Pros and cons of living in tucson (Phoenix, Prescott: safe area, homeschooling)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

Cities change from year to year so what are the latest pros and cons of living in Tucson? Is the city changing for the better or simply staying the 2nd largest city in the shadow of Phoenix? What are peoples unbiased views on living in Tucson? Are there reasons beyond the climate that will draw people to keep moving there, or will population growth slow down? Does Tucson still attract retirees in large numbers, or does all the talk of high crime somewhat slowed down the retiree migration.

Thanks.

I know this is an old thread, but here are my pros and cons, based on living there from 1988-1995

Pros

--Great weather (didn't like the heat, but it's better than the cold, anyday)
--Great scenery
--A farily liberal area, but still balanced. As someone who is both gay but otherwise fairly conservative politically, the place worked pretty well for me. I like that aspect of it better than where I live now (Bay Area) where the liberal mindset can be pretty rigid (Being both openly gay & conservative here makes you a pariah).
--The U of A campus is cool. Lots of cultural happenings offered by the U of A (although it's true, you may have to make some effort to look for them)
--Has a lot of fun stuff to do for a metro area its size. I lived in the Sacramento metro area, which has 2x the population of Tucson, but Tucson had as much or more stuff to do (both outdoor and indoor).
--Tucson has its rich, but it's generally not a flashy area. Even the well off foothills area just doesn't give off a flashy vibe.
--City government wasn't blatantly corrupt. Government unions didn't seem to be overly demanding in terms of wages / benefits (unlike here in Califoria, where we're going to go broke trying to pay for government worker pensions, amongst other things). Of course, this may have changed since I moved.


Cons

--Poor employment base heavy on low wage industries.
--Relatively high cost of living considering the low wages.
--Lots of people have BARE DIRT and GRAY GRAVEL in their front yards, with no landscaping whatsoever. I used to HATE that. Now, desert landscaping I love. I'm not saying everyone should have grass. But bare dirt and rocks are not what you see in the surrounding desert, and do not count as "desert landscaping" or the "natural desert" as I used to hear people say. The lack of home landscaping also increases the requirement for air conditioning.
--No part of the metro area offers the possibility of a true urban lifestyle. At least in the 1990s, the downtown would be desolate at night. Not much of a mix of business/residential/shopping area as some other downtowns have.
--In general, a lack of vision. People in Tucson only know what they don't want. They don't want to be L.A., or Phoenix, or Vegas. They seem to want the status quo, in terms of not wanting the population to grow, even though they know that is unrealistic. So development and transportation planning happen in default mode, leading to a big sprawling city with poor transportation infrastructure (lack of both good mass transit and freeways).
--Crime rate is kinda high.

[odinloki1]

Pros:

Good bike lanes, Mt Lemmon Highway
A mediocre national park close by as well as national forests
Not Phoenix

Cons:

Overpriced
Most everyone is underpaid
Education is nott valued even the "best" schools are ones I would not want to send my kids to (I was a teacher in an Excelling school)
Any attractions you'd want to go see are EXTREMELY overpriced. Air and space museum, biosphere etc. So not worth the money. Especially when it seems like they have so many staff members that are volunteers.
Pain in the a$$ to get anywhere because of traffic with no highways.
Its the desert, too much sun for any white person to really enjoy doing anything outside. Can anyone say melanoma?

I suppose if I liked the desert and was rich and retiring, Tucson would be paradise. For a young working person though who would like to start a family, I would never go back. Glad i got out.

[mir86]

tehehee..as much as I hate Tucson, I would bet it beats Michigan any day!

[Marcy1210]

Originally Posted by mir86

tehehee..as much as I hate Tucson, I would bet it beats Michigan any day!

It most definitely beats Michigan. Detroit is the sewer of the nation with crime, drugs, urban decay, and more. I was born and grew up in Ann Arbor but was lucky enough to go out of state for college. My entire family and my husband's still live in Michigan. Wouldn't move back for anything. Our annual two week visit is hard enough as the state is in such an economic depression. My family lives all over the state: Charlevoix, West Branch, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and mostly Farmington Hills. Arizona is heaven compared to Michigan.

[mir86]

Originally Posted by actinic

And you lived there when? tehehee.

What makes you hate Tucson?

I never said I lived there, hence the "I'd bet..." and I've heard awful things about Michigan, plus I'm not a fan of extreme cold so I already know I wouldn't like it. I've heard Northern Michigan is beautiful, but again, extreme cold is not for me.


I don't exactly HATE Tucson. I'm young and have no opportunities to move forward with my life job wise and its a pain driving through town because of all the lights and the drivers that are always in lala land who never let you pass them if they're going slow. Educationally I have opportunities yes, but ideally, I'd like to go to school where I'd likely be working upon graduation as I hate moving and readjusting to a new location (especially the older I get). Unfortunately, the UofA is my only educational option (for financial reasons) so that I can move forward job wise. Other than that, I like that we're really close to much better cities and there's a lot to do outside and people can be odd here, but for the most part, much friendlier than what I dealt with in LA. The weather is impossible during the summer but at least winters are tolerable, as I only have to pour room temperature water on my windshield in the mornings to break up ice instead of scraping and driving through 10 feet of snow. I guess you can put me in the "would leave if I could, but I can't so I'm stuck here" category.

Marcy-That's exactly what I've heard which is why I'd much rather live in this hell instead of that hell any day! I've made a lot of friends over the years that are from Michigan and they for the most part, would never go back!

[_Charles_]

I've always liked Tucson (what I know of it) but my life is here in Phoenix.
I have met many U of A grads that moved here after finishing school.
They wanted to stay in AZ and needed to come here to Phoenix for jobs - none to be had in Tucson.

[banddranch]

Will be relocating to Tucson for a modest retirement next year, partly to be near our aging in-laws who live on the east side, partly because we love Arizona's beauty. Like others, I'm a bit fearful of the anti-immigrant laws, lack of gun laws, lack of quality planning (not Tucson's fault apparently - the State doesn't allow much in the way of environmental review.) I'm ok with the lack of freeways - and do want some walkability. My brother-in-law thinks we should stay north of River Road, but I prefer more diversity and want to be closer to the downtown and U of A. The talk about crime is disturbing, but not sure if that is "real" or right-wing chatter and more anti-immigrant hysteria. With the economy now in tough times, and housing prices much cheaper in Tucson, I'm interested in hearing about people's thoughts of which neighborhoods are best. Thanks.

[RickTucsonHomes]

Originally Posted by banddranch

Will be relocating to Tucson for a modest retirement next year, partly to be near our aging in-laws who live on the east side, partly because we love Arizona's beauty. Like others, I'm a bit fearful of the anti-immigrant laws, lack of gun laws, lack of quality planning (not Tucson's fault apparently - the State doesn't allow much in the way of environmental review.) I'm ok with the lack of freeways - and do want some walkability. My brother-in-law thinks we should stay north of River Road, but I prefer more diversity and want to be closer to the downtown and U of A. The talk about crime is disturbing, but not sure if that is "real" or right-wing chatter and more anti-immigrant hysteria. With the economy now in tough times, and housing prices much cheaper in Tucson, I'm interested in hearing about people's thoughts of which neighborhoods are best. Thanks.

Crime in Tucson is an equal opportunity offender that knows no political bias. If one is a victim of crime the ethnicity or immigration status is unimportant, the impact is the same. The Arizon Daily Star produces a dialy crime map , on the right hand side you can adjust the # of days, and click or unclick for certain crimes. Very informative, you might find this to be a useful tool. For cultural diversity, yes the closer you get to the U of A area will accomplish that. If you hang out at UMC hospital you will see a tremendous amount of diversity, not just with patients and visitors, but also all the doctor, interns/ med students. The university area will certianly have a more international flair to it than any other area of Tucson. One's opinion of how safe any given area is can also be a bit of a relative term depending on your point of reference. But that is where the crime map can be useful. This forum also has quite a bit of data available to get a feel for the city - City Data Tucson.

[banddranch]

Thanks Rick for the reply and I'll check that crime map out.

[banddranch]

Reviewed the crime map that was referred to and decided to do a quick compare to my current town of Portland, Oregon. Nearly identical . . . Given that we feel pretty safe here, I'm going to have to say that some of the posts in this thread about the high crime in Tucson seem a bit overwrought. Glad I did the compare - obviously everything is in the eye of the beholder, and if someone experienced a crime, I can understand the intense feelings that would generate. Anyway, looks like crime isn't a deal killer for our relocation. I do wish Tucson would get on with some more active central city revitalization, but it sounds like that isn't too popular right now with some of the missteps I've read about with Rio Nuevo, Tucson's big redevelopment effort downtown. Redevelopment has worked wonders in Portland I have to tell you!