A Rancid Place
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2/16/2008
I've lived in the "Valley of the Sun" for 15 long, excruciating years now. From Scottsdale to Glendale, it is a complete mess. Every negative thing you've heard from other reviewers is correct. Crime is unmitigated, I should know-- I've been a cop here for 14 years. Illegals are EVERYWHERE. Traffic is horrible. No scenery is in sight.
If you're view of pardise is living on the moon with a ton of illegal mexicans with third-world, second-grade educations, boring homogeneous low-quality housing, absurd traffic, daily smog, etc. the valley is your spot.
At least you get to look forward to nightly lows in the high 80's for five to six months out the year. In an attempt to relive my incessant negativity towards the place, I realize you can at least entertain yourself by watching local desert lizards perform pushups on smoldering rocks as they scout out the next patch of shade.
Phoenix wants to be L.A. without a temperate climate, greenery, oceans, and all the stuff that made L.A. the gigantic people-infested mess it is today. At least sixty to eighty years ago it was bucolic. At 1000 foot altitude in the scorching, tumbleweed-ridden lowlands of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix never had a shot.
It's a big weed which, appropriately, grew up in a middle of an area known for weeds--of the tumbling variety. If you're here already--sorry! If you're moving here--run!
Just as I will do when my pension kicks in in six years...
Eric | Oro Valley, AZ