Reviews & Comments
Chandler, AZ
Not a place that has a long shelf life -
4/10/2020There are better options in the Valley. Chandler is turning into a ghetto area day by day. It reminds me of how Mesa used to be about thirty to forty years ago before the decline started to happen. Just go spend some time there. The mall is dead and the ghetto areas started spreading further out from the older neighborhoods. The same is happening in Chandler, but most people are too lazy or inconsiderate of the long term to concern themselves with that. People here don't really care about the community. They are usually 30 something or 40 something year olds who just need an affordable place to raise their children and then who cares what happens to this city after 40 years. At that point the housing stock becomes old and outdated and respectable people stop residing in them. Part of this decline is perpetuated by the city's negligence.
The first thing that points to this is the limited funding that Chandler has started to implement in the older neighborhoods north of the 202 freeway, without informing the public. They sneakily pass these measures and I've been witness to this for a few decades now. If you carefully look over the recent budget proposals, the city has already implemented cost cutting measures in the neighborhoods in places like Ray Road and Cooper, which are not even that old. The reason for this is that the city has a funding problem, despite the sterling AAA rating they keep touting (keep in mind that AAA companies were defaulting on loans back in 2008...). They have expanded the city limits so far out from where the city originally started and they do not have enough funds to fund projects in North Chandler on a normal basis. The only effective solution is to then cut funding to provide necessary funds for the growing southern area.
As a long time resident of Chandler, I saw this same stupidity lead to the decline of the downtown area and the housing areas near it. The downtown area has gotten a bit better on Arizona Avenue, but just a short walk in any direction off of the main gentrified area, and you can see the ramifications of the city's poor management and leadership. It's a shame that very few people have brought this up or has called the city out for this gross misappropriation of funds.
While cities like Tempe, Mesa, and Scottsdale have learned from seeing aging neighborhoods and implemented measures like maintenance projects and urban renewal initiatives in those neighborhoods, Chandler has done nothing other than some minor improvements in the downtown core. Like I said earlier, a simple walk or drive away from those small improved areas, and you will see how bad the areas still are and more importantly, how public utilities and roads are in bad shape. It's a shame because better leadership and proactive focus on keeping things in good order from the beginning, would have prevented many of the problems that you see now.