Great place to live!
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5/9/2008
I love Tucson. Yeah, it has its cons as well as pros, but so does every place else. I've lived in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains most of my life and while I'm the type to be adaptable and like it wherever I live, I think I feel more at home here than most other places I've lived. So here are the pros and cons:
I love the weather--just use AC in the summer. You acclimatize to the 100+ temperatures in the summer. But if you're a polar bear, where 85 feels too hot, this is not the place for you unless you're very adaptable.
Housing--yeah, it seems too high after Missouri. It was a big gripe for us to have to pay more for a smaller (but newer) cookie cutter house in Tucson than our Colonial style in small town NW Missouri. But it's all comparative. Housing in Tucson is definitely cheaper than East or West coast, and equivalent to or cheaper than the other major Western and Southwestern cities (can't compare to small towns—decent housing is almost always significantly cheaper in the small towns)
Big city conveniences with small town feel--I love this. We live in the southeast corner, where there's still a lot of open space. We're 10 minutes from the Saguaro Nat'l Forest, so some of the open space will always be there.
Economy—Az was hit hard by the boon/bust of the housing market. As a result, housing prices are dropping and will probably continue to do so for a while. That’s good news if you’re moving in, bad news if you’re a home owner with an ARM or a home equity loan that puts your debt above what your house is now worth. The good news is that rent here is cheap. Some other prices have been forced up (food and some services) by the voluntary evacuation of illegals here after extremely strict immigration laws were passed. What companies and jobs are here tend to be strong, as far as I can tell. They should be able to make it through the current recession (or whatever it is!) fine. Here in the southeast area the major employer is Raytheon.
Schools--I've seen lots of gripes about the schools on this board. Here in the Vail school district, they are baseless. The Vail school district is wonderful--both great test scores and great teachers. They've rated Excelling in nearly ALL of their schools for years. Of course you do pay for that in the form of property tax. There's also a variety of other educational options here if you don’t like your local school district--lots of charter schools, private schools, and religious schools. There's also a small but strong minority of home schoolers. My opinion on schooling is that a child whose parents care and are involved in and take responsibility for their child's schooling will excel anywhere. There's no reason for school gripes here--just be more involved. Take another option if your current one isn't working for your child. Throwing more money at education does not necessarily solve the problems. Look at NYC and the reservations here in AZ (starting teacher salaries on the res are nearly double what they are in the surrounding AZ towns, but without significant benefit as far as I can tell). Last but not least, we have a major well respected university here (University of Arizona) as well as a large community college with lots of options (Pima Community College).
Traffic--I do wish there was a freeway on the East side of Tucson. However, I wouldn't want it through the nat’l forest, which limits options! But, the traffic's only bad through the major shopping districts. It sucks if you have to drive through there at rush hour though--if you're moving here, try to make sure your work and your house are on the same side of the city.
Public Transportation--All I've seen are buses, none in our little corner of Tucson. I would think you'd need a vehicle unless you live in the city center. Many people use bikes to commute though. If you’re reasonably close to work, biking is just as fast at rush hour, and saves a ton with current gas prices!
Recreation--Tucson is a very outdoor oriented city. There are tons of walking trails and bike routes, mountains on all sides, several National Forests and preserves. The desert is beautiful. Yeah, I miss the oak and maple and the beautiful green of summertime in Missouri, but there's nothing to compare with springtime in the desert. The flora and fauna here are unique, and it's so easy to get out and see it. There are lots of community and neighborhood pools (we avoided getting a pool of our own for financial, hassle, and safety reasons for our young children). Summer swim lessons here run $2/child/session.
Water--well, it's the desert! Tucson also has a water conserving culture. Almost everyone does xeriscaping to conserve water (and watch their wallets!) The City of Tucson provides free recycling. NOBODY leaves hoses or taps on here! This is the first good water year after several years of drought, and there were water concerns in many parts of the US (AZ included, of course!). I do think, if we're careful with our resources, the water from wells and the Colorado River System will be sufficient.
Culture and diversity—Great! The Spanish Colonial architecture here is beautiful. The Southwest cuisine and traditions are wonderful too. This is not a good place, however, if you’re ethnocentric. The Spanish settled here a couple hundred years before whites, and currently there are a lot of issues with immigrants from Mexico, both positive and negative. We’re at the forefront of the immigration debate. People tend to have strong opinions about those issues. There are a lot of people of other ethnic groups too. I personally like the flavor this gives the area. I really like to make Chinese, and in Missouri, there were NO Oriental food stores closer than the Kansas City area (1 ½ hours away from us). Even the local Chinese restaurant used frozen stuff from Sam’s Club. There are many ethnic food stores and restaurants in Tucson. There’s a Tucson Symphony Orchestra and at least a couple different acting theaters. I can’t wait to explore more of what Tucson has to offer.
Tamora | Tucson, AZ