Living downtown phoenix? (Mesa, Tempe: house, neighborhoods, schools)

[freezintoes]

Great post with great map! How helpful thank you. Does the same for this mapping go north as well as south?
I hope I'm explaining myself okay. What does OP mean? Again thank you for taking time out to answer my questions in such a clear way

[freezintoes]

El you are a very good poster! Really thank you so much for the map and your post. Your are smart! Love it and I use to live on camelback also years ago and I think near this area is right for me. I have been doing a lot of research online and I'm also learning your lingo in az as far as foodie.... I'm also learning from other posters. Again thanks for taking time out for answering me. Your awesome. Would you by any chance have a map of all of phoenix like the one you posted?

[El_Waiboi]

Originally Posted by freezintoes

Great post with great map! How helpful thank you. No problem. Does the same for this mapping go north as well as south? I don't know what you mean by that.
I hope I'm explaining myself okay. What does OP mean? OP=Original Poster (You) Again thank you for taking time out to answer my questions in such a clear way No problem.

Please respond to this blue text for us:

Tell us about your budget and what specific amenities you are looking for in a neighborhood. We will be more able to advise after you provide that information. Also tell us if you need to be able to walk to ASU Downtown or if a quick train ride would be acceptable. Tell us why you need to be downtown and how often you plan to go there and what method(s) of transportation you will have available to you.

We will further advise when we know what your specific needs are in regard to downtown Phoenix.

[El_Waiboi]

Originally Posted by freezintoes

El you are a very good poster! Really thank you so much for the map and your post. Your are smart! Love it and I use to live on camelback also years ago and I think near this area is right for me. I have been doing a lot of research online and I'm also learning your lingo in az as far as foodie.... I'm also learning from other posters. Again thanks for taking time out for answering me. Your awesome. Would you by any chance have a map of all of phoenix like the one you posted?

No problem man, thanks for the compliments...No I don't have a map like that for the whole valley because I made that myself. Just go ahead and answer my above post (right above this one), and with that we should be able to guide you to a nice location.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by El_Waiboi

I didn't have too long to spend on this, but here you go:

*The blue area is downtown Phoenix, there is residential there it is a very nice very safe area.

*The green area is technically outside of downtown but still very close to it and also very nice areas also very safe.

*The orange area still has a lot of low income areas but is ripe for gentrification in the next 5-10 years. There will be more crime in this area.

*The purple area is all low income and has a lot of crime issues.

And in response to the above poster, I would consider the Melrose district to much more "Uptown" Phoenix; however there is no debating that it is a very nice area.

I believe that the OP posted something about wanting to live close to ASU Downtown, and then edited his/her post to read as something completely different. If this is the case, I would recommend Taylor Place (http://housing.asu.edu/residence/taylor-place), or if not, anywhere in the blue area would be best for you. The green area would be slightly further, but nothing a quick bicycle ride couldn't solve. Honestly, you would be fine in the orange and purple areas too, but they are not quite as nice.

Feel free to reply with any questions.

I am not sure where you get your "technically" from. There is no "official" designation of downtown. I have never seen as narrow a definition as the one that you are using, in fact have always seen a "between the sevens" approach regardless of the north/south boundaries. My reckoning of downtown is more or less the boundaries of your green area minus the part east of 7th St. I tend to think of either I-10 or Roosevelt as the northern boundary although a lot of folks use McDowell and make the point that I-10 is an artificial boundary that bisects neighborhoods. Still, I much prefer your approach over the ones that extend way north. I live between McDowell and Thomas but consider our neighborhood to be midtown and find it humorous when people north of us think of themselves as being downtown.

[El_Waiboi]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

I am not sure where you get your "technically" from. There is no "official" designation of downtown. I have never seen as narrow a definition as the one that you are using, in fact have always seen a "between the sevens" approach regardless of the north/south boundaries. My reckoning of downtown is more or less the boundaries of your green area minus the part east of 7th St. I tend to think of either I-10 or Roosevelt as the northern boundary although a lot of folks use McDowell and make the point that I-10 is an artificial boundary that bisects neighborhoods. Still, I much prefer your approach over the ones that extend way north. I live between McDowell and Thomas but consider our neighborhood to be midtown and find it humorous when people north of us think of themselves as being downtown.

Ummm, excuse me sir, but I am NEVER wrong. Well, actually I was wrong once: It was the one time when I thought that I was mistaken, and it turned out that I had actually been right the whole time. Therefore I was wrong because I had believed myself to be mistaken when I was not.

Obviously I'm just kidding. Yeah, so I guess I was wrong about my boundaries. I guess I was thinking about Copper Square, which is the exact boundaries I mentioned:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Copper Square, the 90-block core of downtown Phoenix, is the business, cultural and governmental heart of the city. It comprises the original Phoenix historic town site. Copper Square’s boundaries extend from Fillmore to south of Jackson Street, 7th Street to 3rd Avenue.

BTW-Who the heck even refers to it as Copper Square? I have never ever heard someone from Phoenix refer to any area using the term "Copper Square", people seem to just say "downtown"...


Then in the Wikipedia article about Downtown Phoenix, it states that the boundaries of downtown Phoenix are the ones you mentioned:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The City of Phoenix defines Downtown as the area between 7th Street and 7th Avenue, from McDowell Road on the north to Buckeye Road on the south.

So, I am man enough to admit when I am wrong; and in this case I was wrong, and your info was spot on; reps to pbenjamin.

[pbenjamin]

Wasn't saying your definition was wrong, it's just one of many (and better than a lot of them). I think that the crowd that came up with Copper Square abandoned the label a couple of years ago by the way.

[TransatPhD]

If this is about living next to ASU Downtown, you may want to consider the new Roosevelt Point building, if apartments and undergraduates are your thing. We've received fliers about the community and I walk buy their leasing office all the time; it seems nice.

As for safety around Roosevelt Point, well, just don't be stupid and walk around late at night alone without having your eyes and ears open.

(Also, the "Copper Square" terminology annoys me to no end as well!)

[even-miracle]

Originally Posted by SubconsciousMe

If this is the case, and depending on the OP's age... see, I go to ASU Downtown and live near Central/Camelback and love it. I like this area because I'm a bit older of a student and consider myself a foodie... so I didn't want to be near the campus exactly as I didn't want to look out my window and see school However, I'm a 10 minute train ride away and in a very safe area with a reasonably priced apartment ($700 for a 2 bedroom/2 bath about 1,000 square feet). It's all personal preference really.

Did you know the Downtown Phoenix Journal considers "Downtown" "Downtown, to us, is a lifestyle, not a geographic area. Think of it as Glendale Ave-ish to Grant St-ish and from I-17-ish to Highway 51-ish"... so it's all a matter of perspective.

I seriously LOVE my neighborhood, insanely.

Which apartment you live in?

[judiii]

I've been living here in Phoenix az for about 6 years now. I absolutely despise it here. I'm currently saving up to move out of state. The only pro of living here is the cheap living cost. Other than that I have nothing good to say. Absolutely dangerous place. I can't tell you how many time a day I almost get into a car accident. And it's never my fault! People turn out of streets not even looking. This city is way over populated ! Its dry, barely any green. Nothing fun to do except go to malls. Its way too hot to do anything outdoors during the day, ive heard about people dying from the heat. Absolutely scary public transportation . Ive had men try to convince me to have sex with them while im waiting for the bus. men stare down women like theyve never seen a woman in their life !good luck trying to walk down the street without getting honked at or some creep trying to offer you a ride, although I'm sure this happens everywhere, it's just really bad here. Traffic is horrible, I've been almost run into a million times and people don't know how to use their turn signals or even bother looking in their mirrors, and people love to slam on their breaks for no reason! I'm always indoors because there's nothing to enjoy when it's this hot. even living in Las Vegas is better than this!! Las Vegas has better schools and not a big population and not much more cost of living vs here in Phoenix.