Tempe, Arizona (Scottsdale: cheap apartments, student loans, universities)

[observer53]

Originally Posted by unwillingphoenician

I guess there's no answer to this. It's subjective.

My take: ASU makes Tempe different from other towns in the valley. That's what makes it a college town, not X percent of the town belonging to the college. Even in the areas that are residential without a lot of students in Tempe, the population will be different because of the college. Professors will live there and the politics will be more liberal than in surrounding areas. ASU is why Tempe is not Mesa, in the same way that CU is why Boulder is not Longmont. Google is in Boulder and coming to Tempe. Why? They're college towns. They have smart people, a certain kind of philosophical take on life, amenities that are appealing to young people in the business world.

I didn't mean for "college town" to rankle. It has a positive association for me. I prefer liberal politics, the life that comes along with events in a college town, etc. In 1996 I drove down to Tempe from Flagstaff with my girlfriend to hear Steven J. Gould deliver a lecture at ASU. Stuff like that isn't available all over the valley. It's why I would gladly move to Tempe next year when my lease ends in Phoenix, but I'm not interested in Mesa. I would choose Boulder over Longmont too.

But I think I know why "college town" did rankle. Let me wrap everything up in the phrase "Friday night beer parties." I don't mean Friday night beer parties literally. I'm just using that as a metaphor for all the negative stuff that makes people in college towns wave their hands in the air to convince outsiders that their town is more than a college. I lived in Boulder, and I lived in Syracuse, New York, and I guess I don't need to do any more research about what it is like to live in a town with tens of thousands of college students nor am I going to let somebody convince me that my experience didn't really happen. However, I'm an intelligent, reasoning adult, and I know that there is more to these towns than "Friday night beer parties," especially when most of the town is not student-heavy anyway, as you point out.

The part of your argument that made the most sense to me, and you are entirely right about this, is that Tempe itself is just a small part of a major metropolitan area. However, if we're going to take the trouble to distinguish Tempe from Buckeye from Mesa from Guadalupe from Scottsdale on forums like this, especially for people who haven't been to Arizona and just lump the whole thing together as Phoenix, then we can't back off whenever we'd like and say, "Just kidding. It's really all the same place anyway." Tempe is different than other places in the valley, in a good way.

So in summary, if I knew nothing about northern Arizona, and started a "Williams vs. Flagstaff" thread, and somebody answered, "Flagstaff--college town," I'd say, "Oh Flagstaff--that's where I want to live." Yes, a TON of detail is hidden by such a simple summary, but "college town" kind of tells me what I need to know. One thing I forgot to mention, long ago in a far away place I did lots of fundraising for environmental groups in both college towns and non-college towns. Lots of fundraising. As in talking to many hundreds and thousands of people. So in my mind at least, I think I'm on pretty safe ground when I say that college towns have a certain mentality to them that I like. I saw it every single day in my work. College town is a good thing to me. Best.

Well said. Just to follow up here. While in the past it's true that a majority of the Tempe campus faculty lived in Tempe, according to one of the very high up administrators, that's no longer the case, considering not just the full time faculty but the explosive growth in adjunct/part time/visiting and-any-other classification. It's an interesting demographic shift.


College town is a good thing to me, too. Some of the favorite places I've spent time in are college towns. I've lived in Tempe over 40 years. But not everyone sees "college town" the same way, if they haven't ever been to Tempe, they would write it off given that description, or they already have written it off before they ever come here to ask. Is it overall somewhat more liberal? Yes, and the influence of the University on that is valid. Those of us down here in the south part of the city who are more to the left and got gerrymandered into a very Republican legislative district feel unrepresented. But I still maintain that for people who just want a nice suburb to live in, with good freeway access, nice library/parks/recreation, good shopping, etc., there are large parts of Tempe they could live in and not know from their surroundings, or care, that they live in a "college town". So, Tempe works for all kinds of people.

[cjs123]

I lived in Tempe over 11 years around Mill and Baseline, which is definitely a ways south of the college-town feeling. I did enjoy different venues along Mill Avenue, and I also enjoyed Tempe's location as far as getting to other parts of the valley.

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by unwillingphoenician

But I think I know why "college town" did rankle. Let me wrap everything up in the phrase "Friday night beer parties." I don't mean Friday night beer parties literally.

Like you said, everything is subjective and using "college town" didn't rankle me. I love "college towns" and all of their quirkiness and different vibes and for some weird reason, it's probably just me, never think about partying and/or drinking when I think of "college towns", I think mostly of location (where it is located and what surrounds the town) and the college/university being the driving employer of said town. I feel ASU is definitely a positive to Tempe and can't really see any negatives, it's just that my quintessential "college town" would not be Tempe.

[DougStark]

OP, I don't know as much about Tempe as the previous posters. But when I drive through Tempe, I see things being built, projects being done, and growth. I'd say this speaks well for Tempe.

I'd recommend Tempe for the OP, especially due to his/her age.

By the way, what's that huge new mid-rise building being erected in Tempe with a crane?

[observer53]

Originally Posted by DougStark

OP, I don't know as much about Tempe as the previous posters. But when I drive through Tempe, I see things being built, projects being done, and growth. I'd say this speaks well for Tempe.

I'd recommend Tempe for the OP, especially due to his/her age.

By the way, what's that huge new mid-rise building being erected in Tempe with a crane?

Where in Tempe are you referring to?

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by observer53

Where in Tempe are you referring to?

West of Rural Rd/Scottsdale Blvd. and south of the river. The new building is HUGE. You can't miss from noticing it.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by DougStark

West of Rural Rd/Scottsdale Blvd. and south of the river. The new building is HUGE. You can't miss from noticing it.

State Farm buildings, regional headquarters. People were probably confused when you asked because it is a complex of mid rises, not just one.

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by asufan

State Farm buildings, regional headquarters. People were probably confused when you asked because it is a complex of mid rises, not just one.

THANKS. I always get encouraged about our local economy when I see huge construction cranes.

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by DougStark

THANKS. I always get encouraged about our local economy when I see huge construction cranes.

They say you can tell how well a city is doing by how many construction cranes you see along the skyline.

[norman_w]

Tempes great. Lots of 20yrolds. Walmart and 99c store. Mill Ave is the happening part of town. Good bus service. The heat is tolerable. Wish that lake wasn't there, it just adds humidity. You can't have water in the desert. If you have a cup, every business has to give you water.