Hey guys......I have a potential job offer to relocate to Phoenix, and have a few questions/concerns that I was hoping you could help me with

1. I've heard some stuff about the "kidnappings" and such.....ummmm....that isn't sitting too well with me. I'd be curious to hear from locals about this and their views on it, and if there's any areas to steer clear from?

2. Riding.....where's a good area to move to, and has great accessibility to riding and some mountains?

Any other tips, pointers, etc would be extremely helpful. I've always liked AZ......I HATE New England winters.....and like being in close proximity to CA, UT and CO as well.

Thanks!
Dana

The kidnappings are usually drug or other illegal activity against each other. A good guide will steer you clear of those types of neighborhoods.

The great areas far outnumber those. Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, even as far out as Anthem, are great places to live.

Riding will never be an issue, but I'd favor the north side. We don't have as many good routes as CA, but there's plenty of climbing around. If you mountain bike, the entire state is heaven.

I myself live well north, but I'm sure the locals will give more detailed suggestions.


Good luck with your move, I'm out of NH myself and would never go back!

I don't think that you will have much to worry about when it comes to kidnappings, like DevDel said it has alot to do with Drugs and also the areas, just like any other city, that you don't want to go to.

There are tons of places all over to road bike, I live in Chandler and can easily do a 100 mile ride with plenty of shoulder without having to take the same way twice. Mountain biking is great and there are LOTS of place to ride. I prefer the east side of town and since the mid 80's have lived in some nice towns including Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Chandler.

I guess it is all about where you are going to work and how far you are willing to drive to get to work. With Phoenix being so spread out it could take you a looooonnnngg time to get to work if you lived in say South East Chandler and had to drive to Suprise.

I agree that first you need to have some idea of area of town that you are going to need to be in for work. Once you have that you can then figure out where to go for being close to great rides.

If you want help in figuring out where to live I also rent houses and can help you not only figure out some good ride areas but also help you with a house.

As other posters will tell you, there are lots of great places to live in the valley. Most cities have their good and bad parts. A realtor or long time resident can help you with that. The kidnappings and drug issues are isolated to certain parts of the valley and among certain "communities", it's nothing to be concerned about if you choose the right place to live.

Obviously your job location will somewhat dictate where you live, but if you're working in downtown Phoenix, Tempe or somewhere in the East Valley, my vote goes for Tempe as it's the most central you can get other than living in Phoenix. Tempe is home to ASU and there are plenty of houses for rent in Tempe. I haven't lived on the west side, but in the east valley, Tempe is as good as it gets. I worked in downtown Tempe for years and commuted by bike 6.7mi each way. I live a few hundred yards from the eastern border of Tempe in Mesa, another great city to live in, again if you pick the right places.

As far as riding opportunities, South Mountain (SoMo) is great and they have a monthly car free day (on sunday called Silent Sunday). I know many folks that ride to SoMo from Tempe, up, and back to Tempe.

Tempe is a Silver Level bicycle friendly community as designated by LAB (League of American Bicyclists). As I'm on the board with Tempe Bicycle Action Group (a local non profit in support of bicycling) we get to see the inner workings of Tempe govt in response to cycling and they definitely "get it". One of our board members attends the monthly multi-modal transportation committee meetings to give input and report on city initiatives.

Another thing to consider, if you want to make use of it, is the METRO light rail. You'll want to live in close proximity to the rail line for it to be "truly" useful. https://www.raillife.com is a good resource for the light rail. Tempe has the added benefit of a pretty decent free local shuttle system consisting of 5 routes that cover most of Tempe (called the Orbit) and also light rail access points (https://www.tempe.gov/tim/bus/pdfs/12.08OrbitWebMap.pdf)

I'd encourage you to to visit our website (link in my signature) as it's a good resource for bicycling all over the valley. Check our events & rides page for weekly recurring ride info, as well as routes, rides & racing for links to other cycling groups in the valley. If you have any specific questions feel free to post them, and if I can't answer I'll find someone who can.

Some good resources for public transit are https://www.tempe.gov/tim and https://www.valleymetro.org.

Best of luck!

Heard that Providence is a hotbed for kidnappings, murders, lousy weather . . .
Lived in Tucson for 31+ years, we're alive and well and we ain't movin!

I'll agree on the lousy weather part. The other two...not so much. At least if there are, we haven't made the national news about it. Crappy roads though, definitely; I think they last paved the roads in RI back in 1967. However, I just moved to RI back in January and I hate RI, so you're not exactly offending me with any RI comments

Cool. You also have a Sullivans Steakhouse, which is also a plus.