Relocating, need advice!!! (Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert: house, neighborhood, good schools)

[Mtfuntimes]

Hi all,

We want to move to the Pheonix area so my other half can go to UTI. We're looking for a small town (approximately or less than 10,000) were we can feel safe and that has good schools. A place where I can leave my doors unlocked at night or when I leave the house and a school with a good special education program. Also, it needs to be within a short commuting distance.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks all!

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by Mtfuntimes

Hi all,

We want to move to the Pheonix area so my other half can go to UTI. We're looking for a small town (approximately or less than 10,000) were we can feel safe and that has good schools. A place where I can leave my doors unlocked at night or when I leave the house and a school with a good special education program. Also, it needs to be within a short commuting distance.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks all!

That particular combination doesn't exist within a reasonable commute of UTI. The Phoenix metro area is urban and has a population of over 4 million. I can't imagine ever leaving my doors or windows unlocked at night, and I live in a very nice neighborhood.

There are plenty of great areas near UTI that are safe and have good schools. But nothing with the population you're looking for, with a short commute.

[Jkgourmet]

Forgive me, but leaving your front doors unlocked isn't REALLY safe anywhere.

And with a special needs child in the home, it's downright irresponsible.

There are a lot of areas to live that are safe near UTI - and I commend you for going out of your comfort zone to support your husband's goals. But - you need to be realistic, too.

[Finger Laker]

exactly - i can't speak to any of your other requirements, but tonopah seems to be the closest thing that is remotely close (small town)

or you could choose some of those more isolated developments that feel like their own town, even if they are part of another town (like tartesso)

can't speak to their quality, schools, etc - but could be a starting point

however, when looking at the requirements I would sacrifice size for a little city sense and make the best out of suburban living while he's going to school

[Mtfuntimes]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

Forgive me, but leaving your front doors unlocked isn't REALLY safe anywhere.

And with a special needs child in the home, it's downright irresponsible.

There are a lot of areas to live that are safe near UTI - and I commend you for going out of your comfort zone to support your husband's goals. But - you need to be realistic, too.

Yes honey there are places where you can still leave your doors unlocked. I live in a town with about 3300 people. I don't lock my doors. I leave the keys in my car at home and the store. Its safe to leave your kid in the car while you run into the store. No one is worried about their child being kidnapped. Everyone knows everyone or you know their spouse, sibling, child, parent, etc. Its a safe community. Hell we didn't even close the doors last night.

As far as me being irresponsible for not locking my doors cuz I have a special needs child.... You have another thing coming! My son is 10 and high functioning. He doesn't go outside at night and if he did I wouldn't worry. He's been allowed to play outside till 11pm or later if I'm still awake. When he goes out to play I don't worry unless I haven't heard from him in 2-3 hours.

I don't know if you have never been blessed with having a special needs child or working with the special needs people but they're as individual as you and I are. There are no norms.

Thank you for the kudos. I do believe I am being realistic. It is everyones right to be safe in their homes (doors unlocked) and in their community. I'm sorry you have had to live in an area that has made you paranoid and affraid of your neighbors.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by Mtfuntimes

Yes honey there are places where you can still leave your doors unlocked. I live in a town with about 3300 people. I don't lock my doors. I leave the keys in my car at home and the store. Its safe to leave your kid in the car while you run into the store. No one is worried about their child being kidnapped. Everyone knows everyone or you know their spouse, sibling, child, parent, etc. Its a safe community. Hell we didn't even close the doors last night.

I do believe I am being realistic. It is everyones right to be safe in their homes (doors unlocked) and in their community. I'm sorry you have had to live in an area that has made you paranoid and affraid of your neighbors.

First, if you wish to receive useful information, you might want to dial back the hostility and refrain from calling other members "honey."

Secondly, you state you live in a town of 3300 people. That is completely different from the area you say you plan to move to, with a population of over 4 million people. Everything people have stated in this thread thus far is true. Leaving your doors unlocked is an invitation to disaster. Leaving the keys in your car is an invitation to car theft. You are not being realistic in your expectations of an urban area. UTI is in an urban area.

[Finger Laker]

Exactly - this isn't a small town

I grew up in a small town, out in the country (actually, we were the big town in the area with about 8,000) - i don't even know if our doors had locks, keys were generally in the ignition, etc

however, per the person I'm not sure if the area was all that much safer - plenty of violence, auto thefts, drugs and bored kids causing havoc and inept police to keep everyone occupied

it's best practice to make some basic smart precautions - locking doors is one of them - you may not need to, but why tempt fate?

with that said I'm still not one to be overly paranoid - if i'm mowing my back yard I generally keep my garage door open and there are times when I have my garage open for hours on end .... my wife has questioned this and my simple response is if we live in a neighborhood where someone is going to come and rob us in that short of a span then we really need to move

in fact, the other night we accidently left it open all night - there was one day when it was open all day (kind of nervous walking into the house) - but both times things were fine

now it's not something I would intentionally do - there is no benefit to it .... i also wouldn't leave my door unlocked (although I've yet to have anyone try to enter it anyway) ... but just in case it's there and it doesn't cost me anything

common sense type stuff

UTI is on the near out rim of the metro - but this is still a very large metro area with around 5M people .... you will need to use your head

Within close distance you may want to look at some of the master planned communities that are a bit tucked away (Estrella, Verrado) - you could stretch that out to Tartesso (about 30 miles), tonopah (40 miles), etc

There are some smaller towns when you get a ways to the west - a lot around the nuclear power plant vicinity - wintersburg, arlington, etc .... but you are going to have a pretty long drive to UTI

Even going the other way over south mountain to an area like Rainbow Valley will run you 28-30 miles and a fairly long commute as it's not highway

Some parts of surprise may be to your liking and they are around 20 miles away - still a suburban feel, but a bit tucked away

You just aren't going to find rural close to the city so those two things are in direct conflict right out of the gate

[keninaz]

I don't care what size town you live in, leaving a child in a car with the keys no less is just stupid!
Even if you trust and know everyone in your town someone passing through your town or an illegal could jump in your car and take off. It's happened before.
And not knowing the age of the child I would hate to think if they managed to start the car.
And I don't know if AZ is one of the states or not but in some areas it's against the law to leave your kids in the car. My kids are long gone so I don't know but locally you can't leave a dog in car or you will be cited. I will assume the same goes for kids?

Originally Posted by Mtfuntimes

Yes honey there are places where you can still leave your doors unlocked. I live in a town with about 3300 people. I don't lock my doors. I leave the keys in my car at home and the store. Its safe to leave your kid in the car while you run into the store. No one is worried about their child being kidnapped. Everyone knows everyone or you know their spouse, sibling, child, parent, etc. Its a safe community. Hell we didn't even close the doors last night.

As far as me being irresponsible for not locking my doors cuz I have a special needs child.... You have another thing coming! My son is 10 and high functioning. He doesn't go outside at night and if he did I wouldn't worry. He's been allowed to play outside till 11pm or later if I'm still awake. When he goes out to play I don't worry unless I haven't heard from him in 2-3 hours.

I don't know if you have never been blessed with having a special needs child or working with the special needs people but they're as individual as you and I are. There are no norms.

Thank you for the kudos. I do believe I am being realistic. It is everyones right to be safe in their homes (doors unlocked) and in their community. I'm sorry you have had to live in an area that has made you paranoid and affraid of your neighbors.

[aiwei]

MFT,

In AZ, I have found it is hard to distinguish one town or its boundary from the next. There are 23 towns with pop. at roughly 10k or under in AZ, according to City-Data. There are at least 3 sits right at the edge of Phx Metro (El Mirage, Buckeye, & Tolleson) which I imagine would look and feel more like suburbs of Phx. The other towns that is to your liking are so far out and rural, I would wonder about the kind of school funding issues they are dealing with now. Therefore, would you be able to find "a good special education program?" In addition, if you want to seek out extra services for your child, how far will you be willing to travel to get it if you lived in rural area? The fact is, majority of special services providers are concentrated where the majority of population is.

Three years ago, I agreed to move here with 2 almost-teen aged kids not because of AZ's excellent education record, which was actually not great. It was for its openness and acceptance to home-schooling and unschooling families. So when I had to put my kids in schools because I have to go to work, I worried about it. We are fortunate to live near Gilbert District and (eastern) Mesa District and our experience with schools here are so far so good. Next school year, mine 2 will be going to 2 different schools, so I will be worrying about them all over again.

I would definitely do more research focused on schools first if I were you.

[hart4july]

Originally Posted by Mtfuntimes

Yes honey there are places where you can still leave your doors unlocked. I live in a town with about 3300 people. I don't lock my doors. I leave the keys in my car at home and the store. Its safe to leave your kid in the car while you run into the store. No one is worried about their child being kidnapped. Everyone knows everyone or you know their spouse, sibling, child, parent, etc. Its a safe community. Hell we didn't even close the doors last night.

As far as me being irresponsible for not locking my doors cuz I have a special needs child.... You have another thing coming! My son is 10 and high functioning. He doesn't go outside at night and if he did I wouldn't worry. He's been allowed to play outside till 11pm or later if I'm still awake. When he goes out to play I don't worry unless I haven't heard from him in 2-3 hours.

I don't know if you have never been blessed with having a special needs child or working with the special needs people but they're as individual as you and I are. There are no norms.

Thank you for the kudos. I do believe I am being realistic. It is everyones right to be safe in their homes (doors unlocked) and in their community. I'm sorry you have had to live in an area that has made you paranoid and affraid of your neighbors.

The Glass Castle by Jeanettte Walls, please read.