A complaint about Phoenix from a newbie. (Scottsdale, Tempe: new house, job market)

[DetroitN8V]

You live in a great area! There's tons to do around there. Not sure why you'd drive all the way to City North. Check out the Little Woody, Nook Kitchen, OHSO, Postino, LGO, Pig's Meow, Chelsea's Kitchen, The Grind, The Vig. I could go on and on. Your location is enviable.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

You live in a great area! There's tons to do around there. Not sure why you'd drive all the way to City North. Check out the Little Woody, Nook Kitchen, OHSO, Postino, LGO, Pig's Meow, Chelsea's Kitchen, The Grind, The Vig. I could go on and on. Your location is enviable.

Exactly. I grew up in Arcadia. I'd love to be able to live there again.

[MotleyCrew]

Phoenix will be awesome once we have a public transportation like the MAX in Portland. My daughter loves it and her family uses it all the time. Just takes money/taxes.

[kytoaz]

You live in arcadia. Install yelp on your phone and do a search. I think you will be surprised by how much stuff there is in your neighborhood. Don't get sucked into the mall, all in one place, full of chains mentality. that's not arcadia. Arcadia is packed with stand alone local bars and restaurants, which are infinitely better than the crap at city north or westgate. You actually have chosen wisely when it comes to a location, you just need to explore it a little more. It's not going to be accessible from one giant parking lot.

[new2colo]

Yes, everything is spread out. That's how many cities that experienced post WWII booms grew, especially in the South and the West. If you think Phoenix is bad, try Houston, Atlanta, or LA. At the least we have the benefit of having pretty mild traffic congestion. I find myself going all over the Valley for different reasons. Even though I travel far distance wise, the freeway system is really designed in a manner that I can get to where I need to go in a relatively short period of time. If Phoenix didn't have a freeway system, traveling here would be an absolute nightmare with how far apart things are spread.

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by observer53

Exactly. I grew up in Arcadia. I'd love to be able to live there again.

No kidding - I love that area too. I have good friend there.

[dvxhd]

I think "getting used to it" depends on the person. I have little patience, get frustrated very easily and loathe driving, and I'm not getting used to it at all. This isn't just a Phoenix thing, because I wouldn't like it in any city. Light rail isn't an option for me, not because of location, but because it doesn't run late enough to accommodate my work schedule. The thing is that I don't have to drive that far to be tired of driving for the day; for example, I had to run errands before work on Monday, and drove about 9 miles, and by then I was just done with it, but still had to drive another 2.5 to work. I've adapted to driving, but I don't enjoy it. I do, however, love walking. When I travel to a new place on vacation I'll typically walk 15-20 miles per day, and even opt out of taxis or public transit unless I'm tired or where I need to go is too far.

[azdr0710]

I have a feeling the OP read about some hip places in CityNorth et al and he/she only wanted to check them out.....just didn't realize the drive

like most Western cities, it's always been cheaper to build out than up....basic economics.....plenty of cheap land out there....

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by raindance maggie

Lots of positives here.
We really like it here better than California. Taxes and cost of living is out of control. Conservatives like me are frustrated over there------it’s so flipping liberal and the dems are in control of everything. Businesses are folding up and moving to states like Nevada, Arizona, and Texas.
Don't get me wrong, Sacramento is a nice midsize city but it’s kind of dull, not much to do there unless you want to drive a long way to the Bay area or Tahoe. Jobs aren’t very plentiful there either.
We like to attend sporting events and there’s not much in Sacramento except the Kings. We’re into outdoor recreation and trying to do any biking there in the winter isn’t too practical-----cold, damp, foggy all the time.
I think Phoenix has more to offer but it’s so scattered about, not much in a midway or central location. We picked a living spot we thought was centralized, we’re renting near 40th Street and Campbell in the Arcadia area but most things still seem like a long drive away. I guess we’ll grow more accustomed to it.
Gas is much cheaper here on dollars per gallon but I’m filling up more often and ending up paying more because of all the driving required.

The last time I checked, Sacramento and most other California cities have lots of sprawl and require plenty of driving for everyday commutes and errands, no different than Phoenix or most other western-sunbelt metropolitan areas.

The only exception to this is San Francisco.

I agree with you that Phoenix has a lot more to offer than Sacramento, especially professional sports, recreation, and better dining-nightlife.

Phoenix isn't exactly a conservative stronghold, there are many registered independents and even a few strong liberal areas, but if you prefer Phoenix's political climate more than where you came from, I'm certain you'll be happy.

[azriverfan.]

Part of this is the culture here. In Phoenix, people do not mind sprawl. It's part of the old wild west attitude. I'm amazed at where my colleagues will choose to live. They will live out in BFE in the middle of the desert with a one hour + commute. The idea of density has not caught on with the people here. Rather than develop and live in downtown, they would rather create another suburb and wouldn't care if it is 2 hours away. Transplants have moved here and complained and so now we have added light rail, and proper housing in downtown. I imagine it will improve but it will still require transplants from major metropolitan areas requesting change for this to happen.