Denver vs. Phoenix? (Aurora: price, to move, things to do)

[patrickfatrick]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

Why do artists these days have to choose such retarded colors for their artwork? That bear might actually be kind of cool, if it was a painted a decent color.

I love art. But the money being spent on public art now, seems like a total waste.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by maximusmgm

They do have the moving walkways which helps, but at the end of the main portion of the concourse (around gate 60) it branches and from then on its just walking.

Personally, I like the long walk to baggage claim after sitting still for hours on a plane

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

And if you want to talking about walking, you should be talking about the old Stapleton. In that airport you could do same real walking, and there was no trains, to help you.

Looking at the map of old Stapleton reminds me just how much scrambling and creative thinking had gone in to sustaining that place. It is very obvious now that it was not going to be able to efficiently carry the city into the future.

It is way off topic for a Phoenix vs. Denver thread, but I think Denver would be a different city had we not built DIA.

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by Prodigal Native

Looking at the map of old Stapleton reminds me just how much scrambling and creative thinking had gone in to sustaining that place. It is very obvious now that it was not going to be able to efficiently carry the city into the future.

It is way off topic for a Phoenix vs. Denver thread, but I think Denver would be a different city had we not built DIA.

I agree with you ProdigalNative. No way Denver would be the city it is today without that airport.

[maximusmgm]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

It's the largest Airport in the world. You are not going to fit an Airport that size five miles from Downtown, or not need a little bit of walking to reach the gates. Some other US airports are located almost as far from Downtown. Many foreign airports are located even farther from the city center.

If it really bothers you, you should probably be living in Salt Lake City. But you would probably still have to fly through Denver to get anywhere.

And if you want to talking about walking, you should be talking about the old Stapleton. In that airport you could do same real walking, and there was no trains, to help you.

Maybe instead of gripe I should have used something like in an ideal world there would be less walking to/from the gate. I do love walking, just not with carry on bags and such. I only fly maybe once or twice a year so its not a big deal.

[Zeta09]

C'mon guys we're talkin' about Denver and Phoenix. Can't change the airport and besides if your arriving from someplace else all you want to do is get your stuff and leave. I never cared about the decor just the fact that I landed was good.....decor and architecture....Who knew...

Originally Posted by zenkonami

It's a city for people that like to work for Honeywell or Discover Card, watch movies at AMC and spend their weekends at "Town Centers" (outdoor malls.) .

Yeah. That's Phoenix (Really Chandler, Scottsdale, Mesa, Queen Creek). Culture-less, homogenous, and retail. Home of Soccer Moms, Golf guys and wanna be MILFs/Cougars. Many partake in Sporting events, and our main access to water is the Salt River. Gotta love it.

I can't name any cuisine that came from Phoenix (does Filiberto's count?), and art? I couldn't point to a single work of public art, and can only attest to Phoenix's fortune in (sort of) harboring Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri, though their influence is minimal in that city

This is a bit off IMHO. There are a number of superb Mexican restaurants (Los Dos Molinos, Garcia's on Central, Ritos) that would be hard to replicate somewhere else. Art? Since we have historically voted for Republican Legislatures they have never looked at Art as a viable area to fund. They have rather put money into attracting Super Bowls and building a border fence with cameras. You would have to have a city or State with a commitment to art encompassing their image as a whole. It's people that continue to vote the same way here so perhaps that is the reason it's so culture-less and bland no?

Yes Phoenicians are largely transplants. I'm a native and it would take me a while to find another. Perhaps those transplants were mundane already, had broken dreams, and tried all their adventures somewhere else. Don't know. Any move will allow one to create a new narrative and rep so in many of my encounters that is why they come..oh and cheaper property taxes...

Tempe is a College town. It may have the largest concentration of diversity as well as little known restaurants and stores catering to those international students.

Originally Posted by Zenkonami

It's a city for people that like to work for Honeywell or Discover Card, watch movies at AMC and spend their weekends at "Town Centers" (outdoor malls.)

Yeah that's not inaccurate. But what would you have us do in 115 degree heat? If you're not in the pool here you gonna go to someplace inside. I'm not saying it's great but it is logical. Besides. What would Arizona be without strip malls ad nauseum? A desert....

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by Zeta09

C'mon guys we're talkin' about Denver and Phoenix. Can't change the airport and besides if your arriving from someplace else all you want to do is get your stuff and leave. I never cared about the decor just the fact that I landed was good.....decor and architecture....Who knew...

The art makes it fun. Well, as fun as an airport can be. I like wondering if I am on the right train to see the spinning propellers, or will I get to see the pick-axes? The airplanes that guide me as I leave the train and head towards baggage claim always make me smile...

Granted, none of this is as important as the safe landing, but there's more to life than utilitarian taupe hallways and flickering fluorescent lights.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by maximusmgm

Maybe instead of gripe I should have used something like in an ideal world there would be less walking to/from the gate. I do love walking, just not with carry on bags and such. I only fly maybe once or twice a year so its not a big deal.

I really don't find the walks at DIA to be bad at all. But all the times I've used DIA my flights were from gates on Concourse C right next to the subway. So I had no problems with it.

I would agree though that they do need to make the walks shorter. I'd propose that they need a second loop train. It could leave from the main terminal same place the currents trains leave from. Then run to the east ends of Concourses A, B, C, then loop over to the West ends of C, B, A, and back to the return to the terminal. That would give travelers a choice of three different trains to take. East, west or center gates.

More important it would offer redundancy. If a train broke down 2/3 of the system would still be able to function.

[reddesertfox]

If you have travelled the World over sir,you may feel as I do...in that Maricopa County is fine place to be born and live in,my opinion.
I feel that all shrubs,grass and swimming pools should be banned.Only natural desert fauna...then the crowds would leave.

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by josher_m

I didn't say ALL the districts were bad, just that there were limited good ones and those are the ones you referenced. For an area of this size, that's not a good ratio, imo. Those schools do have great reps and great ratings but it's certainly not widespread to accomodate most of the metro area. That's all I'm saying.

For us, that means we'll be moving further away from our work so our kids can go to a better school. That's a choice we're willing to make. My point was that in comparison to Phoenix--or other areas perhaps--there were less choices for great schools, depending where you live. In AZ, we at least had one or 2 good/great schools in each district so they weren't all in one or 2 districts as it seems to be here.

Also, for the original poster, one downside I've seen so far is there are definitely less jobs here and the pay is less. One example of that is to use the major job search engines like Monster.com or careerbuilder. You could do a search for specific jobs in Denver for the last 7 days and only get 3 or 4pages of listings. We would get 20 pages or so listings in the Phoenix area. Big difference. So, if you're considering moving w/o a job keep that in mind. Phoenix was definitely a hot spot for jobs so that was a plus. From what I've seen here, the pay is a little lower but certainly liveable especially since housing costs are a little less as well. And you'll save money on gas since you'll actually be driving and not idling in traffic. lol We went from filling up our car 2.5 times a week to less than once a week! Course, my commute time mileage wise is also less but even if it weren't I think that would still be better from what we've seen.

Sherrie

This is the first time I've heard anyone say that the pay in Denver was lower than in Phoenix! I am used to people saying that Phoenix, for a city its size, pays low.