Might buy a house in Tucson. Tell me alllll me all about it (Phoenix: best neighborhoods, crime)

[BunnyRaptor]

So tell me all about Tucson. I'm a 40 something female living with my late 30s girlfriend of 12 years. Liberal, very blue. Currently in Tempe. our job has a location in Tucson so we are thinking of buying a house. Tell me everything you know. Best neighborhoods for 300k or less... Work is near Palo Verde neighborhood, what's it like there? Politics of Tucson? How are the restaurant and nightlife doing? Do big music acts and comedy acts visit often? Parks? Museums? Tell me just all you'd like to share please. Including what traffic is like. In PHX area it's absolutely terrible. Wrong way crashes, speeding, bad freeways etc. Thanks!

[Adamson865]

In case you didn't know since this is your first post, CDF has a great search feature - you can search the Tucson forum for answers to all your questions. It's all been covered in depth.

[grmi66]

Tucson had acts like The Police, U2, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and more make stops here up until about 1990. All the big shows go straight to Phoenix now. Even smaller acts avoid Tucson now and just know that their fans from down here will drive all the way up to Phoenix for a big club show or one of the smaller auditoriums. If live music is a must have for you, it's lacking down here. Which is sad because Tucson used to have a great reputation for live music, at one time it was viewed as similar to Austin or Seattle with club shows every night of the week from good bands both local and national.

[Roli]

I have lived in the midtown Palo Verde neighborhood for thirty years. I think the OP mentioned Palo Verde in their post. It is pretty quiet here. It was rougher thirty years ago. My daughter who is 26 grew up on this street and she laughs about the danger of midtown. Not actually a lot of crime (don't leave your car running with the keys in it! DOH and don't leave packages or wallets!! in your car overnight or on the porch. Check mail nightly.) Houses here are getting snapped up instantly. My new neighbors are all in their 20s and 30s and very hip and street-wise. If you've lived in any American urban setting you will be fine. Our street has two gay couples and three African American and mixed race families. I think $300,000 will get you a nice house in midtown if you're patient.
We have many ethnic restaurants in our area. Korean, African, Middle Eastern grocery stores and Japanese gardens and the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
There is a lively scene of new music downtown. Just get the Tucson Weekly free newspaper or go online on that site and you can see tons of new up-and-coming bands and old ones which will be playing at Club Congress or the Rialto. I doubt people your age would want to see famous old bands of the 1980s though LOL.
Hope this helps! Enjoy Tucson! We are very accepting of different lifestyles.

[steiconi]

The casinos have live music and comedy shows.
Casino del Sol shows coming up:
https://www.casinodelsol.com/enterta...upcoming-shows
Bee Gees! Woohoo! They recently headlined the Beach Boys and Gabriel Iglesias. Excited yet?

[BunnyRaptor]

So I'm learning the midtown area is nice, sorry I meant my work is down by the airport south of the 10. One thing I hate about this phoenix area is that PHX is right next to Tempe but to get there is hard. I have to take 2 different dangerous freeways to get to downtown. Is traffic convoluted in a Tucson too? I know everyone drives like a jerk in AZ but how are the traffic, like , patterns?

[Roli]

It's a snap to get to the airport, or points south, from midtown (Let's say Speedway and Alvernon). It takes approximately 11 minutes. I always use Alvernon which moves rapidly south of 22nd. No traffic problems. I have driven that route many times, all days of the week, for thirty years and I've never had a delay picking up an arrival or leaving town. I always leave early, though, because I'm a Nervous Nellie.
I breeze around the city using small streets. I go east/west on Pima. No traffic at all. I travel north/south on Columbus. It looks like the level of traffic in 1960 most days. Country Club is another quiet north south route. Glenn is deserted. You could fire a cannon down Fort Lowell and rarely hit a car. This town is very quiet, folks. While you wait at a stop light for the two or three cars to pass the intersections of the streets I named, you can actually contemplate your navel in silence!

[corydon]

Originally Posted by BunnyRaptor

I know everyone drives like a jerk in AZ

Have you met every driver in this, rather big, state?

[motormaker]

Originally Posted by corydon

Have you met every driver in this, rather big, state?

I suspect she read it in the AZ or Phx forum.

[BunnyRaptor]

No I didn't read it.. I live it! It's scary to drive here and be a pedestrian in the PHX metro area. I got ran over in a crosswalk in Mesa a few years ago.