Downside to Prescott? (what, if any?) (Phoenix, Tucson: real estate, low crime, employment)

[Randall999]

I am finding just about everything great about Prescott, seems to good to be true. I am almost worried the secret is out about Prescott. I have been doing my research and finding the weather seems perfect for my wants, low crime, affordable housing, airport, hiking, some water to kayak/etc, Starbucks, Target, Best Buy, art, culture, parks, forests, clean air.

Every city has something negative about it? So what am I not seeing about Prescott, what are the negatives? Seems too good to be true, I must be missing something? Some negatives will not necessarily turn me off from moving, but I feel my research would not be incomplete without asking this question. Hope nobody takes offense at it. My current city of Duluth MN certainly has negatives, so I am not singling out any particular city as negative in and of itself.
randall

[Esenjay]

Naturally there is a downside--do I think it outweighs the upside? No.

The overall culture and demographic of the area has changed considerably over the past 20 years, or so you'll hear by those who've been here that long. It used to be a nice little vanilla Mayberry but the world turns and nothing stays the same. It's still a pretty nice area compared to most other places--the people that complain the most should go live in a big city for a few years to get some perspective.

From what I understand there's a level of racial/religious/political intolerance in evidence, though I haven't personally experienced it. However, I don't talk religion and politics with people, two topics that have led to more anger and bigotry than most other things combined. Just not worth it. As for racial discrimination, this area is mostly white people. There are hispanics, native americans and a smattering of other races, but predominantly white. The vast majority of people I've talked to seem quite pleasant, but (again, so I've heard) there are those who are just not tolerant.

I think Prescott itself is more expensive to live in and gets much more traffic from tourism. Prescott Valley is a big sprawl with a decent sized population. Chino Valley is the smallest of the 3 "tri-cities" with more of a country feel, though it's growing as well. Prescott gets the worst of the winter weather, being higher elevation. PV and CV are a bit lower so not as bad with the snow, but they get heavier winds since they are on open plains rather than up against a forested mountain.

I moved out of a heavily populated area to come here (in Chino Valley) and I love the peace and quiet, the low population density, the crisp air, the 4 seasons. The economy sucks everywhere and jobs are scarce, but if you're not relying on finding employment then really your choice of P, PV or CV depends on what kind of lifestyle you want. All 3 have their advantages and disadvantages. I chose CV for less people and a little more temperate conditions weather-wise, outside of the heavier winds we get periodically from storms or when seasons transition.

The negatives you'd associate with any society are existent to varying degrees, including crime and drugs. There is no utopia, even Mayberry had it's share of crimes and boozers. There's a level of hypocrisy and discrimination in the area--my feeling is that some people haven't moved into the 21st century yet...maybe not even the 20th century. It's a different world. Dinosaurs died off because they couldn't adapt. Change is part of life's cycle, you either embrace it and try to give it positive direction, or you resist it and get ground into obscurity.

Again, I'm new to the area, but have had family around for some time. There's been good and bad, but overall it beats the heck out of living in places like LA, Phoenix, etc., if you're not fond of city life. Definitely more country out here.

[DellNec]

Here is the list of "negatives" about Prescott:

- Lack of good paying jobs
- Lack of diversity (96% white)
- High incidents of racism
- Poor access to medical care
- Lack of trauma center & specialized care (one must travel 100+ miles to Phoenix for care)
- High cost of living
- 1940's attitude towards blacks and those of ethnicity (see racism)
- over zealous police department
- small selection of restaurants & stores
- absolutely NO nightlife/clubs
- lack of long-term infrastructure
- disproportionally high rate of meth/drug use
- disproportionally high rate of homeless people(see above)
- high unemployment rate (12%-18% depending on stat)

[Esenjay]

And though some of that is slightly overstated--some of it is the reason I don't live in downtown Prescott.

[LookinForMayberry]

Prescott was terrific about thirty years ago. When we were there in 2008, it was just another small town overburdened by new developments and a sadly deteriorating downtown historic district turned tourist trap. It was on our "Mayberry" list, until we saw what had happened to it.

Same is true for nearby Jerome. It was such a gem, long ago. It was sad to see the declines wrought by commercialism and development.

[keninaz]

Wow, I don't know what you are looking for but Jerome to me is a remote hole with nothing.
We were there not to long ago and we like to take the drive over the hill to see the fall colors.
Jerome has not changed much unless there is some side road with something on it we are not aware of.
It's just an old mining town with not much of anything anymore.
If you are referring to the tourist trap that it has become fine. but that's all they have now to exist or so it seems.
People have always come to Prescott for many years for many reasons. The tour companies take them up on buses to see the original state capitol of course and the history that is here and goes with it.
But many in the valley just like to come up here and shave 15-25° off the hot temps in the valley during the summers and cool off. Many tour here on motorcycles, cars etc from March through Oct in particular.
They also seem to rush up here to see the snow when that happens, our park XMAS lighting and such.
Yes I know Prescott likes the tourist $ and encourages it.
We just stay away from the courthouse on weekends if we don't want the crowds as that is where most of the events are at.
People have been coming out of the hot valley to Prescott for years and years. Did you not notice summer cabins 30 years ago? They were here.
My wife was born and raised in AZ and many kids camps are located up in the forests of this area that she attended.
And most of the building of new housing is over in PV, not Prescott.

[keninaz]

Originally Posted by DellNec

Here is the list of "negatives" about Prescott:

- Lack of good paying jobs
- Lack of diversity (96% white)
- High incidents of racism
- Poor access to medical care
- Lack of trauma center & specialized care (one must travel 100+ miles to Phoenix for care)
- High cost of living
- 1940's attitude towards blacks and those of ethnicity (see racism)
- over zealous police department
- small selection of restaurants & stores
- absolutely NO nightlife/clubs
- lack of long-term infrastructure
- disproportionally high rate of meth/drug use
- disproportionally high rate of homeless people(see above)
- high unemployment rate (12%-18% depending on stat)

You know from looking at your posts I must assume you are in Prescott or close but you won't say.
But you seem to be so disgusted with Prescott I am not sure why you are still here.
You seem to not like the fact that this area has few blacks. I don't know why that is but it's true. But 96% white? I don't think so. We have quite a large Hispanic and Indian population as well. I also don't see many Asians but you did not mention them.
Cost of living? OK it's a desired area. Live with it.
The police? Come on, we know you did not like the fact that the police followed standard arrest procedures on the Elks manager they arrested recently. Just curious, what do you think about LEOs shooting people down in the valley at Phoenix and Tucson on a regular basis? When is the last time anyone was shot here? Just the facts.
Small selection of restaurants & stores? Really? For a small town this has excellent shopping and lots of places to eat. We have both excellent independent restaurants and chains alike. Take a look around at other smaller towns in AZ. There is no comparison.
No night clubs or night life. Well, this is not a big town but that's OK with me.
Drug use. I see it in PV somewhat but not in Prescott. Homeless, yes we do seem to have a few around town all the time. I guess they like it here too.
High unemployment~yes there is. All over AZ for that matter.
The hospital, doctors availability and such are far better that the Sierra Vista area and I have had very good luck here with that.


You appear to want all the features and actions of a large town without the problems that go with it like drugs and crime.
You have stated elsewhere you don't like the WX here and that until 1954 the WX was better.

It would appear that you like nothing about Prescott but you live here. I would suggest that you linger for the "old days" but yet your comments about night life confuse me as that's a younger man's comments. Perhaps you are a lonley older man.
I am not sure about your comments about racism and concern for lack of blacks. I will grant you that there are some rednecks here and elsewhere in AZ.

But if you are so in need of the things you say and dislike the area so much why not just pack up and leave. But I have to tell you I cannot think of a place you are going to like.
Or is your primary purpose to discourage others from coming to Prescott??
Or would you just like some cheese with your whine????

[toothless grin]

re: Diversity.

Having lived in a few small, 'Mayberryesque' towns (it seems to be my fate), they seem to rhyme in a few ways. Typically, they were born as independent units, apart from major metro areas, usually based on either mining or ranching...with the type of culture that that implies. Double bonus points for the monied interests building a good looking downtown in their heyday (check out Ajo for instance), attractive public buildings and compact commercial districts appear to have disappeared as a concept in recent decades.

In any case, some number of people moving in go through the following three step process.

1) They like the town, it appears to be tolerably prosperous and (most importantly) it feels 'safe'. This is usually a code word for 'is filled with white people'.
2) Once they move there, they start pounding the drum to start reinventing the place to better suit them. It's a natural human condition, there's no helping it. I, for one, really make an attempt to not tell the natives how things oughtta be, mostly because I lack context, but a lot of people just can't help it.
3) A large part of the reinvention consists of complaining about how non-diverse the place is, which, oddly enough, is likely why they moved there to begin with. Lately you get to hear a lot of fuss about 'racism' which in these more isolated towns is actually a form of disinterest rather than an active dislike for others.

re: Jerome. I haven't been there for years, but the value I can see goes as follows.
. Walkable downtown with just enough stuff to give you a social outing (library, restaurants, couple of bars).
. Interesting look to the place, lots of old buildings, amazing views. Kind of a stepchild to Bisbee.
. Not conjoined with a larger town. Actually appears to have a border.
. 8 miles (is that right? something like that) from Cottonwood with all the shopping, etc. that goes with.

re: Lack of jobs.
No surprise there. Small towns are rarely a hotbed of professional gigs. One difference I've seen over time goes hand in hand with the tendency towards gigantism in commercial life. It seems to me that there has been a movement away from self-employment through the years (a comparison to the primacy of the single family farm 100 years ago being the extreme case) and towards working for others. The simple truth of the matter is that if you are physically or psychically unable to be your own rainmaker, pretty much the only jobs working for large companies in small towns tends to consist of pushing the button with a picture of the big cup of Coca Cola(tm). At least counting back change is a less needed job skill these days given modern cash registers.

[toothless grin]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

Prescott was terrific about thirty years ago. When we were there in 2008, it was just another small town overburdened by new developments and a sadly deteriorating downtown historic district turned tourist trap..

To tell you the truth, I think you'll be hard pressed to not find that same case in practically any semi-desirable small town.

After 50 years of upsizing commercial life, by that I mean things like:

family owned grocery store -> chain store (Safeway) -> big box store
family owned drug store -> chain store -> big box store
family owned restaurant-> chain restaurant
family owned car dealership -> dealership chain
etc.

It's hard to find a downtown that hasn't been turned into an antique and gift store mall surrounded by too many restaurants. Perhaps $10/gallon gas will change everything, I couldn't say.

As a side note, these town will all live on in some form or the other. Probably the most important thing is that worthwhile buildings were built and that horrendous urban sprawl was avoided, at least to the extent possible. The fact that many of these towns grossly loaded up on real estate agencies, for example, was a purely temporary bit of ugliness which is now being dealt with by reality.

An interesting experiment to do is to look at towns from orbit via Google maps. That's a place where the difference between 19th and 20th century living arrangements is pretty darned obvious.

[smilinpretty]

Originally Posted by DellNec

Here is the list of "negatives" about Prescott:

- Lack of good paying jobs
- Lack of diversity (96% white)
- High incidents of racism
- Poor access to medical care
- Lack of trauma center & specialized care (one must travel 100+ miles to Phoenix for care)
- High cost of living
- 1940's attitude towards blacks and those of ethnicity (see racism)
- over zealous police department
- small selection of restaurants & stores
- absolutely NO nightlife/clubs
- lack of long-term infrastructure
- disproportionally high rate of meth/drug use
- disproportionally high rate of homeless people(see above)
- high unemployment rate (12%-18% depending on stat)

'
Most of your posts seem to be on the negative side. I know you own your own business, you have employees, you are married with small children. I am wondering why you just don't move? Where would you like to live, if not here?
When this poster asked this question, before I even opened up the link
I knew you would reply in the same tone as you did. YOu did not disappoint me in the least.

Poor medical care? You got to be kidding me??? You haven't seen poor medical care until you live in Lake Havasu City, AZ. That is Poor Medical Care.