Need advise from Northeasterners in Scottsdale (Phoenix, Gilbert: homes, preschool, live in)

[foxe]

Hi We lived in Mesa about half hour from Scottsdale for about 10 yrs. We came from Long Island. Scottsdale has its sections like any other city, snooty as well as down to earth. Arizonia is the first place that I ever heard of for charted schools as well as a lot of home teaching. The heart of Scottsdale like many of the towns there are for tourists and all of AZ are Calif wonnabes -the traffic is horrible especially in the winter with the snowbirds. It'll take you a while to get use to the temps but on the whole you probably won't find it any diff than where you are coming from

[sheena]

Originally Posted by Elmonellie

What a nice, kind post...you can't live in evil Scottsdale?!!!

I love the area you live in. I live up in Carefree and the people are wonderful up here. Most are transplants...most are great.

Oh, and if you are looking for fake boobs or guys with bad hair transplants, yeah, I've seen it in Scottsdale. Funny thing, once you talk to these people, they are nice human beings with foibles we all have.

P.S. Have you ever had a kobe burger at A.J.'s? I don't eat red meat, but my husband nearly cried at how good it was.

I have had a kobe burger but everytime I get one, it's either under done or burnt. I think it would be really good if they would learn how to get the temperature right.

BQ at AJ's Friday and Saturday

[sheena]

Originally Posted by dano

I believe this is just a difference in perspective of how one should present themselves to others. I guess my world view is that one (especially one gifted with the attributes to achieve a high income) should be gracious and modest when describing themselves. At the outset, I would never mention that I went to an "Ivy Leage" school or that I had a "> six-figure income" or that I owned a "luxury vehicle." Just the way I was brought up. Apparently I am in the minority.

I think they were just trying to give some background on how they ended up in Scottdsdale and why they picked Scottsdale.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by brandiburg

Wow! I really want to apologize for the rudeness of dano's comment and some of the others. I live in Northeast Scottsdale. We moved from San Diego...my husband is an Ivy League graduate (Penn) from the Valley Forge area in Pennsylvania. We also wanted to move somewhere where our children could get an excellent education and have the same education opportunities that our family has had. We live in a very nice community east of Troon off of Dynamite/Rio Verde Dr. It is a quickly growing community with culture, as well as that down-to-earth feel.

There is a lot of resentment from people in the valley who do not live in Scottsdale. We are just people. Good people.

Back to our community, yes our children go to Copper Ridge, a newer school where most parent's income is in excess of six figures. BMWs, Mercedes, and Hummers are a norm...but so are SUVs and minivans. The teachers are excellent and the curriculum is above average. Don't get me wrong, my girls deal with the plastics...they are everywhere. But people should stop judging people from Scottsdale. We are really nice.

Good luck with your move!

Are they Mercedes and BMW SUV's? Do minivans come in Mercedes or are they like a Dodge or something? Maybe the minivans belong to the help.

[SpaceNeedle]

Originally Posted by brandiburg

Wow! I really want to apologize for the rudeness of dano's comment and some of the others. I live in Northeast Scottsdale. We moved from San Diego...my husband is an Ivy League graduate (Penn) from the Valley Forge area in Pennsylvania. We also wanted to move somewhere where our children could get an excellent education and have the same education opportunities that our family has had. We live in a very nice community east of Troon off of Dynamite/Rio Verde Dr. It is a quickly growing community with culture, as well as that down-to-earth feel.

There is a lot of resentment from people in the valley who do not live in Scottsdale. We are just people. Good people.

Back to our community, yes our children go to Copper Ridge, a newer school where most parent's income is in excess of six figures. BMWs, Mercedes, and Hummers are a norm...but so are SUVs and minivans. The teachers are excellent and the curriculum is above average. Don't get me wrong, my girls deal with the plastics...they are everywhere. But people should stop judging people from Scottsdale. We are really nice.

Good luck with your move!

I had tried so hard not to post anything in this thread... but I failed.

Can someone tell me if her community is part of the Christopher Verde School District?

Anyway, similar to Dano... I was brought up to believe that financial success and material possession only impress and dazzle fools. Good deeds and actions are what matter. My husband and I are not expecting our children to be doctors, lawyers, or whatever high paid professions may be. But we expect them to grow up to be charitable, respectful and kind to others, etc.

[LisaZ]

The culture is that of Manhattan. My neighbors/co-workers/friends routinely go to rock concerts, plays, Carnegie hall performances, opera, ballet, broadway shows, museums, they travel the country & other countries, they do charity work, read the paper, read books, and the list goes on. They are very diverse and have many interests. Most have Master's degree - so education matters to them.

Interesting comment about the book. You obviously read the book, but it didn't seem to have helped you judging by this comment. Another non NorthEasterner having nothing better to do that cruise the internet. Find a hobby.

Originally Posted by Elmonellie

You have spoke about culture a few times. I still don't get what you are talking about.

I would love to know where you are living now. I think it would explain the culture you are looking for...you have said you are looking for a like culture.

Oh, and as a side note, culture is subjective thing. I'm thinking yours is not as high as you think it is. There is a book, "Class" by Fussell. Check it out.

[nomorearizona]

Originally Posted by LisaZ

Interesting. You obviously read the book, but it didn't seem to have helped you by this comment. Another non NorthEasterner having nothing better to do that cruise the internet. Find a hobby.

I'm from the northeast and can tell you that everyone I know from the northeast hates Scottsdale. It's basically a bunch of hicks from the midwest who were looking for a "hip" place to live and now they're a bunch of wannabe urban hipsters who live the good life on credit and try to tell you they're rich while hiding from repo men and bill collectors.

[johndavidkay]

Thanks for the straight up view...wherever my family ends up will only be the place we make of it...for ourselves. Our kids will have the value system we, their parents, inflict upon them, with a lot of help from our kids grand parents... but that is an advantage our kids have. I grew up in Scarsdale, 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan. It was in the 60's so it wasn't all pumped up back then. Good schools, great friends, no sweat riding my bike ANYWHERE ...but that was a more simple, kind of gentler time, sort of. I worked in the local newspaper store, my friends played decent football, and we all went to college. But what we did...who we were...the values that we held dear...all of that came from our parents and our community. We did our share of bad stuff...acid in the early 70's and plenty of pot throughout it all...but we still managed to hold dear the reasonable values and sense of community responsibilty our parents foisted upon all of us. I am pretty confident that I can move from Philadelphia to Scottsdale, or Gilbert, or Crefree and make a good and decent life for my wife and I and our kids. We don't just coast through life...nor do our children.

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

I am a northeasterner by some definitions I suppose (Cleveland). I am relocating to Arizona in 2 weeks (actually my furniture, car and lifelong possessions should be arriving there today lol!). My sister lives in Scottsdale. I will be living just right adjacent to Scottsdale in northern Phoenix. I am not a pretentious plastic bankruptcy-chasing-living-in-debt saline-goddess snob who must be the best/greatest and have nicer toys than my neighbors. Will some of my neighbors be? Some will, some wont. WHO CARES! So long as they are civil to me, I dont. I can make my own decisions. And I have enough confidence in my parenting abilities and the values I raised my son with that he will still be exactly who he is regardless of the neighborhood.

Of the people I know in Arizona, the two most pretentious who fit your little stereotype to a tee---->live in Mesa and Chandler not Scottsdale.....

To apply stereotypes to persons of any area I think is unfounded. The entire area of Phoenix and Scottsdale is probably what MILLIONS of people? Sure there are probably some who do fit your stereotype. But there are many that dont. And quite personally that you started your post with a "wealthy suburb of Manhattan"---->rubs me the wrong way. We are anonymous persons on a bulletin board. What was the need for that? New Forum Rule: "Each poster must identify their annual income and investment portfolio balances for the last 3 years running so that we may direct you to the appropriate neighborhoods, stores, etc." LOL!!!!!!

And that said, ANY area whether in backwoods Vermont, New York, LA or Scottsdale------>is what you make of it. And of what VALUES that YOU AS THE PARENT instill in your children from a young age.

Visit the area. See if you like the neighborhoods. Visit the schools. Then make your decision.

[gigi927]

Originally Posted by LisaZ

The culture is that of Manhattan. My neighbors/co-workers/friends routinely go to rock concerts, plays, Carnegie hall performances, opera, ballet, broadway shows, museums, they travel the country & other countries, they do charity work, read the paper, read books, and the list goes on. They are very diverse and have many interests. Most have Master's degree - so education matters to them.

Interesting comment about the book. You obviously read the book, but it didn't seem to have helped you judging by this comment. Another non NorthEasterner having nothing better to do that cruise the internet. Find a hobby.

I don't want to get into the snob debate since y'all are doing a great job of that already. But....

If you are looking for great cultural opportunities such as you describe I don't think that Phoenix metro is the place to be. And if you're living in Scottsdale, it will seem even worse. I lived in Scottsdale for 4 years - I am not not knocking it generally. I am only saying that I've lived in other larger urban centers (Chicago and San Francisco) and I found Phoenix metro to be a bit lacking in the things you mention. It's getting better, but if you're used to Manhattan, Phoenix would be a tough adjustment culturally I think. You would have to decide whether you are willing to make that tradeoff.

We live in Austin metro now, and I actually find the cultural vibe here to be more dynamic, even though it's a much smaller area population wise.

[LisaZ]

Originally Posted by Cida

I just answered this a bit in someone else's post: Phoenix is pretty much the opposite of NYC, but particularly in bad ways - poor public transportation so that it's all cars, dreadful sprawl so that you never get to know the city well, no good newspaper so that the public isn't very informed, not much emphasis on culture so that it's all sports-oriented. Phoenix thinks of itself as friendly, but it seems a shallow and apathetic town compared to NYC. Sorry.

I've never quite understood what "plastic" means when applied to people as you did, and I don't think I'd call the people superficial, as much as shallow and inert. If you consider yourself very educated, involved in community politics, proactive, extremely cultured (which is how you were describing your community, I think) - well, I've found Scottsdale to be the exact opposite. This is exemplified by their failure to address the issues of water conservation and public transportation.

I think it's true that there would be less pressure on school achievement because it's so anti-intellectual and anti-elitist. You'll notice, for instance, that Noennurse termed your post "unnecessarily pretentious." That's very Phoenix. In NYC they admire Harvard grads; in Phoenix they sneer at them. But it is definitely more laid-back and less structured, as far as I can tell. And if your child is only two, I suppose you could be adventurous and try it for a while.

How did you fix on Scottsdale? Had you ever considered other places? I don't know that many cities, but what about some place like Portland or Seattle?

Very funny - just the other day I found out a co-worker (very bright) went to Harvard. She doesn't advertise it but it just came out in a conversation that she wasn't even present for. My first reaction was, "Wow, good for her". You are right about one thing - a great education is respected in the NYC area. Is it possible the reason a lot of people look down on those that are educated is because they are insecure themselves? If you said this guy went to Bodunk U - no one would feel uncomfortable about that, so why feel uncomfortable when they go to an Ivy League or other highly regarded school?