AZ is really changing (Phoenix, Scottsdale: salon, real estate, crime)

[keninaz]

I first visited the Sedona area in 1967 while I was stationed at Fort Huachuca, AZ.
A group of us rode our new Honda 305 motorcycles (lots of them purchased by GIs at the fort then) up there for the weekend. We camped in the forest areas for 3 days back then.
I remember riding up there and spending time along the creek going up to Flagstaff. Then I don't remember any designated parking then but what was there was free too unlike today's lots that charge for parking just a short time all along 89.
Sedona has grown too of course and not for the good in my opinion but I guess that's progress for you.
I was told by locals at the time that CA types that fled CA settled in the area in the 60s and that started the changes in the local area.

[Sorel36]

When I was there last year locals told me that back in de day they could drive all around Sedona and never see another car. Now they have to pay for parking everywhere they go and the tourist population is as big as the local population. They seemed upset about it too.

[infocyde]

At least they have volunteers now who direct traffic through town. As far as traffic that really helps move things along. You go on and off day and you can still catch a bit of the old magic. My son really liked the playground that shots water out of the ground in East sedona off the beaten path. You can get some viewed of the mountains away from a lot of the tourist there.

[flint8ball]

Yep, population explosion and access to information = less in the way of unknown, un-visited, un-populated cool places.

[Nogi48]

Blame the "locals". They're the ones who sold off the land in the first place.

[Hawk J]

Dad got orders to Fort Huachuca in 1959. We had some wonderful times camping/fishing/exploring parts of Arizona...
Then our family was transferred to Fort Ord, CA.

[jamies]

Yes, AZ is changing, and not for the better. Thanks mostly to the interlopers from the west and south who come, bring their drugs and crime and crazy politics then want to change things to suit them.

Not too many years ago we were teaching a firearm course at Ft. Huachuca and had a bunch of AR15's in the truck. The hotel outside the main gate (Holiday Inn?? I forget) was in kind of a sketchy area, and leaving $10,000 worth of guns in the truck overnight didn't seem wise. So we each slung about 6 rifles over our shoulders and walked right through the lobby at happy hour! Nobody even batted an eye. (Of course the hotel was all military contractors staying there.) Can you imagine doing that today? The snowflakes would be swooning in their lattes and the place would be surrounded by every SWAT team for 100 miles (well OK, that would be like... one. LOL )

The traffic everywhere has become terrible. We got stuck in rush hour in Phoenix last July. You haven't lived until you are in a traffic jam when it's 116 degrees and cars are overheating left and right making it worse. Even the northern rural areas aren't immune the 17 is regularly shut down for accidents and snow in the winter.

Last winter we were trying to get from the River to Flagstaff for snow boarding. The grade outside of Ash Fork was backed up for 10 miles by a crash. Thank gawd for a lifted 4WD truck! We cranked that sucka into low and plowed through about 2 feet of snow and brush across the median and drove home. Eff that.

Try driving the 93 from Kingman to Phoenix on a Friday or Sunday. It's just jammed with people going to and from Vegas. Sometimes there's a mile or two backup going into Kingman. That never happened before.

And Flagstaff - just NEVER go there on a snow weekend, or any time it snows with all the flatlanders sliding around.

Sedona - I love but the only time you can go and not be crowded is mid-week in January. And the hotel prices are just, insane!

It could be worse - we could all be stuck on an LA Freeway.

[trouillot]

Been around. Years of driving across GW bridge and navigating NYC roads. Spent years crawling along 405 in LA listening for CIG alerts. Phoenix was easy peasy after that. That said, dislike feeling of driving in Phoenix. That stretch of highway past airport depressed me for some reason. I got queasy seeing endless acres of housing developments. Painted toenails in flip flops in Fall. Synthetic stucco over chicken wire, artificial grass, mist sprayers, gravel yards. Phoenix plenty good mom and pop Mexican takeout in barrio (though New Mexico hatch my first choice). Love The Heard and Musical Instrument Museum. Parts of Scottsdale good time with out-of-town family/friends. That said, more mentally healthy living in Verde Valley or kicking around downtown Prescott and Courthouse Square. Easier on the soul after good part of a life spent in big cities. Honestly often think about how everywhere I've lived previously, have become less desirable than I remember in earlier times. Sedona, Central Coast of CA, Los Feliz, Pasadena, Venice, Santa Monica, Orange County (CA), Newport Beach, Marina Del Rey, Laguna, Big Sur, Santa Rosa, Berkeley, Westwood, Sherman Oaks, Virginia Beach, Dallas/Arlington/Fort Worth, Bucks County PA, Bucks County (PA), Westchester County (NY), Silver City (NM), Santa Fe (NM), Miami, FL (has done a better job preserving historic buildings and popular landmarks in many places than most cities.), (North Miami, Downtown Miami, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, South Miami (Kendall, etc.), Cutler Ridge, Hialeah, Miami Springs, Sweetwater, Homestead, the Keys. Bedroom communities north of Atlanta (Woodstock, Roswell, Alpharetta, Crabapple, etc.), to my memories become overgrown and reimagined rather than restored. I must visit areas in southern part of state. Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Charleston, Savannah and Sarasota uptown areas nice, though travel short ways outside those touristy areas and reality sets in. Growth, population changes, cost of living, air quality, transportation issues have diminished desirability. Better restaurants/shopping choices don't make up for the negatives. Todays young to mid-lifer's coping with present best they can. Some of my seniors who passed-on, told me stories of places I lived, back before I lived there, and how much better it was back when they lived there. I think based on personal experiences, most have hard time seeing associative memories of landmarks, historic buildings erased (altered/paved over/torn down/replaced). Think most have strong feelings for permeance of buildings and natural landmarks within places they live/know. All Throughout Europe, Asia, there are many buildings and natural landmarks that have remained for centuries. Permeance of the buildings and landmarks in places we inhabit are more important than many of us realize to our well-being and mental health. Preserving the past, as preserving the environment that that past exists in matters greatly. We all have our opinions. Disagreements are understandable. Your opinions are as valid to you as mine are to me. Know a nice place that's managed to hold onto the past while incorporating the future, that is not out-of-sight expensive? Like to hear about it if you dare share the secret.

[cjs123]

Originally Posted by jamies

The traffic everywhere has become terrible. We got stuck in rush hour in Phoenix last July. You haven't lived until you are in a traffic jam when it's 116 degrees and cars are overheating left and right making it worse.

It could be worse - we could all be stuck on an LA Freeway.

I've lived in AZ Phoenix area for almost 30 years and...oh, yeah. Traffic is nuts. I now live in San Tan Valley and commute to Central Phoenix. Didn't start out that way; I had a great remote job which lasted almost 11 years but then our department was eliminated.

I like where I live and I like where I work now (it took some time to find a place to settle in), so I deal with the drive.

And...though it was only for an interview, I remember driving into downtown LA on a Monday morning many years ago.

Now if only all non-commuters, snowbirds or otherwise, would stay off all roadways from 6am - 9am ... And if I ever get to retire, I promise I will too!

[veritased]

Some of us coming from the West are actually fleeing the West, and coming to AZ for all that it used to be, as you all describe it. I think many of Californias refugees are in this camp. I know that increases traffic, raises real estate value, and for that I am sorry, nothing good comes of us coming here, except two things, maybe:
1) a vote per person for conservative issues, especially gun rights, low taxes
2) some different backgrounds, maybe starting some businesses here that would hire and not be yet another restaurant, nail salon or other service business.

Again, sorry for the intrusion to your state, but man it's really bad in CA, and we want all that stuff left behind us.
We never voted for any of it, but we became the last minority in the closet. The gays got out and are living happily ever after, and good for them, I guess, but then conservatives had to keep quiet or face the scorn of all our #woke neighbors.