376 replies to this topic

[colin]

MJLO, on Jun 4 2006, 05:44 PM, said:

Yes but is that just the city itself? or does it take into consideration all the suv driving soccer moms with fake titties, who talk on there cell phones, sip the latte, and drive all at the same time?  They live in Chandler and Scottsdale, which are not part of Phoenix!

Very true, it's not the metro area. You'd then have to get into the whole metro area designation arguments.
It seems like I've seen worse drivers in the city than in the burbs though, and the streets are much more dangerous there. You have several streets where they've gone from five to six lanes without widening the street (i.e. - it was 2 + turn lane, now 2 & 3 + turn lane) and they're unnerving to drive on. The leading left turn signal in town with yield on green also is a huge potential for accidents when everyone rushes through at the end of the green just as the other direction is trying to go left.
Maybe that's just me.

[MJLO]

Here's an interesting fact, with all this talk about sprawl and uncontrolled growth in metro PHX.  The city of Mesa,  has more people living in it than the city of Atlanta, and it's denser with less land area that it covers.   I just find it interesting that Phoenix's burbs are larger and more dense, than some world class core cities.

[Mith242]

MJLO, on Jun 3 2006, 09:41 PM, said:

does anyone else think that there are more vehicle accidents than there should be in Phoenix?  There were accidents when I lived in Detroit, and Detroit has worse congestion than Phoenix,  but good lord, I see two or three accidents a day in the Phoenix area is it just that these people dont know how to drive?

I wonder if it's more of a southwest thing.  I have family that moved to Albuquerque and they've mentioned how there's so many more accidents and problems on the road than they would have ever thought.  Even weird things like vehicles catching on fire and such.

[MJLO]

hehe Car'b'ques

[colin]

There's an article in today's Daily Star regarding people beating tickets from the Scottsdale traffic cameras:
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/132362

[MJLO]

I read today that they are having trouble garnering enough signatures for AZ's gay marriage amendment,  One of the reasons cited, voter complacency.

[colin]

MJLO, on Jun 6 2006, 09:12 PM, said:

I read today that they are having trouble garnering enough signatures for AZ's gay marriage amendment,  One of the reasons cited, voter complacency.

This is a big misconception that, unfortunately, seems to be pretty common:
- Arizona already has a constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage
- The ammendment in question, that may or may not make the Nov ballot, is an ammendment to ban employment benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc) to unmarried partners
- This ammendment does not specify anything regarding homosexuality or gender (which itself is blatantly unconstitutional), so it will also ban benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples

I read that Len Munsil's group (Center for Arizona Policy) hired a firm to get the signatures, but the firm failed to offer his particular sheet to most people because the issue is so polarizing, and they didn't want to alienate people into walking away and not signing the other sheets. Now they're left essentially holding their proverbial dicks.

Please tell others, man, because, like I said, a lot of people think that this is actually an anti-gay marriage ammendment, which would receive much more support than what they're actually offering up. I really don't want to see this thing passed, especially as some sort of misdirected rallying point for the state's gay marriage opponents.
Arizona Together is the anti force on this. They're quite active in both Phoenix and Tucson. Get involved if you can.

BTW, why is that the AZ congressmen with the weird-ass names are the ones supporting Len Munsil (which is, itself, a pretty strange name) for governor: "Who's Supporting Len? Four U.S. Congressmen! The Honorable John Shadegg, The Honorable Rick Renzi, The Honorable Jeff Flake, The Honorable Trent Franks" (sorry to quote that, but I don't want to give Len a link on here)

[Mith242]

I don't keep up with politics a lot but isn't Congress trying to pass something from keeping states from doing stuff like this?

[convulso]

does anyone know of a better selection of beers in tucson than that at the AJs snob-mart grocery at La Encantada? i'm sure there are, since we've only been here a month and just stumbled onto this one, but...well, damn. if there's a better selection, then of course i want to know.

still haven't seen dixie beers (blackened voodoo, etc.) out here, though. know anything about that, colin, since you're from houston? i'm missing the blackened voodoo.

[colin]

convulso, on Jun 7 2006, 03:02 PM, said:

does anyone know of a better selection of beers in tucson than that at the AJs snob-mart grocery at La Encantada? i'm sure there are, since we've only been here a month and just stumbled onto this one, but...well, damn. if there's a better selection, then of course i want to know.

still haven't seen dixie beers (blackened voodoo, etc.) out here, though. know anything about that, colin, since you're from houston? i'm missing the blackened voodoo.

Ah, yes! Beers!
Trader Joe's is about the same as AJ's, but less snobby.
Best in town though is Plaza Liquors on Campbell between Grant and Glenn. They have a lot of domestic microwbrews, but also some good Belgians and other imports.
Another good one (surprisingly) is UA Liquors on Sixth@Park.

[Mith242]

convulso, on Jun 7 2006, 05:02 PM, said:

does anyone know of a better selection of beers in tucson than that at the AJs snob-mart grocery at La Encantada? i'm sure there are, since we've only been here a month and just stumbled onto this one, but...well, damn. if there's a better selection, then of course i want to know.

still haven't seen dixie beers (blackened voodoo, etc.) out here, though. know anything about that, colin, since you're from houston? i'm missing the blackened voodoo.

I can't really speak on Arizona but I've never seen any Dixie beers in New Mexico.  Not sure if they're very big out west.

[MJLO]

where is trader joe's around Mesa,  I go to AJ's all the time, but only because I don't know where the Trader Joe's is out here.

[MJLO]

colin, on Jun 7 2006, 11:36 AM, said:

This is a big misconception that, unfortunately, seems to be pretty common:
- Arizona already has a constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage
- The ammendment in question, that may or may not make the Nov ballot, is an ammendment to ban employment benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc) to unmarried partners
- This ammendment does not specify anything regarding homosexuality or gender (which itself is blatantly unconstitutional), so it will also ban benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples

I read that Len Munsil's group (Center for Arizona Policy) hired a firm to get the signatures, but the firm failed to offer his particular sheet to most people because the issue is so polarizing, and they didn't want to alienate people into walking away and not signing the other sheets. Now they're left essentially holding their proverbial dicks.

Please tell others, man, because, like I said, a lot of people think that this is actually an anti-gay marriage ammendment, which would receive much more support than what they're actually offering up. I really don't want to see this thing passed, especially as some sort of misdirected rallying point for the state's gay marriage opponents.
Arizona Together is the anti force on this. They're quite active in both Phoenix and Tucson. Get involved if you can.

BTW, why is that the AZ congressmen with the weird-ass names are the ones supporting Len Munsil (which is, itself, a pretty strange name) for governor: "Who's Supporting Len? Four U.S. Congressmen! The Honorable John Shadegg, The Honorable Rick Renzi, The Honorable Jeff Flake, The Honorable Trent Franks" (sorry to quote that, but I don't want to give Len a link on here)

So colin, I can tell that you're against this ammendment.  But your wording was somewhat confusing.  Arizona already has laws banning same sex marriage correct?
Is it not already a rallying point for the states gay marriage opponents?

[Mith242]

I've got an off the wall question.  Do you guys have 'swamp coolers' in AZ and are they used very much?  I know in New Mexico they seem to be rather common.  But NM is also overall quite a bit higher in elevation than AZ and a bit cooler.  I wasn't sure if much of AZ is too hot for them to be on much use.  That and so much of the population has moved in in the past few decades well after AC came into use.

[MJLO]

I have seen them in much older places, but because of the intense heat, anything built with in the last 50 years has central AC, or anything that's been in use really.

[loftguy]

I think Phoenix is a great place to live if you take into account Scottsdale, Tempe, Downtown/ Midtown, North Phoenix, Chandler and Glendale are all within a half our drive from one another...

It's a 5 hour drive to the City of Sin, The Pacific Beach and Rocky Point...
Scottsdale has one of the best club scenes I have seen (minus L.A., NYC, Chicago and Vegas obviously)
Tempe overall and Mill Ave rocks- so does the Kierland area in North Scottsdale.

There is a lot to do if you are connected.
http://www.latimes.c...,01227820.story
Read this article...

-I have to like it here though!
-I was born and raised here and I never moved.....

[convulso]

can someone set me straight on what a swamp cooler is? i've seen a sign or two in tucson referencing them, but i have no idea what they are. i think the AZ daily star makes light of them in a promotional ad, as well.

[convulso]

MJLO, on Jun 5 2006, 10:45 AM, said:

The city of Mesa,  has more people living in it than the city of Atlanta, and it's denser with less land area that it covers.   I just find it interesting that Phoenix's burbs are larger and more dense, than some world class core cities.

atlanta has an insanely small population to be as much of a landmark city as it is. its metro, of course, is larger than that of phoenix, and its skyline reflects that. it's probably the most affluent city (in terms of commercial development density) i can think of with a population under 500,000. after going to mesa, and looking at your pictures on the other post, it is surprising that mesa's pop. density is greater than atl's. atlanta feels alive when you're there, especially midtown. it's not a dead skyscraper jungle after 6 p.m. mesa must be primarily a residential city - the lack of multistory buildings really does conceal whatever density it has.

[MJLO]

No your absolutely right convulso, i'm fully aware of the cultural significance of Atlanta. I've been there many times, In fact my grandparents own a condo in a highrise in midtown.  My purpose pointing to those facts. Was only to say that sprawl in metro Phoenix is relative, given the size of some of it's suburbs.  Mesa is by far a bedroom community.  I was blown away when I pulled those statistics
I wasn't trying to Dog Atlanta at all.  The Skyline is breath taking, it is by far the capitol of the south.

[convulso]

MJLO, on Jun 13 2006, 05:13 PM, said:

No your absolutely right convulso, i'm fully aware of the cultural significance of Atlanta. I've been there many times, In fact my grandparents own a condo in a highrise in midtown.  My purpose pointing to those facts. Was only to say that sprawl in metro Phoenix is relative, given the size of some of it's suburbs.  Mesa is by far a bedroom community.  I was blown away when I pulled those statistics
I wasn't trying to Dog Atlanta at all.  The Skyline is breath taking, it is by far the capitol of the south.

lol - i wasn't even defending atlanta! sorry if i sounded defensive. i was just thinking out loud, i guess. it's just interesting how demographics can fit so differently with the actual experience of being in a city.

i do like atlanta - it (along with nyc & san francisco) is pretty much my definition of what a city should feel like if it is trying to be the booming american mega-urban 24/7 type of place. but i like other types of cities, too, which is why i love my hometown of bham, as well as tucson and a whole bunch of other places that aren't pretending to be boomtowns. mesa may be that kind of place - a nice city on its own terms. i need to experience it more than i have - maybe this weekend......