Phoenix Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Question about your State
I am getting ready to go on an interview for the VA hospital there next week. What I was wondering from you guys was. What are your likes and dislikes of Arizona and Where are the "safe neighborhoods" and what is the racial makeup of your state. Although we have been doing some research I just wanted to hear from people who actually live there what it is like. I really appreciate any advice or help you guys can offer us. I really want the job. and want to be ready "if" they offer me the job.
Re: Question about your State
I've lived in the Fountain Hills and north Scottsdale area for ten years; its very safe, and we love it. FH is well known for its views. I recommend living close to where you are going to be working - to avoid lengthy commutes. I'd google the traffic stats around the VA, and figure out your desired drive time.
Can't wait to meet my baby boy!
Like PP said, I would look around where you will be working. Traffic here during rush hour is INSANE! 6 lanes on each side of the highway and they are stopped during rush hour.
The racial makeup is everything. We have a lot of Mexicans, Whites, Blacks, Asians, etc. Really, there's every racial makeup you can think of here.
Me and my husband just moved here almost a year ago from Upstate NY. We love it....the weather is amazing and there's always something to do. The housing market is great for buyers right now too.
I don't like the traffic or how crazy strict they are with speeding. lol There are camera's EVERYWHERE!! Also, I don't love the lack of budget for the schools. School's here aren't great. Yes, you can find good ones but it just seems like there are more bad ones than good ones.
Good luck...working for the VA would be awesome! Great place!
I seriously hate the questions, where is the safe place to live....because there is none...not when you are dealing with a large city. PHX is the 5th largest city...so just like Chicago and L.A. there are realllly nice areas right next door to really bad areas.
For instance, we just bought a home on the west side. Growing up I always lived in Paradise Valley/North Phx...people always refered to the west side as bad. We have lived in our hosue almost a year now and nothing has happened. Infact we live on a really nice street. I did check out crime rates. You should check them where ever you move... There was actually MORE drug crimes in Scottsdale...so Scottsdale isnt always all what people make it out to be.
I can tell you the general immediate area around the VA hospital is a bit dicey, but just down the road is the very coveted historic district.
Also, traffic wise, I work in N. Scottsdale and live on the west side....I never sit in rush hour traffic, I drive against it in the morning and at night, it takes me all of 20-30 minutes...So it all really depends on where you move.
Check out this link... http://www.azcentral.com/CrimeMaps You can search areas and their crime rate and what crimes happened and what not. So maybe find a map of phoenix that lists the zip codes, and start searching that way? You will see though that every area has crime.
Just for the sake of comparing, My current zip code had 152 crimes last month (mind you you can zoom into an area, my 1 mile radius of my house ther were only like 10 crimes total)
My last zip code in the very popular Biltmore area has 117...So only 35 less crimes then where I am now.
And then for grins I looked up my old N. Phx well to do hood and they had 148 crimes.
Maybe once you start finding areas of phoenix or neighborhoods we can better guide you.
Something may be wrong with that crime check. I just did my zip code (North Scottsdale) for the entire year, and nothing came up.
It's really difficult to judge safe areas in Phoenix. I don't think there is any part of the valley that doesn't have some sort of crime level.
I've lived in Scottsdale, Tempe and now Peoria. I have no complaints about any of those - although I was sort of worried about buying a house on the west side like Kirstin. But nothing has happened since we've been here, we feel safe and love it.
I have a cousin who lives in the historic district downtown near Encanto park. I love that area, and the homes are adorable. Even though it's downtown, and probably one of the higher areas for crime, this nook is really fabulous.
I'm definitely going to be in the minority here. I hate Arizona. I loved it when I first moved here, but now (after 10 years), I can't wait to leave. The summer weather sucks, it's too hot and the winters are too short. Traffic sucks (this is a lot of places though) and I don't think there is really that much to do. I also don't think there is a very big pull of community relationships here either.
On the other hand, we don't have to shovel snow and never have to deal with changing the clocks.
I'm probably not much help as I live in the far Northwest Valley. I sometimes commute to downtown and it takes me about a hour and a half to get there. I'm not sure what type of position you're applying for at the VA, but if you end up on a different shift (say something like 3 pm-11 pm), it wouldn't be too bad.
As for neighborhoods, I'll throw my two cents in. Things change. Our first neighborhood was wonderful. We liked our neighbors, people were friendly. Over the years, things changed. New people moved in, etc. Things were not as nice. You'll also encounter pockets. Nice houses in newer developments set into areas that are much older, and these developments have a lot of spill over crime. We looked at a house that we loved in a neighborhood that looked great, but a quick search turned up a lot of registered sex offenders. Every area of the Phoenix metro area has a nice part, but it has it's bad parts too.
We moved out here last Feb from Jersey and love it. We have yet to encounter traffic as we had in the Tri-state so we don't complain about it. Nothing can beat NYC traffic on a Friday night! LOL We live in North Phoenix right on the boarder of Cave Creek and Scottsdale and it's a very nice area. Everything we need is close and the schools are rated well, but we don't know for sure yet. Few more years
My hubby works 10 minutes ago (lucked out on that since we bought the house first) and my family is close.
The only thing I complain about is the summers but I knew they would be terrible going in. In my eyes they are better then the Jersey winters. We love the weather the rest of the year. Cost of living is high but we are close to Scottsdale so things are more. Understandable. All in all we are very happy with our decision.
I would definitely keep searching areas and visit as much as you can to get an idea of weather, cost of living, commutes, etc. Good luck!!!!