Tell me what you like about Tucson

[Raya Sunshine]

My husband and I and our 3 kids are thinking about moving there .

Tell me why you love living there.

Blessings ,Raya

[SundayCrepes]

Even though it's a big city, it's got a small town feel to it. Everyone knows everyone or at least knows someone who knows everyone. There's a big crunchy community. There are great homeschooling groups. 

And the summer monsoons, when we have a good year, are wonderful (though 110 degrees sucks. Which is why god invented air conditioning.) But getting into a hot car in Tucson before you turn on the a/c is an experience in itself.

We held my son's birthday at the park on December 31. It was a lovely shorts-weather day. (Though a couple weeks before had been cold. Probably a high in the 40s.)

The mountains are lovely, especially at sunset. And summer sunsets can be breathtaking. There are lots of open spaces around the city if you are a hiker/biker/camper.

If you move here, make sure you have a job before coming. Tucson is a service community (for tourists) so a huge percentage of jobs are low-paying. And, of course, right now the economy isn't so hot.

[Raya Sunshine]

Thank you so much for this info .

[SundayCrepes]

Some of the bad...TUSD, the main school district sucks. Streets aren't in very good condition. We must live with the nutjobs elected to state office by the rest of our yahoo state. We have one of the highest property crime rates in the country. (Two years in a row we had THE highest property crime rate. Not sure what our current ranking is.)

[zebra15]

I like to *visit* Tucson.  I live in Phx.  I agree with SundayCrepes.   You gotta remember you will be moving to Arizona, commonly referred to an economic wasteland.   If you don't have a job, you probably are not going to find one.  (I've been out of work for 3 years and counting.)  Houses are cheap because everyone is in foreclosure.  Everything has a cause and effect.

I love the Tucson Zoo, the kids museum, Tucson is only 2 hrs from Phx, but you are close to the border and the 'mess' that could bring.  Our govenor has no experience, she is there by default really.

The winter is great, I'm totally loving AZ right now.  Come June-October it's just really REALLY hot.  For example right now my electric bill on a 900 sq ft apt is $60, in the summer is $200.  (I live on the 1st floor and have no afternoon sun)

[Raya Sunshine]

Thanks ladies :)

We are trying  to choose bettween  Sacramento ,Ca. area and  Arizona   my husband works for wholefoods and he would be transfering  internally they have openings all over the place. We moved where we are now without  a job first and definitely dont wish to go threw that again.

We like the close proximity to the border  we've lived in Mex. before and love it there ,so thats a plus to us.

Ok two more questions:

Are there areas that are more walkable than others in the city ?

How hot is hot really , like what was the highest temp last summer ?

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply .

Edited by Raya Sunshine - 1/21/12 at 10:15am

[zebra15]

Hot, like fry an egg on the side walk hot.  Stick your head in the oven hot.  Phoenix hit 117 last summer.  Then we dropped about 10 degrees and hot HUMID for the monsoon season. Don't worry it only lasts 3 months or so.  Oh, not alot of rain, just super stupid humid and wind storms.    Sunday- how was Tucson?

If you homeschool AZ is the place to be, vitrually no regulation at all.  But the weather man... its REALLY hot.

There is a good medical complex in Tuscon.

[SundayCrepes]

Tucson is about 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix and we get more moisture, which is a good thing.

Frankly, I hate the Phx area. It's big, hot, and politically more conservative. From time to time Tucson talks about ceding from the state because we are so much more liberal.

In the summer no one walks during the day in either area. At night in Tucson we walk a fair amount. Though not as much as we did before we got air conditioning. When we had evaporative cooling, we walked all the time. It was humid outside and inside. With a/c, the indoor humidity went away and we often said it was too humid to walk outside. Maybe it had to do with the age of our kids because last summer we walked every night. We live near the university so we can walk to 4th Ave and to campus. Downtown, too, though it's a bit further. Downside is there are a number of transients in the area...though a lot less than a few years back.

There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood. Mainly students and folks who like historic houses. (Our neighborhood is mainly 2 bedroom houses so not a lot of room for kids.)

A lot of the newer developments have walking paths but I don't know that they take you anywhere. If you work at the Whole Foods on Speedway those areas would be a pretty far drive. That WF is pretty central so it's surrounded by older neighborhoods. The WF on North Oracle is in the NW part of town. A bit more affluent and expensive. I think they're going to close that WF for awhile while they tear it down and put in a two story. Although I love our house, I think I'd choose the NW side if I were looking for a new place to live.

We are involved with a GREAT homeschool community that is geared towards the NW side residents, though several of us live more central. Most of the kids are younger. I think the oldest of the most active participants is around 10 or so.

We consider the summers the equivalent of a Missouri winter. You stay inside until the weather gets nice. Except here you can go outside in the evenings and it's really nice out. 

I'm not sure when you lived in Mexico, but there's no way I'd go there with all the violence happening there these days. So I wouldn't consider our proximity to the border to be relevant to the conversation. But that's me.

[zebra15]

Sunday- I need to stop off and 'see' you the next time I'm in Tucson.

DS (11) and I have been making the pilgrimage every couple months.

[Raya Sunshine]

Hi, thanks again   for the info  we were actually looking at the Vail area if we settle there . But thought we might like the city being close when we first get there.

I lived in Mexico in 01'  and still have family there  ( we are all US born and Im white ) Actually the murder rate has been going down since  1997 with the free trade agreement starting ;

it rose in 2007 but  was still less than the average in 1997. The crime is reported more now and they also get hyped up for political agendas .

Anyways  we are only looking at being in AZ a year or less unless we love that is :-)

We're in ministry and  looking for where we will be doing  an inner healing program with youth, when the time is right .

We are called to serve in Cali but not sure  the door is open to that just yet.

Edited by Raya Sunshine - 1/21/12 at 10:15am

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Sunday- I need to stop off and 'see' you the next time I'm in Tucson.

DS (11) and I have been making the pilgrimage every couple months.

You should come to the NWT Homeschooling group on Tuesday mornings. It's a great group.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by Raya Sunshine 

Hi, thanks again   for the info  we were actually looking at the Vail area if we settle there . But thought we might like the city being close when we first get there.

I lived in Mexico in 01'  and still have family there  ( we are all US born and Im white ) Actually the murder rate has been going down since  1997 with the free trade agreement starting ;

it rose in 2007 but  was still less than the average in 1997. The crime is reported more now and they also get hyped up for political agendas .

Anyways  we are only looking at being in AZ a year or less unless we love that is :-)

We're in ministry and  looking for where we will be doing  an inner healing program with youth, when the time is right .

We are called to serve in Cali but not sure  the door is open to that just yet.

Vail is a LOOONG drive to the Speedway Whole Foods.