Expanding the Tucson Forum (Phoenix, Yuma: homes, university, wages)

[tumamoc]

This not a very active forum. Only five threads active in the past two weeks (six if you count this one ). Maybe it should be rebranded the "Tucson-Southern Arizona" and include other cities and their metros such as Yuma, Nogales, Benson, Sierra Vista, Safford, etc. You know, the whole southern Arizona strip. Perhaps this could liven it up a bit.

[adventuregurl]

I know, it seems a little dead.

[jhny12]

Agreed

[Adamson865]

Disagree. Discussing Yuma isn't going to give anybody looking at Tucson as a potential destination (whether temporary or permanent) any help at all.

That said, I agree this forum is dead. After moving here, I was surprised to find that this was the first city forum I've ever participated in where there was absolutely no discussion about local politics, city council, county commission, local events, etc. How about TMC's lawsuit against the opioid producers? The local university basketball player pulled over for "extreme DUI"? The debate on the city council about how to spend road repair funds?

When the highlight of the forum is someone flogging YouTube videos (which I blocked a long time ago because I find it inappropriate), everyone else needs to step up to the plate and start having actual discussions. Lacking that, adding distant locales won't help anything.

[grmi66]

I just moved here and would agree for a city Tucson's size this is least active of the cities I've lived in for the past 10 years. Lived in Boise for a bit and their forum is pretty active even it is always the same three discussions.

[Colt AZ]

Actually, what makes you people believe that C-D is all that Tucsonans are into?

There's a whole 'nother world out there, and they're out there doing what they need to do to make Tucson what it is.

You guys just need to go out and find your own world -- away from here. Forums aren't everything, except perhaps to you. Take your nit-pickin' discussions elsewhere.

Tucson is and always has been just fine!

[Jimrob1]

Just passing by the forums, and saw this one.

For those of you that live there. What are your feelings on why the forum is so slow? I spent a little time there. I found the area nice but very slow, for a city that size. It fact I found Tucson to be unusually slow across the board. I just assumed it developed that way, by attracting populations that like slow and easy. I think that trait carries over, to even an internet forum. It would have to.

Try listing the forum as Southern Arizona for awhile. See if it catches on, and brings more activity. If it doesn't I guess the forum could return to a Tucson forum.

[grmi66]

This is purely my personal observation since moving here 6 weeks ago. But in various forums or Tucson specific FB pages across the board when I posted something I get little to no response. Might just be a Tucson thing. Friends of mine have commented the same thing. Post on a large Tucson FB page for something simple and easy and get nothing but echoes.

[LeoDaVinci]

This forum isn’t active because Tucson is sleepy and moves at a crawl. It has neither the economy nor the population to be vibrant. You need a lot of young, educated, witty, high-achieving, risk-taking smart ambitious people to set the pace for the whole city: this group is horribly underrepresented in Pima county. They usually move to another city where they can find the jobs they want. You need ideas, dreams and desires to make life flow through the arteries of a city. I can’t find much in those departments, in real life.

Too many people are happy with their low-skills, low-wages jobs, and don’t strive to improve themselves. Others speak basic English only, and don’t seem to be interested in anything that goes on outside the small world of their extended families. Then you have the thousands of retirees on a tight budget, who chose this area because of the cheap housing options. There are also people with money, but in most cases they earned it somewhere else. They also tend to live in outlying areas, and their links to the community are tenuous. They are here to enjoy their golden years, and deservedly so. But you can’t count on them to make the city sparkle.

Maybe because they have nothing else to do or they enjoy their tight-knit family life, or just because they are at an age when they really love the comforts of their homes, most folks lock themselves inside even on the most pleasant evenings and nights. Socialization can wait. Nobody gives a hoot about the great national debates.

[Hschlick84]

Originally Posted by LeoDaVinci

This forum isn’t active because Tucson is sleepy and moves at a crawl. It has neither the economy nor the population to be vibrant. You need a lot of young, educated, witty, high-achieving, risk-taking smart ambitious people to set the pace for the whole city: this group is horribly underrepresented in Pima county. They usually move to another city where they can find the jobs they want. You need ideas, dreams and desires to make life flow through the arteries of a city. I can’t find much in those departments, in real life.

Too many people are happy with their low-skills, low-wages jobs, and don’t strive to improve themselves. Others speak basic English only, and don’t seem to be interested in anything that goes on outside the small world of their extended families. Then you have the thousands of retirees on a tight budget, who chose this area because of the cheap housing options. There are also people with money, but in most cases they earned it somewhere else. They also tend to live in outlying areas, and their links to the community are tenuous. They are here to enjoy their golden years, and deservedly so. But you can’t count on them to make the city sparkle.

Maybe because they have nothing else to do or they enjoy their tight-knit family life, or just because they are at an age when they really love the comforts of their homes, most folks lock themselves inside even on the most pleasant evenings and nights. Socialization can wait. Nobody gives a hoot about the great national debates.

That's how Prescott and some parts of Prescott Valley are. Slow paced, low skilled, and don't have much ambition. It doesn't help when you have rich California retirees moving into the state and making the demographics out of balance and increasing housing costs. Eventually they vote in the same politicians into office and keep the status quo. What it does is pushes the blue collar and working class out of the area and they migrate to Phoenix. It doesn't need to be this way.