Phoenix Arizona
What is it like living and working in Phoenix, Arizona?
What is it like to live and work in Phoenix, Arizona?? Can you really depend on the bus to get to work on time? Any other things you can tell me about the city? One person responded saying that he saw a person selling drugs at McDonalds. Do you see that kind of things often or not really? And do they enforce the laws there such as relating to drug use, weapon control, etc or not really? Overall, is it still an okay place to live and work in? What are some of the things to look out for over there and be careful of? Are drugs and crime kind of common there or no? How hot and cold can it get usually? Do most places have air-conditioning when it is hot? Also, is it safe to walk on the streets alone at night if you are female?
Thanks.
I noticed that you have asked a lot of different questions about living and working in Phoenix. I've lived here for 15 years and will try to answer them (from my opinions anyways).
The Phoenix metro area actually includes several different interlocked cities that each have slightly different characteristics.
Downtown Phoenix (with the tall buildings and government offices) went through serious decay in the 70s and 80s as people moved to the suburbs (it was never a great cultural center to begin with like the downtowns of Chicago or New York). They have started to turn it around the last few years with new trendy apartments and nicer shopping areas and museums, but there are still a lot of bad spots and I would not recommend a single woman to live there or walk alone most places at night.
The other suburbs:
Tempe - Home of Arizona State University and a typical collage town, meaning some cheaper housing, but a lot of competition for it. Nice sense of community with many little cafes and shops.
Mesa/Gilbert/Chandler - Generally conservative, family communities. Mostly safe, but a little boring if you are single. Gilbert is a bit more high end, Mesa is the center of the valley's Mormon community.
Northern Phoenix (Thunderbird, Bell Road) - Older communities, seeing new growth along the fringes. Mix of good, so-so, and bad areas.
South Phoenix - Mostly poorer neighborhoods, but seeing a lot of new communities making an odd mix.
Ahwatukee - Area on south and eastern ends of South Mountain near Tempe and Chandler, growing middle to upper class professional communities.
Scottsdale - Trendy upper class town of art galleries and night clubs.
Transportation - Metro Phoenix was built for the automobile and every thing is planned around it. The bus system is one of the most limited for a town of this size. Because people are so spread out, it is hard for mass transit to be effective and so they don't really try. They are starting work on a light rail system near ASU, but its range will be limited. You really do need a car to live in Phoenix.
Safety - Car theft and car break-ins are the biggest issue here, followed by people breaking into homes. Getting mugged on the street or murdered by a random stranger are pretty rare. Yes, there are drugs here, but you usually don't see it unless you are looking for it.
Heat - Most of the year, Phoenix has a really nice climate which makes it nice to be outdoors. The hot period is mid-May through mid-September with peaks of 115 plus in late June. It is a dry heat (little humidity) which means your body cools itself better and you don't feel sticky all the time (you do however sunburn just as easy). Some people hate it, I find it easier to deal with then places with higher humidity. Most apartments and houses here have some sort of A/C or swamp cooler.
Population / Culture - Phoenix is mostly a mix of anglos, hispanics, and native Americans. There are several sections of town that have large Mexican and Mexican-American populations with the associated shops and cafes. There are also several Native American reservations in or near the city. Most big city cultural activities (theater, shows) happen either downtown or in the Tempe area, although most towns (especially Scottsdale) have local community theaters and events.
Work - the main industries (that pay decent wages) typically center around high-tech (Motorola, Intel, and Microchip to name a few), health care and elder care (big retirement populations) and construction / real estate related jobs because of the housing boom. The high-tech industry has taken a bit of beating over the last couple years with some big downsizings. As the government center of both the state and county, there are also quite a few government jobs (mostly centered on the downtown area).
Overall, I can't say that I recommend Phoenix too much. There is nothing particulary bad about it, there is just nothing very special about it either. The town (and suburbs) have grown so quick in the last 10 years that every thing is nearly identical cookie-cutter housing developments and strip malls. Unlike San Francisco with its row houses, Chicago with its blues bars, or New York with its all-night diners, nothing is unique about Phoenix and nothing is cherished (beyond making a buck or saving a buck). Rather than a sense of history or community, you get a temporary boom-town feeling that everything is cheap, mass-produced, and not planning on staying very long.
The rest of the state (Flagstaff, Tucson, Prescott, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Superstition Mountains, the Rim Country) is beautiful and very interesting, but Phoenix will never be counted among the great cities of the world... as another writer noted it is like LA without the beach or the glamour.