phoenix az ?
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- traut
anyone live out there what are the pros / cons. i have an offer to move out there but not sure yet.
- mpfree0
ask cosmo and PonyBoy
- studderine0
living is pretty cheap overall. there are some good design firms in the tempe - scottsdale - phoenix area. plus, it's always sunny. the public transit system is horrible, so you'll need a car. do it!
- ********0
Phoenix is the epitome of suburban sprawl, for 80miles from one side to the other..Endless, endless blocks of generico houses, gas stations and strip malls, from downright scary to upscale - take your pick..
There is no real downtown culture at all, but fun to be had in swanky bars in Scottsdale, or trawling Tempe with 50000 ASU students.
It IS always sunny, and gets very very hot, when things just seem to shutdown..
You do have to drive everywhere, and Phoenix drivers are notoriously bad. Old cars die young in the blistering heat... Can be a great place to live if you edge over a certain income, below that, and it's not nice...We once got our electric cut off when it was 110degrees, it ended up being 100F inside the house at 4am...Pick a shadier part of the sprawl and you'll be dodging shirtless 100lb tweakers shouting 'new jack city, motherfuckers!' and possibly chased down an alley by one..
The actual scenery is rugged and takes some getting used to - ie, no trees or grass, but it has a stark beauty that grows on you..
It's a huge place, overall, with everything you could want, but very 'young' culturally, with no real sense of history or identity. I liked it there, but it wouldnt be on my top 5 of places to move to.
- lvl_130
never lived there but have visited. pretty much what miko said. the urban sprawl of shitty strip malls is enough to keep me away. that and the ridiculously dry and hot weather in the summer. brutal!
- Ramanisky20
dont forget
theres always Lake Havasu
- studderine0
oh boy. yea..well if you live the 'burbs anywhere in America you will see strip malls and cookie cutter houses. downtown phoenix has a booming art scene and music scene. they have a first Friday art walk, like many large cities do. Tempe is good for bars and being young in general.
- cosmo0
There first Friday every month in downtown, a ton of artist gather. Three - four months of brutal heat, rest of the year is splendid. A million burrito places to eat at. Plenty of pretty women to lust over.
Shit there is also a "Pink Taco" in scottsdale.
- nearestexit0
Pros: Warm winters. Housing market is still bottoming out. Decent job market for city it's size (moot point if you already have an offer).
Cons: Very hot summers. Traffic. Public Transporation is a joke -- you have to drive everywhere. Air pollution is comparable to L.A.'s
Overall, nice place to chill for awhile. I wouldn't want to raise a family here. Oh wait. I am raising a family.
- studderine0
oh yes. there are plenty of pretty women. there seems to be no shortage of pretty girls out here. its insane. i have had conversations with guys from the midwest, east coast and they cant believe how many pretty girls there are. yea for AZ! born and raised!
- OSFA0
pics?
- PonyBoy0
there are some 'okay' firms here... but the clientèle is pretty much hung up on looking and feeling 'local'... thus, the 'firms/agencies' as-they-were pretty much are packed w/'yes men'...
...if you're looking to work on Nat'l accounts, you'll probably need to go freelance if you move to phx - working for L.A. and N.Y. firms/agencies...
... but the cost of living is cheaper than the above mentioned cities. :)
This is a very athletic town (tons of street basketball games etc)... plenty of parks, golf courses, hiking/mountain reserves right in the city and 'man-made' lakes all very 'local' to the outskirts of the phx metro area on all sides...
... plus - you're 8 hours from the Ocean - both Rocky Pointe, Mex. (Sea of Cortez) or San Diego (Pacific)... etc...
... North of phx are the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff(beautiful)... 2 hours further is the Grand Canyon or Lake Powell...
... 2 hours South is Tucson and Mexico...
4-5 hours (depending on how backed up the Hoover Damn is...)... is Vegas...
So... there's pro's and con's... Don't look for much of an art culture (they're trying down in the roosevelt/monorchid studies area... first fridays etc - but it's become more of a Land Development for townhomes and over-priced shops rather than studio space... )...
... "...and that's all I have to say about that-Tuh."
-F. Gump
- jaylarson0
crime is pretty high there for a metro area.
- studderine0
you want pics, just search "asu"
- jaylarson0
crime link:
http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/s…
- studderine0
a lot of tweakers yea..but ive never had any problems as far as running in to them. of course, i dont live in downtown
- PonyBoy0
crime?
yeah... my brother's car was stolen right out of our driveway about a year ago...
... about those 'street basketball games'... they can get out of hand - my brother argued a 'foul' call w/some guy, bent down to pick up the basket ball... and the next thing he knew he was in the E.R. having two screws and a plate attached to his skull to hold his eye in place...
... plus, the way this area has spread out over the last 30 years... you have 'patches' of nice neighborhoods then BAM... ghetto... then.. BAM... nice again...
- cosmo0
Meth Capital.
- cosmo0
Pony lives in the ghetto.
- PonyBoy0
my buddy (right over near cosmo) back in college was sitting up in his apartment doing his homework when his walls literally shook and building foundation cracked from the explosion in the building next to his... from some guy blowing himself up in his meth lab.
- jaylarson0
i was there as a kid. i mostly remember the smog being trapped between the mountains. crime and pollution aside, that area of the country is gorgeous. fantastic sunrises and twilights!