have a permanent job. Get fired from a job in Boulder and you're almost guaranteed to have to move. Get fired in Denver you just snap your fingers and have another job within days.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Denverpro

What in the world are you two talking about? You can ride a bike across the whole city of Boulder in 15 minutes. Most Denverites drive to Boulder just to go to the flatirons. Not really anything else other than mountains we don't have in Denver. Not really a place for career advancement either so a terrible choice to live unless you have a permanent job. Get fired from a job in Boulder and you're almost guaranteed to have to move. Get fired in Denver you just snap your fingers and have another job within days.

Move? You could just drive to Denver....

[49erfan916]

Oh look. Denver is pulling ahead in the poll

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by deepblue38

Like you said, the trees and grass are nice in Denver, but brown and dead for 6 months is somewhat depressing. While Phoenix does have a lot of gravel landscaping, to see the trees that are there, have leaves in the middle of winter, bushes blooming, fruit trees, palm trees, green grass in the parks, is always good for a person's mental health.

We are seriously looking at both Phoenix and Denver for relocation amongst others (Texas and Florida) but....

I like Sacramento(where we currently live) better than both Denver and Phoenix because Sacramento is green in the winter and spring, much greener than either Denver or Phoenix.

A typical street in Sacramento will have one house with all desert flora-cactus and succulents, new smaller citrus trees, a huge old growth orange or lemon tree. While another house, next door, is full of huge 50 foot shade trees-elms and oaks similar to what you find back east, older yards have 100 foot tall California Redwood trees, next to giant palms trees and of course citrus just about everywhere. The soil is so rich in Sacramento a Valley Oak tree just naturally started growing in my front yard, either the wind blew in a seed and it took root, or a squirrel brought in an acorn... one Valley Oak tree can shade your entire house completely.

I never thought about it much but deserts don't have natural grass growing in abundance naturally. I never thought I would miss grass, wild natural grasses, the natural bare land of the plains, midwest, the east, have grass, deserts don't grow grass. Sacramento has natural grass like the grasses of the midwest and southern US, Phoenix has none or next to zero natural grasses; its mostly naturally sand and rock.

The mountains and rock formations of Phoenix are aesthetic, I get it, but it gets old real fast, Those mountains and rock need life.. living things growing on them......not just Saguaros, which get old really fast too.

Phoenix only looks "nice" to me where there is a lot of the natural Sonoran desert flora but even that is so underwhelming so little shade and the trees are really small in comparison to the natural Oaks and big shade trees of Sacramento. Sacramento has naturally rich soil, not sand and rock. It's very easy to grow just about anything in Sacramento, huge Redwoods grow and live decades, huge indigenous Oaks, huge Ponderosa Pine while you can have desert flora as well as cactus, and succulents, huge aloe vera.



I haven't voted because I'm still torn between the two. Phoenix definitely feels more friendly, feels like laid-back friendly California of yesteryear. There is a lot to like about Denver's nearby front range and downtown, but its so smug (Bay Area smug) meets Seattle freeze.

Trivial...
but Phoenix's airport is so much nicer (inside) than Denver's. Denver's airport looks really cool with the "tents" from the outside but very dated (90's dated) in the inside. Phoenix, Sacramento(SMF), SFO, LAX airport layouts so much nicer. Denver's is laid-out like Atlanta's, they suck, trains underground instead above ground, endless long concourses. As big as Dallas's airport is......still better than Denver.