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Somebody tell me about Phoenix AZ.
Ceno
pizza timeRegistered User regular
pizza timeRegistered User regular
Have a dilemma right now.
Wife was offered a job in Phoenix, which is on the other side of the country from us and we're not particularly on fire to move to. We have to give them a yes or no by Monday evening.
She is also in top consideration for a job in the area that we definitely would love to move to and would accept in a heartbeat, but given that she won't be interviewing with them until tomorrow or Monday at best, we basically have to say yes or no to the other job before knowing if we're going to get this job.
So we have to balance the certainty of a job in a place we're not super excited about to the possibility of a job in a place we are super excited about.
Wife was offered a job in Phoenix, which is on the other side of the country from us and we're not particularly on fire to move to. We have to give them a yes or no by Monday evening.
She is also in top consideration for a job in the area that we definitely would love to move to and would accept in a heartbeat, but given that she won't be interviewing with them until tomorrow or Monday at best, we basically have to say yes or no to the other job before knowing if we're going to get this job.
So we have to balance the certainty of a job in a place we're not super excited about to the possibility of a job in a place we are super excited about.
Ceno on
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It's big, it's spread out. It's really really hot for 6 months of the year, and much more bearable the other 6.
What kind of info are you looking for?
Travel? Well, you want to have a car. And you want to use the highways to get anywhere, with the exception of certain directions (or even just certain stretches of highway) during rush hour. Trying to get out of central Phoenix between 5pm-6pm is just a nightmare for example.
Where to look for an apartment is kind of dependent on where this job is located and how long of a commute your wife is willing to put up with. There are decent places to live scattered all over the valley: Mesa-Chandler-Gilbert in the southeast. Tempe is near ASU. Scottsdale, to the north of Tempe is the more well-to-do area of Phoenix. Parts of central Phoenix are pretty great, but can be expensive.
Hrm. I know there are others around who live here, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is @Obifett
I know that it's a conservative state, and while I'm a demmiecrat, that's not necessarily a big issue unless the general attitude of the state is reflective of the god-awful legislation that the state has been in the news for of late. It's also far, far away from any friends and family and there's that pesky emotional desire to be near them that's butting heads with the raw logic that is pointing us pretty directly to AZ (barring some miracle job offer within the next three days).
On the other hand I went to a party hosted by some well-to-do educated friends (a doctor & a lawyer) and some dude I met for the first time starts telling me that he thinks black people are more racist than white people. Why would he even bring this up, and especially to me (I'm Indian dot-not-feather)! The first law the legislature passed in the new year was the one to allow people to discriminate against pretty much anyone based on their religious preferences. There are definitely a lot of transplants, but a lot of those people moved here to be near other people that are also socially and politically conservative.
Things are really really cheap here compared to other places I lived. In Atlanta getting an apt required 1st and last month's rent. Here it was 1st month's rent and a $150 deposit. The things to do out here seem to be climbing, running, and biking. Which kind of sucked for me since my big thing has always been tennis. A lot of big name acts come through town on their way out of (or into) LA. So if you enjoy going to concerts this is a great place to live. It's also really convenient to a lot of different climates. You're about a 2 hour flight from skiing, mountains, Vegas, or LA. I know a lot of people that take weekend trips out of the state. With a little bit of planning, travel in and out of Phoenix is super cheap. There's also a decent variety of restaurants in town, there are even Persian restaurants in town!
Overall, for me, PHX has been fine but not amazing. I actually just got a new job in LA so I'm moving out there in the next couple of weeks. I would write more, but I have to get on my flight to LA to look for an apt. Hopefully this was helpful!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
That said, the area won't ever become more sane until more sane people move there. What is the plan if you decline Phoenix and your wife doesn't get the other job? Would that result be absolutely terrible? If so, I would take the sure thing over the questionable one. If not, I would hold out for the better option.
I'd take Phoenix over a more rural area, personally, but that's about it.
This is about how I'd rank my time in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Not bad at all if you don't mind hot dry weather and driving a lot. But otherwise not a ton to offer in my view outside of some amazing places to hike/bike.
I would recommend it if you expect you'll be moving again in a few years. The cost of living is relatively low which means you can squirrel away plenty of money without living like a pauper which will come in handy when you're able to definitely move somewhere you want to be.
If Phoenix has a culture, it's still in its nascent phase. Most of the big things you can find anywhere and are pretty generic (we have a symphony, we have an opera, a ballet, art museums, various sport teams). The things that might be more unique are little more hidden and are generally defined by being laid back and a little odd. The Arizona Wilderness Beer Company is a recent good example of this: they make odd beers that sometimes feature locally foraged desert berries, and they don't seem to care about expanding. There's a lot of little places that are like that. If you find them, great, but otherwise they seem content to hang out in their stripmalls and do their own thing (Chino Bandido is another example: Chinese Mexican hybrid food).
Travel around the area is not terrible, but you'll need a car and almost certainly need to use the freeway system. The system makes it easy, though, in that there's loops and north/south routes to make things easier. There's not many spots in town that aren't readily accessible to a freeway, which means you're not too far from most things.
The West Valley is generally cheaper than the East, but I'd probably want to stick to Glendale or Northwest. East Valley has a lot of nice places, most of the people I know stick to Tempe or Chandler/Mesa. Scottsdale is also known as Snobsdale, and can live up to its reputation. People here, like the rest of the area, are generally nice on the surface until you get a little deeper.
Can't help much on daycare as my son goes to one at my synagogue, and my cousin's kid goes to the JCC.
I'll echo some of the response above and say that it's nice but not amazing.
Hope this has helped some, and if you have any follow up questions I can try to help further.