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W1nger0, we are trying. We have a successful photography business here in New York since 1993 doing all phases of photography, but primarily weddings. The problem is is that with this economy, everyone is downsizing EVERYTHING and it isn't the best time. We are advertising out there like crazy, costing us thousands of dollars, and we are booked for some events, however it is slow to take off. It is like starting from square one all over again. But thanks for your encouragement. I just get so down when I read person after person constantly slamming Arizona for everything under the sun [no pun intended]. I have met so many wonderful people since buying our house out there. Monetarily, I have a much bigger home here, but as I said, in a second I would sell everything to be out there. More than anything, it just makes you feel happy out there in the sun and under the blue skies with nature. Nature more than anything else is what I feel makes a person be alive. People check out your mountains and your sunsets, be thankful for what you see and have. People on the east coast have been inundated with rain and haven't been able to even leave your homes for the last three weeks without being in soaking rain. Uggg......you can have it!
We miss having you here more than you know. So hurry back!!!! I will even provide you with the pigs in a blanket. LOL
First off, Twiggy, just to clarify, I don't believe I went on the Phoenix boards to insult people from Phoenix, as a matter of fact, from the feedback I have gotten privately, I would say I did just the opposite. I said I was jealous of everyone who was out there and wished I could be there as well. That I LOVE PHOENIX. I didn't go on the New York boards and trash New York. I would never do that. It is my personal experience about New York that I mentioned. That is all. There are tons of skiers who love snow, NYC, etc. I too, love New York when I am at the ocean, going to a show on Broadway, etc., unfortunately, 5 months of nice weather and 7 months of crummy weather, don't cut it. People on the whole who live on Long Island or NYC, stay to themselves, and get labeled "cold". That is not just my opinion, that is the opinion of tons of things written about New York. If you don't like mingling and are not the friendly type of person, then you would like the East Coast. My married daughter lives in Boston for many years and the experience is basically the same there. If you do any googling of 9/11, you will find it written that during that horrendous time, it became a different city. People met each other's eyes, they talked on the streets, they needed to bond. Many hoped this would change NY for the long haul, but that was not to be. Things eventually resumed to the way they were pre-9/11. That is not to say that that type of life is for everyone. Some people don't want people saying hello to them in every store, etc., my teenage daughter for one. When she comes to my new house, she laughs and says I can't take how they address us by our name in Safeway and say hi New Yorkers to us in Ulta as they know our story there, or stop and ask about our accents. I for one, love it. I love how the neighbors are outside and say hi, come over and talk to me and hubby in the driveway, invite us out to grab a bite to eat. In 30 years living on LI, I can say I have never ate in a restaurant with my neighbors. Not that I wouldn't have, it's just that they are not like that. Now apparently not everyone has the same experiences where they live both in New York or in Phoenix. But that has been my experience and that of my sister in law who also came from Queens and then moved to Scottsdale, some 20 years ago. Sorry, but JMHO, your answers show me you are definitely of an East Coast mentality, as did a lot of opinions about you that I received privately. I didn't come on this chat board to fight and so this will be my last response to this. I was just trying to give a positive post about the place. Next time, I will reconsider coming on here to discuss things if this is the way it is, sorry I was mistaken, I thought it was a place to answer questions, share ideas, make friends.
Yeppers: I too am from back east and certainly do not go on the Wash DC/NoVa boards belittling the folks back there.
And; in defense of the DC area, by far the main reason that I left there back in 1978 was not DC's fault----------it was the foul winters. Never mind that the winters have become significantly milder in the last 10 years (5 degree warmer winter daytime highs).
ArizonaBear, you made me laugh as my older sister lives in the Potomac area near Washington, D.C. and she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the snow. She is almost 70 and goes sledding with all her grandchildren. So she is all in a hissy fit cause it ISN'T as "foul" as it used to be, LOL.........me and my other sister say, "what are you doing at 69, you are going to break your hip going down those snowy hills!"
ArizonaBear, you made me laugh as my older sister lives in the Potomac area near Washington, D.C. and she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the snow. She is almost 70 and goes sledding with all her grandchildren. So she is all in a hissy fit cause it ISN'T as "foul" as it used to be, LOL.........me and my other sister say, "what are you doing at 69, you are going to break your hip going down those snowy hills!"
And Potomac is noticeably colder than; say, either Georgetown or Arlington S of Rte 50/Alexandria.
I totally understand you wanting to move, like I said previously, a lot of us feel the same way. Just about all kinds of different places. I don't want to argue with you either, and am glad you love Phoenix so much. I just hope you understand that we all have a "utopia" and this doesn't mean we aren't making the most of where we currently live, that we didn't try to do the best for our selves where we are. It means the same thing it means to you.
The grass is always greener kind of thing I guess. I'm sure you will love it here and hope you get here eventually. Good Luck!
Sounds like a dangerous thread to jump in on, but I'm going to dare to chime in and hope that I don't reignite the fire:-) To the OP, I thought your original post was just a vote of confidence on Phoenix, which I was glad to hear, but I do have a different opinion of NY, so I just thought I'd chime in. Please don't take offense. We all have our own experiences and opinions.
I'm moving from NY to Phoenix soon, and the part that piqued my interest about this thread is the part about the people. It's hard to argue that one place is better than another - obviously people who like the heat are going to love Phoenix and people who prefer seasons will prefer the East coast. Phoenix and NY are very different places, and it's hard to argue against that. It's just objectively true.
I think it's much harder to make objective statements about people. We all do it. I've been doing a lot of it ever since we decided to move to Phoenix. Trying to figure what the people are like in this area or that area. I don't doubt that the OP had a bad experience in NY with the people, and I know that she also wasn't saying that all people in NY are unfriendly.
In fact, she said:
"Now apparently not everyone has the same experiences where they live both in New York or in Phoenix."
But I have to admit, the NYer in me did get a little, well, not offended, but defensive, protective, something, and I just thought I'd throw my opinion out there. I'm not really offended, so please, no apology necessary, I just think it's an interesting question.
I'm sure many people out there might find it almost humorous if I said that NY is a very friendly place. But I really think it is. It's funny, because as we are preparing to move out there, some people have told us that we shouldn't expect people in Phoenix to be as friendly as people in NY - that people don't get to know their neighbors the way they do in NY.
I'm sure that's true in some neighborhoods, and not true at all in others. I have friends who live 2 miles from me in the suburbs of NY who don't talk to their neighbors at all. But in my neighborhood, I can't even get in my house sometimes without talking to half the neighborhood. And getting the kids inside during the summer is nearly impossible, because all the kids are out in the neighborhood. I think part of the reason people are so friendly with each other is because of the kids, and because we have a lot in common - we're all close to the same age, with kids the same ages. One of my neighbors, who I'm not even the closest with, offered to watch my kids for 2 weeks if we want to go out to Phoenix to look for a house.
I think sometimes people take it to the extreme and say "people are people, everywhere". I think there are definitely some differences in the way people act in different places. You get racists and close minded people in certain areas, and there are definitely some places where there are probably more of those type of people than in other places. And some people definitely like to keep to themselves more than others. But that's personality. And there's a wide range of personalities everywhere.
About NY city and its reputation as a friendly place:
NY city is definitely not a friendly place if you're counting the number of people who come up to you on the street and say hello - that would be zero. But it's a huge place, full of strangers, and a good way to get yourself killed would be to walk around outside the Port Authority bus station in Manhattan and try to make some friends.
We have Au Pairs, and the first thing I tell them when they get here, is that they should completely ignore anyone who talks to them in that area of Manhattan - just look straight ahead and don't say anything, don't make eye contact. Just act like the person isn't even there. If they say "Can I have money", don't even say No, just keep walking. Sounds very unfriendly, but it's a matter of survival, and I'm sure it's no different in some areas of Phoenix. By the way, Manhattan has gotten much safer, but the area around the bus station is still pretty bad.
I'm fully expecting there to be some noticeable differences in the way people act in Phoenix compared to NY, and noticeable differences between the way people are in different areas of Phoenix. But we're looking for a place where there are educated, open minded people with kids the same ages as our kids. I think people that fit that description are probably pretty similar, whether they're from NY or Phoenix. And unless they're teaching "How To Be Antisocial and Ignore Your Neighbors" at the elementary school level out there, I'm hoping we'll eventually be able to find a place where we like the people. I think you could say the same thing for someone making the move from Phoenix to NY. Friends are relatively easy - you can choose them, wherever you live - But weather? That's a whole different story.
gsheridan, no fuel, don't worry, LOL. I understand exactly what you are saying and agree wholeheartedly. I was not trying to make a blanket statement that "all" New Yorkers are not friendly, cause that would be ridiculous. And, for me, like I said in another post, the nature and weather is the biggie, even more than the people. I am known to be very up, smiley and friendly, that is just the way I am almost to a fault as in people pick up on it all the time and remark about it. I knew before you even mentioned it that you live in probably a young neighborhood with a bunch of kids and like you said, you think it is because of the kids, and being all close to the same age, that you and your neighbors are that way. We moved to Eastern Long Island back in 1983 when I was 24 years old and had one child. Our neighborhood did and STILL DOES, have only older people over the age of 50. We are the youngest on the block. If it wasn't for school and driving our kids here and there to friend's houses they met in school, they wouldn't have had any child age interraction. So that does make a huge difference. The funny thing is, the neighborhood I am in now, has a mix, but much more "older" people again, where they have married children or older teenage children and yet we all stop and chat, look out for each other, bake for one another, play cards at each other's houses, have block parties, etc. etc. So there is a big difference again in MY two situations. For instance, the kind of neighborhood I live in in NY, the woman down the block is alone and sometimes she drinks too much. Every once in a while you will see a policeman down the block at her house. Then the neighbors will all come out into the street and "gawk"and say "gee I wonder what is happening down at so and so's house?" That would be the only time you would even run into them. There are like years between seeing people. My husband and I even remark that you would think you would run into one of them every so often in the supermarket, but literally, no exaggeration, nope. Get this, sometimes, people sell their house without a sign even and move out and you might be at a party that day away from your home and you look across the street and think, gee who is that? You then find out later, oh that is your new neighbors. That is the lifestyle here that I wouldn't miss at all. I guess the weather helps to meet and see people as well. My one sister retired and moved down to New Bern, N.C., and it is warmer and sunnier there as well and she said the same thing. She used to live in Selden and said no one there either, communicated or talked other than an occasional wave in a car passing by. She would be out there gardening and mowing the grass or doing something with her husband and say on a Saturday, when everyone is off, you don't see or hear a soul, odd I know. She lived there for 35 years and it never changed!
twiggy, thanks for the well wishes. I didn't mean to cause a raucous, truly I didn't. I hope you get to your "heaven" one day as well in Cape Cod. It's actually funny how we all have our place in this world. Our daughter, as I said lived in Boston and will return there come this Sept. from her stint in London. Her husband's family is from Narragansett as well. We used to visit them often and love the seafood and ocean as well. I guess with my "SAD" (seasonal affective disorder) I just need a little more than the 4-5 months of summer beauty to keep my spirits in check, LOL.
Hey thanks Susan, and I just got off checking your "Transplants to Phoenix Examiner" lots of great info and stuff there! I bookmarked it and will be going back to read in depth. Thanks for providing such a great service, loved it!
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