[MehMEH]

PS: for Phoenix, declutter, downsize, and put your money into pool maintenance instead of AC bills.

You’re going to spend more time in the pool than your house.

[MehMEH]

Hard, hard disagree with this assessment. That’s sort of an LDS/white flight opinion IMO.

To make some SLC comps, McDowell north to Thomas is Willow and Encanto which is sort of a Sugarhouse/Harvard Yale equivalent but a little more expensive and generally smaller and inferior (Sugarhouse park >>> Encanto Park).

Thomas north to Camelback is a slightly akin to Liberty Park area but with more business development and multifamily housing. Sketchier but also much hipper.

Camelback north to Glendale doesn’t have a great equivalence with SLC. Maybe the foothill area (same time period of suburban expansion). If you look at how the Foothill village shopping area is being upgraded, applied that across all the business development, and then added a pedestrian/bridal path lined by mansions as the focus you’d have an idea.

[MehMEH]

Lived in Willow, Encanto, and North Central Phoenix (Central and Glendale area). Liked North Central the best. Lots of places to walk to for dinner/lunch. Really good public elementary school.

You mentioned safety a few times. In any city there’s generally a price point above which safety is a given. Phoenix is a pretty safe city so anything in a middle to upper middle class price point is going to be fine and it’s a matter of what positives you value most. All the places I mentioned are above that price point (but not paradise valley high).

If you have a lower price point, then there are still tons of safe areas but safety could come at the expense of convenience or things to do. Also, just because an area isn’t Utah white and delightsome doesn’t make it unsafe (not trying to cast aspersions, but Utah people do be like that). If that’s your vibe, Gilbert is said to be more Provo than Provo.

Phoenix is pretty sprawling and unfortunately I don’t think there’s any area that is fully sufficient alone, so you’ll be driving around some to find your interests. At baseline I think it’s a sort of inconvenient city, so adding to that with a long commute would be off-putting to me.

That’s why I liked North Central. Having a few go to spots that were walkable compensated for having to drive the kids all over the valley for activities.

[MehMEH]

Big ooof on the “urban adults” phrase.

People who are hyper aware of the threat of violence by random “urban” adults (nice dog whistle) are the same ones oblivious to their kid getting groomed by the Sunday school teacher.

Being an “urban adult” and having a family isn’t a conflict unless you’re someplace like Memphis that is still violent and segregated.

For any decent city, including Phoenix, it’s a great way to raise kids who have at least some awareness of life outside a gated community and who are equipped to engage in society outside those gates as adults.

[MehMEH]

Most convenient IMO is Phoenix proper. If you look in central Phoenix a good rule of thumb is to look “between the 7s” (7th St (E) and 7th Ave (W). There’s sort of a central corridor that’s nice with activities and still proximity to highways to get you out to all the different areas of the valley.

Things drop off more quickly going West whereas you run into the nicer Biltmore area going East.

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