i’ve got an offer on a house out there, if it goes through i’m heading to desert regardless. i don’t trust a lot of what the media reports pretty much about anything so i’d like to hear what you folks have to say. i’m a little familiar with phoenix, know scottsdale obviously, ahwatukee (spelling???), chandler and laveen. from what i’ve read reports seem to be consistent that it’s usually drug related, someone stole someone else’s drugs, money, both, etc. i guess i want to know does it seem the issues are obviously concentrated in a particular area? is the city trying to pretend ‘nothing to see here, move along?’ or are they actively doing anything? or trying to do anything?
just curious what the real people see and have to say.
Scottsdale safe, Ahwatukee safe, Chandler safe, Tempe, gilbert safe. Parts of Mesa safe to very safe…avoid South Phoenix and West Phoenix but as you move far west Glendale, Buckeye etc safe…Phoenix area is weird, lots of growth so some areas have been neglected. Lots of lower middle class people and plenty of laborer types but I’ve never had an issue with them…Drugs, gangs, illegals are prevalent but in bad areas. Just like the rest of the country…
i know phx isn’t any different than any other big city, and none of the folks i visit out there have never had an issue with any sort of gang, drug, kidnapping issues. like i said i know the city fairly well but i just want to know as much as i can. i’m just a working stiff like anyone else, so if anyone kidnaps me they ain’t getting much either. most of what i’ve read have been kidnappings associated with drug and criminal activity anyway. so lesson learned, don’t cross your supplier!!!
because i’ve seen two stories on the news in the last 2 weeks kinda made me do a little more research. i live in texas now, when i see what’s going on along the border of the U.S. and mexico here it’s crazy. i don’t expect an invasion from the south, but to pretend nothing is happening and things haven’t changed isn’t smart either.
and dvf, my paperwork is on the way for my CHL in texas. i think it’s just a simple paperwork issue to get it transfered to az. thx!
Mad,
I am on my way to TX from Ca next year…When I was out there in Nov, I checked into the weapons permit…I get a break because I am military,same fee’s but safety issues are waived…
My cousin lives in PHX,she has no problems. But, as any big city your in, just be aware of your surroundings and and carry a big ass gun…
I suggest “THE JUDGE” made by Tauras…The 45/410 revolver!
dvf, thanks for your service sir. if you are in the dfw area and need a recommendation for a chl instructor send me a pm. i’ve seen the judge, niiiiiice. a .45 is a good fit for my hand but prob a little much to carry, at least a full size. but a compact is a possibility. in my truck i do want to keep a full on .45. i want to be able to shoot through my door if i have to. i have odd hours and sometimes must travel through not so good neighborhoods to get to/from work.
dvf, it’s a combo of all people that make this suck a great place to be. unfortunately so many take it for granted.
i’ll check out the ruger. i tell ya’ though, after seeing the semi’s that jammed at the range where we qualified i think i’m leaning toward a revolver. the guy who taught the class is a ft worth police officer, he was giving stats as to how long most confrontations last, how many shots are fired, etc., and i think i’m going old skool. don’t know why but i’ve always been a fan of colt. colt python .357, ventilated rib barrel, plenty of stopping power. http://www.collectorsarmoury.com.au/images/black%20colt%20python%20.357%20revolvers.jpg
but yes, a bit much to carry. fits in the pickup quite nicely.
man i love the austin area. quite a varied group of characters. dated a gal down there for a while and loved it, her…sure do miss austin. great frickin’ place for bikes. unfortunately not a great place for me to be for work.
I lived in Laveen for a bit, four and half half long years, well the first 2 weeks weren’t too bad. Liked it when i first moved in, before it grew 400% year over year over year. Then came HD, groery store (ok that was nice to have close by instead of 12 miles away) and lots of houses. Most of my run trails got paved over or someone is living on top of them. You can barely smell the cows anymore (some people think that was good). Riding got way more dangerous. Riggs road went from hardly any traffic on weekdays to 20-30 line cars going by you when riding. Weekends still not too bad. It’s hot.
The whole S. Mtn corridor grew up, gone are the groves, most of the nurserys, most of the farm fields. Instead you have a bunch of look alike strip malls, some schools, lots of chain stuff.
The foreclosure rate in the S. Mtn area is pretty high. Lots of people got into homes they could not eventually afford. Or it could have been the 2-3 trucks, a boat some motos that put them over the edge. Anyway, housing prices have plummeted in the area. What would have cost you $250K 6 years ago would have fetched 350+ at the peak of the market and would relieve you of probably about 185K now. Many new builds lowered prices as the development got built instead of rasing prices over the last few years.
Basically all of PHX, imo anyway, is a big shit hole located right next to hell. But it’s just my opinion. I’m sure a few here would disagree with me about phx, but I think they are el loco.
I too am making plans for Scottsdale. Currently actively looking at real estate which is at a “once in a lifetime” low.
I went to ASU for undergrad, so I am familiar with the place. Way back then, Phoenix was a much smaller town than it is today. It’s grown beyond recognition, but the neighborhoods are still defined the same when I was there - the bad areas are still bad, and the good are still good. Phoenix (and Arizona) is still a service economy that has huge lows when the economy is doing poorly, which beyond the overbuilding can help explain the housing bust (that also happened in 1990-1991). It’s a place that people either love or hate; there’s very little in the middle. You either love the desert, the heat, the riff raff, or you don’t. I like the resortness of Scottsdale, but I too know that there are a lot of really crappy places in Phoenix (and even Scottsdale). I don’t know how you ended up in Laveen, but that would have been a tough place to live so close to south Phoenix. Most of Laveen was all farmland when I was there.
I also really like Tucson, but most of Tucson too is crappy (although there is a lot less of it than Phoenix).
Frankly, most American cities are shit, unless you have money and live in the great neighborhoods. The only difference is that the cost of living in Phoenix is really low compared to a lot of places.
Of note is that I am also looking at the Austin area. I know a lot of folks love the place, and I have to admit that I like it too, but there are also a lot of desolate red neck hickville towns that I would never want to spend more than a few hours in. West Texas is hell, the States north and east of Texas are hell, many cities in Texas are hell, etc. So taken in context, while Austin is really beautiful, it’s also surrounded by places I and (maybe) you would never be happy at.
I lived in Denver for a few years. I can’t believe how many persons I meet that want to live in Colorado But how many of them really know Colorado? Boulder is highly desirable, but there are parts of Boulder that I would not want to live. In fact, I would not want to live in most of the State of Colorado anymore or less than I would want to live in most of Texas or Arizona. The weather may be different in all these States, but there are still bad areas in all these places (plenty of bad dangerous neighborhoods in Denver BTW).
yahey, i agree, most big cities are pretty crummy, but ya’ gotta find the balance. close enough for work, but far enough out to be tolerable. i work for an airline and technically i can live anywhere i want, but quality of life is a major player. i can load my bike in my jeep and drive to good riding quicker than i can catch a plane to another city, get to my jeep, drive home, then ride. it’s all priorities. i found a house in the laveen area a few yrs ago that was $600k, house is small which is good for me cuz it’s just me. over an acre size lot, can roll out the garage on my mtn bike and i’m on somo. i wish the road riding was better in that area but again, got look at all options. right now that same house is going for much, much, MUCH less, hence that’s why laveen. and my company has a base in phx.
did you know there is a fly-in community on the north side of south mountain? not to many people do. you can’t even see the runway driving up the road because of the elevation change and the way the houses are situated along it. laveen is an odd area. the houses near the community are nice but to get to them ya’ gotta go through some sketchy areas, hence the reason for my starting this thread.
i looked in the payson area and loved it there. a lot more for your money, much less populated, better climate i think. but the drive was just to far. the extra money in gas and limiting myself to pickup extra work for such a distance just isn’t feasible. i really like cali but just to many issues for me.
If money was no object (housing costs, taxes, other cost of living) then California would be paradise.
Like I said, Laveen would be tough for me - in fact, I would never live there (wouldn’t even consider it). If being close to the airport or even South Mountain is important, then I would choose Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler, or even Tempe before I ever even tought of Laveen. Way way safer, and prices right now are spectacular.
the thing i’m stuck on with this house is the lot size, and the small size of the house. i don’t want to be able to touch my house and my neighbor’s at the same time, like i can now. ahwatukee has some nice areas, but seems like a big cul-de-sac to me. employee parking is off buckeye, southwest of the airport, 12 mis from the area i’m looking. i drive 40 mis to work now, nice reduction. at the price things have come down to, i could buy this prop, level it, build, and still be very reasonable in price. and again, i’m just hung up on the 1 1/3 acres.
there really aren’t ANY cities that i want to live in. lived north of orlando yrs ago. when i was there it was great, north of where i was there was hardly anything built, i could ride nice quite roads for hrs. now, the it’s built up mad crazy. used to hang out at new smyrna beach, went and looked at houses there 3 yrs ago, sucks. cookie cutter homes all over the place, way over priced back then, much more affordable now, but it’s not a small town anymore. small town America is gone. cities have all grown so much that to be in a small town you have to be so far away that now commuting is an issue.
It’s < 45 min to get to the ticket counter at SW or USair from the time I left my house in Laveen. That includes parking and taking the shuttle from the lot.
Gilbert, Mesa are not closer to S. Mtn. You can’t ride your bike from those places to S. Mtn without getting killed. I could ride to the top of S. Mtn in ~60min from my house safely, about the same amount of time it takes to ride to the top from most parts of Awhatukee and Tempe.
The entire S. Mtn corridor has changed over the years. I lived in a gated golf course community, knew 15-20 of my neighbors on a first name basis, had garage door codes to several of their houses, knew their kids pets etc. If you wanted to live in sketchy parts of that corridor you could and I agree their are parts of that corridor I wouldn’t live in.
If you want to live somewhere where you could ride 100 miles and only have 10 traffic lights on that ride Laveen was the place. I’d actually say the riding was better from Laveen then awahtukee. You could get on the reservation then head towards Maricopa, Casa Grande, Sacaton, Florence, Hunt Highway, Picacho Peak, I-8 etc and not have to deal with getting in/out of the city.
man pick a major city that hasn’t been hit by massive real estate development and destroyed huge chunks of land. ain’t none out there i don’t think. it frickin’ amazes me how many 'burb’s have roads paved with zero houses in them. i fly in and out of 5-8 cities a week and see it everywhere. roads put in, cul-de-sacs and all, but no houses. i live by a major road and am bombarded with noise non-stop, it’s driving me crazy. when i woke up one morning in my bed and my heartrate went up because the noise annoyed me so much i pretty much figured it was time to move. we all have our own person view of heaven and hell, i think i pretty much know where your hell is, i hope you’re closer to heaven dude. the nice thing about being on south mountain is being right next to the govt land i don’t think they can build behind where i’m looking. and no road noise, it’s a dead end road so only the locals, and there ain’t many.
