Awful City
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5/28/2006
Call me a Phoenix basher if you want, but reality is what it is- and Phoenix, in my opinion, is a crime-ridden, pollution-plagued, sprawl-eroded hellhole. Moved here about 5 years ago from the pacific northwest, and haven't really liked it from day 1. The summers are terribly long and hot, and in winter, you still have to deal with the fact that you live in Phoenix. In response to the poster below, it's ironic to me that Miami's the only major city in the U.S. I've ever been to that I actually like LESS than Phoenix. I certainly would live in the heart of many major cities in the U.S., and many are much more livable than Phoenix, albeit more expensive (Seattle, Portland, Boston, New York, San Fran, Denver, Chicago...), for the culture, diversity, etc.- isn't that why most people live in the heart of cities, to have those things nearby and to be close to work? Then again, downtown Phoenix only employs something like 3% of Maricopa County's workforce, and the neighborhoods in and around the core of the city are very dangerous... gee, no wonder no one wants to live there. The east Valley is a collection of suburbs- that doesn't count. Scottsdale's full of plastic surgery-enhanced fake-tanned Paris Hilton wanna-be's and their high school-educated real estate mogul a-hole jerk-off boyfriends/husbands, and Mesa's one of the most crime-plagued, mismanaged, worst communities to live in in the country. Live here at your own risk, but logically, there must be a reason (I can think of many) that 3 out of 5 people who move here leave within 5 years.
Jeff | Phoenix, AZ