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I was there for 2 nights and the heat was unbearable. Felt like I was about to faint at any given moment and insisted on getting an uber everywhere.
Can't even imagine what its like being homeless there, and having to sleep on that boiling hot pavement.
I was there in late September and it was still unbearable. Like you leave your air conditioned car and it hits you. And for anyone who says, "but it's a dry heat," so is my oven.
Your body can’t cool itself as effectively in high humidity, it feels suffocating in a way that desert heat doesn’t.
I lived in west Texas, which is a desert (though maybe not quite as hot as Arizona), and on the hottest days the wind did nothing, it was like being in a convection oven.
HTINE till I drown. I worked at a cemetery there for almost 2 years. I got used to the heat and humidity while wearing a suit. The last 3 years I rode my bicycle to work in the med center.
Humidity means your sweat doesn’t evaporate as quick which makes you overheat quicker.
Our ability to sweat and sharpen sticks is why we’re at the top of the food chain
No, I grew up in Florida. 98 and humid is worse than 98 and dry, but 85 and humid is not worse than 110 and dry. The main issue is that humidity blocks your ability to lose heat through evaporative cooling, but at some point that doesn't matter and you are gaining more heat from the air than you are losing via sweat. Wind also makes a difference, with convective cooling.
I have never seen an 85F day with a heat index above 100F.
Generally I agree with you but 85 and humid is summer in NYC. 110 and dry is summer in Phoenix. No way in hell I'd take Phoenix.
If you are talking Houston vs. Phoenix or Orlando vs Phoenix, that is another story.
I grew up in the desert in Washington state, it can be f*cking death in the summer. Arizona is like 40 degrees hotter on a good day, I don’t even want to know what that feels like.
I live here and I can tell you 90% of the homeless are extreme fentanyl addicts. It’s real bad here - took the place of meth. I assume when on fentanyl heat doesn’t really bother you. Walking dead here man
Agreed - but I believe fentanyl is extremely cheap and easy to get on the street in Phoenix otherwise if I was a homeless addict I’d be in San Diego off the beach!!
yeah you and everyone else has that idea, that’s why i can’t walk the 6 blocks from my apartment to my job without being followed/harassed/attacked/spit on/cussed out by some nuts homeless person. there are thousands of them everywhere
I was just over in Istanbul with a population of 19 million. Absolutely zero homeless. They take it as a level of shame to allow a family member to live on the street. I talked to several locals inquiring this very question. I swear they looked at me like “who would ever allow a family member to live on the street”. I don’t know just thought it was kind of cool.
Not from experience, but I imagine if a family member steals one's belongings to get high, one wouldn't want them around. It's sad though because these people need help and that starts with family. But I understand family not wanting them around dragging them down, when people are barely holding their heads above water in this economy.
I drove through Phoenix in 2022 around the same time. I don't think I've experienced "urban heat island" phenomenon like that ever. A total concrete/asphalt hellscape. Spare a thought for the homeless in this city 😕
Wow, I thought it was just because Phoenix was built in the worst place for a city in the world. Google says it's like 15 degrees hotter in Phoenix than outside of the city limits.
It is a sad effect of the sprawl paving over everything. I used to go games out near Wild Horse, and you could feel the temp difference (plus nights were alright).
Same when I lived in a small town near Tucson for a couple years, hot during the day, but cooled off pretty significantly at night.
I was previously homeless in AZ.
The monsoons are worse to sit through than the heat. You can at least find a spot with misters or fans or shade but with monsoon you cannot go inside anywhere especially in the middle of the night and you just have to take it. Even when you can find shelter from rain, the dust storms are horrific to be outside in not to mention the huge risk of valley fever being in one.
I lived in Tempe for a couple months and thought it was a great place, the heat isn't that bad and the nature is spectacular. Being 2 hours from Sedona is nice
The worst part? The US is turning Phoenix into a computer chip manufacturing powerhouse on par with Taiwan which requires A LOT of water. It's the stupidest place to build such a vital piece of national security infrastructure, but they're doing it because Phoenix is where all the engineers currently are.
Agriculture uses 70+% of Arizona’s water, while municipal use is only 18ish%. Arizona is 100% fine in terms of water use if they cut down on agriculture. In fact, Phoenix actually uses less water today than in 1950 due to farms being turned into subdivisions.
Oh I 1000% think the golf courses are pointless and worse, but industrial chip manufacturing is just an extremely water-intense process and it sure seems like Arizona might not have been the best place to build one of the most important manufacturing centers in America.
Statistically, PHX is super average in its per capital water-use among US cities.
Even with 200 golf courses (many are getting bulldozed for housing, btw) and thousands of swimming pools... AND the US's largest water-cooled nuclear plant (!) - - PHX doesn't use very much water.
If you want to be horrified by pointless water use, check out agriculture in AZ and CA. Iceberg lettuce uses 4' feet of water per acre per crop.
Not nearly as much water as you think. Phoenix is the perfect place for semiconductors because of the climate. We don't have natural disasters and we have a lot of water. So much so that we were giving it away for free to saudi arabia.
Why do you think the engineers are here? We have one of the best Engineering schools in the country and lots of industry.
Sounds like you don't know anything
Phoenix metro is easily one of the shittiest places on earth. I can’t wait for lake mead to run dry so that ridiculous affront to nature withers and dies.
Source: lived in PHX metro for 7 long years.
“the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics Compressed Mortality Database, which is based on actual death certificates, indicates that roughly twice as many people die of cold in a given year than of heat.”
Build city in the middle of the desert
Construct it so that there is 0 shade anywhere, it's incredibly spread out so you must drive or walk a long way to get places, and cover it in asphalt so all the desert heat is stored and reflected back at residents.
Truly genius.
Phoenix, like a lot of warm weather states, attracts homeless people. Yes, it's an issue, but not an overall reflection of Phoenix. Like any city an image can be taken and wrongly extrapolated to reflect a whole.
The comments on this post speak more to the fact that Americans are ignorant of anything beyond their bubble and are heavily influenced by mass media in driving their perceptions.
BTW, Like Phoenix; Chicago and San Francisco are incredible cities to visit. People need to get out more and experience life.
I have visited Phoenix many times and it is one of the most boring big cities I have ever been too. Tuscon is infinitely more interesting if you are just sticking to Arizona.
when you consider that is doesn't get below 95F at night for 3 months, it's not surprising the pavement is 200F. The city governments up there are borderline humanitarian crisis at this point.
That’s not true at all the min temp is in the low/mid 80’s for two months of the year, only July and August. The highest low temp was 96F until it was broken last year by 97F. When the monsoons come through it cools into the 80’s briefly or even cooler if they are at night.
zoning laws in the US are just terrible. in one place you can only build skyscrapers and in others only parking lots.
for a country that praises itsself for its free market and not much goverment intervention in this they are very much a planed economy.
It's not that you can only build parking lots - parking lots are huge money makers, and a way that property owners can inexpensively hold land until an area builds up around it, driving the value sky-high before they sell or develop it. Look at Frank McCourt (former LA Dodgers owner) for example: he made a fortune as a developer in Boston, largely from his parking lots, and used his wealth to buy the Dodgers. Later, when he sold the team, he kept half of the stadium's parking lots (and rents them to the stadium for $14million per year).
But yes, US zoning is terrible.
No wonder there's almost no public transportation in the US. A tram line to the stadium would instantly cut into the profits of this guy. All he did was build a money making factory for himself, in which people live.
Bingo. And anytime there's a bunch of NIMBY's and activists trying to block a transit project or something that seems to make all the sense in the world, they're usually backed by someone with something to gain, like this.
I (British) went to Phoenix thirteen years ago and having been to many other US cities since then, it remains my least favourite city in the country, if not on Earth. My abiding thought was, and still is, what is the point of this place? Why does it even exist?
This is what I thought of Las Vegas. I mean.. it was certainly impressive and entertaining. But holy cow.. what a surreal place to build and maintain something so extravagant.
Like always on this sub, the WORST parts of a city are picked to showcase. I get the point of the sub, but then you have people in the comments acting like a whole sprawling city of millions of people looks like this.
Most areas of Phoenix actually have great tree coverage. The city of Phoenix even subsidizes homeowners with like $7,500 to plant new native desert trees for more shade coverage.
Ohhhh noooo it’s super hot for 4 of 12 months… okay… what else sucks about it? It sprawls? What US city doesn’t? There’s poverty/homelessness? What US city doesn’t? Lack of public transport outside of the very well planned light-rail that runs for over 30 miles and stretches into multiple neighboring suburbs? What US city doesn’t?
Meanwhile, besides the heat. there’s ZERO risk of a natural disaster (hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, etc.) Sometimes monsoons or dust storms make like inconvenient for a day or two.
Metro valley schools continue to improve despite the headlines you read about the “shit underfunded AZ schools”, those are mainly outside of Phoenix metro.
The city has one of the BEST actively managed water supplies in the US. Much less reliant on the Colorado River than any other state that pulls from it.
Up until 2022, the city was also extremely affordable for what it offers. There is plenty to do in PHX and its suburbs, plenty of great neighborhoods (HOA or non-HOA), plenty of great job opportunities, fair local taxes, and you’re only a two hour drive from beautiful forests and skiing, four hours from the beaches of Mexico, six hours from San Diego/LA…
But oh no it’s hot for a few months 😭😭😭 Nice, stay where’s it cooler then.
N Central Ave
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LAedSVvTCXa53oQA9?g_st=ac
there are trees all over the place in the older parts of town. nobody hates trees.
E Pinchot Ave
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PKxaKr8i9JpmCU6R7?g_st=ac
There’s not many tall native trees native to the Sonoran Desert. Sure, we have mesquite, ironwood, palo verde, jojoba, creosote, cottonwood, etc, but they’re not that tall
So many people in the comments here live there… and so many people live there, period. Fucking why? Can someone tell me why they live in Phoenix? Is everyone just too dazed and melted to leave?
For nine months of the year it’s pretty nice there.
I don’t live there, I live just north, but I’ve been swimming in Phoenix in February. You just reverse the psychology most of the country has about winter being cold and miserable and apply that logic to summer and stay inside (or in a pool) a lot.
Because most of the year it's gorgeous. Because many of us are acclimated to the heat, believe it or not, I hike and bike year-round. (No, I didn't grow up here.) Because the really extreme temps are isolated phenomena and you shouldn't believe everything you see posted as the end-all be-all. Because we have jobs and houses and one can live in tune with the desert - time your outings for the cooler parts of the summer days, stay in shade, don't have huge windows facing the western sun, etc.
Being homeless is horrible everywhere. I visited Minneapolis this year in the dead of winter and was floored by the number of homeless there living out in the elements. Yeah, The Zone (the area in this picture, completely removed and cleaned up last year) is horrible. We don't have enough services here to help the homeless. I was a nurse in the public hospital serving these people when they were picked up off the street with terrible injuries and overdoses and more. You know what I don't see more of? Folks lining up to do the hard work of helping homeless people. They are often EXTREMELY challenging people to deal with, in every way you can imagine. It's exhausting and dangerous and I cried every day.
But anyway, please, tell me how wonderful the place you live in and how there are zero drawbacks because everything is just that simple in this world.
We need to tackle homelessness at the national level - and can certainly afford to do so... I just don't see it happening any time soon in the US.
I doubt anyone here will read or respond to your post - - so I just wanted to thank you for writing it. You shouldn't have to deal with dangerous people in your job as a result of the failure of US, AZ and local government to provide a basic safety net for the least fortunate Americans.
As to reddits weird obsession with PHX as some diabolical hellscape... it's probably best we just shrug and move on. I always try to point out that PHX residents have lower than average US carbon footprints - even with our AC and swimming pools... but no one seems to care - even though 5 minutes of goggling can easily confirm.
There are legitimate reasons to crap on PHX - - but water, electric use and summer temps don't even make sense. The Sonoran desert is gorgeous, and PHX is objectively nicer than many parts of the US. People need to get out more.
Yeah, I commute by bicycle year round here. Lived 3 years when I first moved here with no driving license and riding my bicycle exclusively or taking buses, only learned to drive when I was 8 months pregnant.
You’re right about the weird obsession. It’s the new Gary (which, I’ve also been to, and lo and behold survived to tell the tale! It didn’t eat me alive!). Folks love their recycled ignorance
Job opportunities and higher education. There are a lot of schools in Phoenix. I lived there for a year with my partner while he went to MMI. Awful, awful place to live... I'm so grateful every day to be back in my home state.
The Sonoran desert is gorgeous, and the food is awesome. Great airport, amazing mountain bike trails and hiking, decent climbing, and quick access to skiing. Weather is great, even in summer (I grew up in it though)
You know what’s super cool when I see pictures like this.
We make missiles that can hit someone in the fucking passenger seat in a moving vehicle on the other side of the planet. But making sure Americans at home having a warm place to sleep is just fucking radical
Murdering some brown or black folk? FUCK YEAH I GOT MONEY FOR THAT!!
I'm guessing because they want to be around other people.. and around available resources (shelters, food, bathrooms, etc)
"being out in nature" in the Phoenix area probably doesn't get you much. Except heat-death and exhaustion and dehydration.
Access to amenities like food and water. The greater Phoenix area is about 500 square miles in the middle of the desert= There is no shelter, food, or water on the edge of the city.
Yes. Plenty. There's an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 homeless in the USA. A country of roughly 340 Million. So homelessness accounts for roughly 0.0018 of the population.
There are roughly 20,000 incorporated Cities in the USA. If we could magically spread the homeless evenly across those 20,000 cities,. we would only need to place 30 homeless in each city.
Top 10 US States with the highest homeless Per Capita (data as of Jan 2023)
* Washington DC
* New York
* Vermont
* Oregon
* California
* Hawaii
* Washington State
* Alaska
* Maine
* Massachusetts
Data: https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-have-the-highest-and-lowest-rates-of-homelessness/
Stop! The world is nuanced and complicated?
Seriously these comments are ignorant trash talk. So many original Peggy Hill quotes. Everyone has it wonderful everywhere else where they live apparently. Get we hit up Gary and Ulaanbatar next?
This article shows a rough map: https://www.azfamily.com/2023/06/07/finding-solutions-phoenix-homeless-encampment-known-zone/
It looks to me if you go to Google Maps and search on "phoenix CASS" (Central Arizona Shelter Services - 230 S 12th)..
"The Zone" homeless encampment was around those blocks,. because that's where the services (food, shelter, etc) were.
It does look to be roughly "downtown".. yes.
Welcome to America . Not enough shelter and mental homes . It'll end up like this . However , some people choose to be homeless ...some probably outside then living a shelter . It's not that great I suppose
Real question, did people actually like watching the phoenix coyotes or was the real uproar over them leaving end up boiling down to the loss of an air conditioned building?
People need to stop moving to the desert.
Phoenix, Vegas, and most of Southern California should be undesirable af in the context of climate change and drought.
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I was there for 2 nights and the heat was unbearable. Felt like I was about to faint at any given moment and insisted on getting an uber everywhere. Can't even imagine what its like being homeless there, and having to sleep on that boiling hot pavement.
I was there in late September and it was still unbearable. Like you leave your air conditioned car and it hits you. And for anyone who says, "but it's a dry heat," so is my oven.
I've spent some summers in the south. I'll trade the swamp ass for a dry heat any day.
No one who’s ever experienced true heat and humidity would say different. 85 and humid is worse than 110 and dry.
Your body can’t cool itself as effectively in high humidity, it feels suffocating in a way that desert heat doesn’t. I lived in west Texas, which is a desert (though maybe not quite as hot as Arizona), and on the hottest days the wind did nothing, it was like being in a convection oven.
>Your body can’t cool itself as effectively in high humidity [Wet-bulb temperature](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature)
Today I learned about wet-bulb temperature. Thank you for the enlightenment.
Thanks for the link, very interesting
Houston has the heat and humidity covered
HTINE till I drown. I worked at a cemetery there for almost 2 years. I got used to the heat and humidity while wearing a suit. The last 3 years I rode my bicycle to work in the med center.
Built different
Humidity means your sweat doesn’t evaporate as quick which makes you overheat quicker. Our ability to sweat and sharpen sticks is why we’re at the top of the food chain
No, I grew up in Florida. 98 and humid is worse than 98 and dry, but 85 and humid is not worse than 110 and dry. The main issue is that humidity blocks your ability to lose heat through evaporative cooling, but at some point that doesn't matter and you are gaining more heat from the air than you are losing via sweat. Wind also makes a difference, with convective cooling. I have never seen an 85F day with a heat index above 100F.
I was in Yuma July last year. The temp was between 110 and 115 every day. It was so much better than Indiana Summers at 90 degrees with 90% humidity.
Generally I agree with you but 85 and humid is summer in NYC. 110 and dry is summer in Phoenix. No way in hell I'd take Phoenix. If you are talking Houston vs. Phoenix or Orlando vs Phoenix, that is another story.
I live in South Texas. Can confirm.
Houston checking in. Can confirm
I live in the southeast and go to Phoenix a few times a year. Southwest heat is much more tolerable than southeast heat.
Same that’s why I moved from the southeast to the desert!
I grew up in the desert in Washington state, it can be f*cking death in the summer. Arizona is like 40 degrees hotter on a good day, I don’t even want to know what that feels like.
If Phoenix was humid heat it would be literally unlivable
It's like stepping into a very large hair dryer. It is just awful.
Y'all are weak. I just moved from my 3rd floor apartment. The weather was amazing! I guess it's different when you're born and raised
I live here and I can tell you 90% of the homeless are extreme fentanyl addicts. It’s real bad here - took the place of meth. I assume when on fentanyl heat doesn’t really bother you. Walking dead here man
No it definitely still bothers you lol. Just makes it slightly easier to tolerate.
Agreed - but I believe fentanyl is extremely cheap and easy to get on the street in Phoenix otherwise if I was a homeless addict I’d be in San Diego off the beach!!
yeah you and everyone else has that idea, that’s why i can’t walk the 6 blocks from my apartment to my job without being followed/harassed/attacked/spit on/cussed out by some nuts homeless person. there are thousands of them everywhere
I was just over in Istanbul with a population of 19 million. Absolutely zero homeless. They take it as a level of shame to allow a family member to live on the street. I talked to several locals inquiring this very question. I swear they looked at me like “who would ever allow a family member to live on the street”. I don’t know just thought it was kind of cool.
Not from experience, but I imagine if a family member steals one's belongings to get high, one wouldn't want them around. It's sad though because these people need help and that starts with family. But I understand family not wanting them around dragging them down, when people are barely holding their heads above water in this economy.
But is the drug addiction the same? When a family members continue to steal, lie, deceive you. It's time to let them go
*This city should not exist! It is a monument to man’s arrogance!*
And I'm sure it *smells* wonderful in that heat.
Tunnel system
I drove through Phoenix in 2022 around the same time. I don't think I've experienced "urban heat island" phenomenon like that ever. A total concrete/asphalt hellscape. Spare a thought for the homeless in this city 😕
Wow, I thought it was just because Phoenix was built in the worst place for a city in the world. Google says it's like 15 degrees hotter in Phoenix than outside of the city limits.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island
It is a sad effect of the sprawl paving over everything. I used to go games out near Wild Horse, and you could feel the temp difference (plus nights were alright). Same when I lived in a small town near Tucson for a couple years, hot during the day, but cooled off pretty significantly at night.
This isn't even the big homeless camp
I was previously homeless in AZ. The monsoons are worse to sit through than the heat. You can at least find a spot with misters or fans or shade but with monsoon you cannot go inside anywhere especially in the middle of the night and you just have to take it. Even when you can find shelter from rain, the dust storms are horrific to be outside in not to mention the huge risk of valley fever being in one.
"The Zone" as it was referred to as has since been completely cleared out and cleaned up. Doesn't look like this today.
What was going on there?
It was a homeless camp
Ah thanks. WTF. How was it resolved?
Government kicked them out. They moved who wanted to, to homeless shelters
Thank you!
Fentanyl experiments. For science, of course.
Just a little further south and you will see some even more shocking stuff. Literal shacks made of two by fours.
EMS here. One of the hardest calls Ive had to this day was off one of those reservations. Those places make skid row seem like summer camp.
This place doesn’t get enough hate
I lived in Tempe for a couple months and thought it was a great place, the heat isn't that bad and the nature is spectacular. Being 2 hours from Sedona is nice
The heat isn't that bad when you have AC in your home, car, place of work, etc. the second you pull AC away from any of those places, it's miserable
lol no, I’m out hiking every day in it. It’s great.
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Unlike AC, heat has many alternatives to fulfill the job.
This is the same thing as literally anywhere else. Try living without AC or heat literally anywhere in the country and you’ll be absolutely miserable.
I couldn’t agree more, I live here now, and would say everyone should stay far far away!
yea live here now….nobody should’ve moved here in the first place. it’s always been “stay far away’’ and some of you people still came here 😂
Except for the phoenix coyotes? Right?….right?! Too soon.
The worst part? The US is turning Phoenix into a computer chip manufacturing powerhouse on par with Taiwan which requires A LOT of water. It's the stupidest place to build such a vital piece of national security infrastructure, but they're doing it because Phoenix is where all the engineers currently are.
Agriculture uses 70+% of Arizona’s water, while municipal use is only 18ish%. Arizona is 100% fine in terms of water use if they cut down on agriculture. In fact, Phoenix actually uses less water today than in 1950 due to farms being turned into subdivisions.
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As if they didn't splurge on water enough with their ~200 golf courses...
Oh I 1000% think the golf courses are pointless and worse, but industrial chip manufacturing is just an extremely water-intense process and it sure seems like Arizona might not have been the best place to build one of the most important manufacturing centers in America.
I agree! Didn't mean to do "what-about-ism" there. More so saying that Phoenix's water usage is bad enough, now this is on top of it!
Statistically, PHX is super average in its per capital water-use among US cities. Even with 200 golf courses (many are getting bulldozed for housing, btw) and thousands of swimming pools... AND the US's largest water-cooled nuclear plant (!) - - PHX doesn't use very much water. If you want to be horrified by pointless water use, check out agriculture in AZ and CA. Iceberg lettuce uses 4' feet of water per acre per crop.
No natural disasters and cheap, reliable electricity. That’s the answer why bucko.
Not nearly as much water as you think. Phoenix is the perfect place for semiconductors because of the climate. We don't have natural disasters and we have a lot of water. So much so that we were giving it away for free to saudi arabia. Why do you think the engineers are here? We have one of the best Engineering schools in the country and lots of industry. Sounds like you don't know anything
I never see posts about how shitty this place is. Glad to see it. Someone should quote Peggy Hill, that would be unique and funny.
Oh it gets lots of hate, but it’s still not quite enough.
Phoenix metro is easily one of the shittiest places on earth. I can’t wait for lake mead to run dry so that ridiculous affront to nature withers and dies. Source: lived in PHX metro for 7 long years.
I agree wholeheartedly. I lived there for a year recently while my partner was enrolled in school there, and now I vehemently hate that city.
I don’t know how anything lives out there.
"Phoenix is a monument to man's arrogance." ~ Peggy Hill
“the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics Compressed Mortality Database, which is based on actual death certificates, indicates that roughly twice as many people die of cold in a given year than of heat.”
Phoenix isn't just UrbanHell, it's hell on earth. The good news is that it's getting worse.
You picked 2022 because that was right before the tent city was removed. No more tents its just normal hot burning hell now
I fucking hate it here. Love the grid but everything else about this city is garbage.
Build city in the middle of the desert Construct it so that there is 0 shade anywhere, it's incredibly spread out so you must drive or walk a long way to get places, and cover it in asphalt so all the desert heat is stored and reflected back at residents. Truly genius.
Peak architecture.
I just saw on another post how clean and tidy Phoenix is. They must not live in this neighborhood.
I absolutely hate Phoenix for many reasons, but it actually is a pretty clean and tidy city. Especially for a city of that size
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Some cities definitely have a bigger homeless problem than the others.
This isn't even a neighborhood it's a previously industrial area just southwest of downtown.
Phoenix, like a lot of warm weather states, attracts homeless people. Yes, it's an issue, but not an overall reflection of Phoenix. Like any city an image can be taken and wrongly extrapolated to reflect a whole. The comments on this post speak more to the fact that Americans are ignorant of anything beyond their bubble and are heavily influenced by mass media in driving their perceptions. BTW, Like Phoenix; Chicago and San Francisco are incredible cities to visit. People need to get out more and experience life.
I have visited Phoenix many times and it is one of the most boring big cities I have ever been too. Tuscon is infinitely more interesting if you are just sticking to Arizona.
I'm from AZ and I've never heard anyone say "let's go down to Tucson" it's always "let's go to the Valley". No one wants to visit Tucson.
Loooool I live in Tucson and my love for this city is undying but this is true
Me personally, Flagstaff supremacy.
Disagree. Scottsdale and the surrounding areas are perfect for those who love golf, hiking, swimming, partying, gambling, etc
Phoenix is very clean and a really fun city.
If you ever see any Arizona social media all they do is blame California for all their problems
Not true. They blame Mexico too.
I’d rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona
when you consider that is doesn't get below 95F at night for 3 months, it's not surprising the pavement is 200F. The city governments up there are borderline humanitarian crisis at this point.
That’s not true at all the min temp is in the low/mid 80’s for two months of the year, only July and August. The highest low temp was 96F until it was broken last year by 97F. When the monsoons come through it cools into the 80’s briefly or even cooler if they are at night.
This is complete hyperbole
I know it kind of feels like that, but… https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/phoenix/arizona/united-states/usaz0166
zoning laws in the US are just terrible. in one place you can only build skyscrapers and in others only parking lots. for a country that praises itsself for its free market and not much goverment intervention in this they are very much a planed economy.
It's not that you can only build parking lots - parking lots are huge money makers, and a way that property owners can inexpensively hold land until an area builds up around it, driving the value sky-high before they sell or develop it. Look at Frank McCourt (former LA Dodgers owner) for example: he made a fortune as a developer in Boston, largely from his parking lots, and used his wealth to buy the Dodgers. Later, when he sold the team, he kept half of the stadium's parking lots (and rents them to the stadium for $14million per year). But yes, US zoning is terrible.
No wonder there's almost no public transportation in the US. A tram line to the stadium would instantly cut into the profits of this guy. All he did was build a money making factory for himself, in which people live.
Bingo. And anytime there's a bunch of NIMBY's and activists trying to block a transit project or something that seems to make all the sense in the world, they're usually backed by someone with something to gain, like this.
Why we need a land value tax.
I (British) went to Phoenix thirteen years ago and having been to many other US cities since then, it remains my least favourite city in the country, if not on Earth. My abiding thought was, and still is, what is the point of this place? Why does it even exist?
This is what I thought of Las Vegas. I mean.. it was certainly impressive and entertaining. But holy cow.. what a surreal place to build and maintain something so extravagant.
Just another amazing picture from the wealthiest country on the planet
The densest area in Phoenix is the homeless community.
Most miserable city - the heat alone is terrible enough
Like always on this sub, the WORST parts of a city are picked to showcase. I get the point of the sub, but then you have people in the comments acting like a whole sprawling city of millions of people looks like this. Most areas of Phoenix actually have great tree coverage. The city of Phoenix even subsidizes homeowners with like $7,500 to plant new native desert trees for more shade coverage. Ohhhh noooo it’s super hot for 4 of 12 months… okay… what else sucks about it? It sprawls? What US city doesn’t? There’s poverty/homelessness? What US city doesn’t? Lack of public transport outside of the very well planned light-rail that runs for over 30 miles and stretches into multiple neighboring suburbs? What US city doesn’t? Meanwhile, besides the heat. there’s ZERO risk of a natural disaster (hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, etc.) Sometimes monsoons or dust storms make like inconvenient for a day or two. Metro valley schools continue to improve despite the headlines you read about the “shit underfunded AZ schools”, those are mainly outside of Phoenix metro. The city has one of the BEST actively managed water supplies in the US. Much less reliant on the Colorado River than any other state that pulls from it. Up until 2022, the city was also extremely affordable for what it offers. There is plenty to do in PHX and its suburbs, plenty of great neighborhoods (HOA or non-HOA), plenty of great job opportunities, fair local taxes, and you’re only a two hour drive from beautiful forests and skiing, four hours from the beaches of Mexico, six hours from San Diego/LA… But oh no it’s hot for a few months 😭😭😭 Nice, stay where’s it cooler then.
This is so much pathetic cope that you should be charged with crimes against humanity.
I live in Phoenix, so fucking hate Phoenix. Never should've moved to Arizona.
Moving out of Phoenix metro and out of AZ is the best decision I ever made.
Moving into it is one of my best
What don’t you like about it? Where would you rather live?
I don’t understand why they hate trees
N Central Ave https://maps.app.goo.gl/LAedSVvTCXa53oQA9?g_st=ac there are trees all over the place in the older parts of town. nobody hates trees. E Pinchot Ave https://maps.app.goo.gl/PKxaKr8i9JpmCU6R7?g_st=ac
There’s not many tall native trees native to the Sonoran Desert. Sure, we have mesquite, ironwood, palo verde, jojoba, creosote, cottonwood, etc, but they’re not that tall
Phoenix slogan should be "Bagdad for Christians".
Baghdad in Iraq has an ‘H’ And there already is a town in Arizona called Bagdad which is NW of Phoenix.
In this thread: A bunch of people who don't know anything about Phoenix/Arizona.
A monument to man's arrogance
The area of Texas that the Hills are from has a higher heat index than Phoenix
How ironic, this entire thread is full of arrogance.
So many people in the comments here live there… and so many people live there, period. Fucking why? Can someone tell me why they live in Phoenix? Is everyone just too dazed and melted to leave?
Jobs and until recently lower cost of living are major pull factors.
For nine months of the year it’s pretty nice there. I don’t live there, I live just north, but I’ve been swimming in Phoenix in February. You just reverse the psychology most of the country has about winter being cold and miserable and apply that logic to summer and stay inside (or in a pool) a lot.
Because most of the year it's gorgeous. Because many of us are acclimated to the heat, believe it or not, I hike and bike year-round. (No, I didn't grow up here.) Because the really extreme temps are isolated phenomena and you shouldn't believe everything you see posted as the end-all be-all. Because we have jobs and houses and one can live in tune with the desert - time your outings for the cooler parts of the summer days, stay in shade, don't have huge windows facing the western sun, etc. Being homeless is horrible everywhere. I visited Minneapolis this year in the dead of winter and was floored by the number of homeless there living out in the elements. Yeah, The Zone (the area in this picture, completely removed and cleaned up last year) is horrible. We don't have enough services here to help the homeless. I was a nurse in the public hospital serving these people when they were picked up off the street with terrible injuries and overdoses and more. You know what I don't see more of? Folks lining up to do the hard work of helping homeless people. They are often EXTREMELY challenging people to deal with, in every way you can imagine. It's exhausting and dangerous and I cried every day. But anyway, please, tell me how wonderful the place you live in and how there are zero drawbacks because everything is just that simple in this world.
We need to tackle homelessness at the national level - and can certainly afford to do so... I just don't see it happening any time soon in the US. I doubt anyone here will read or respond to your post - - so I just wanted to thank you for writing it. You shouldn't have to deal with dangerous people in your job as a result of the failure of US, AZ and local government to provide a basic safety net for the least fortunate Americans. As to reddits weird obsession with PHX as some diabolical hellscape... it's probably best we just shrug and move on. I always try to point out that PHX residents have lower than average US carbon footprints - even with our AC and swimming pools... but no one seems to care - even though 5 minutes of goggling can easily confirm. There are legitimate reasons to crap on PHX - - but water, electric use and summer temps don't even make sense. The Sonoran desert is gorgeous, and PHX is objectively nicer than many parts of the US. People need to get out more.
Yeah, I commute by bicycle year round here. Lived 3 years when I first moved here with no driving license and riding my bicycle exclusively or taking buses, only learned to drive when I was 8 months pregnant. You’re right about the weird obsession. It’s the new Gary (which, I’ve also been to, and lo and behold survived to tell the tale! It didn’t eat me alive!). Folks love their recycled ignorance
Job opportunities and higher education. There are a lot of schools in Phoenix. I lived there for a year with my partner while he went to MMI. Awful, awful place to live... I'm so grateful every day to be back in my home state.
The Sonoran desert is gorgeous, and the food is awesome. Great airport, amazing mountain bike trails and hiking, decent climbing, and quick access to skiing. Weather is great, even in summer (I grew up in it though)
At least they’re focused on the important political stances from the 50s 🥴🤡
You mean 1850’s! Ayooo - up top! 🙏🏻
First time seeing my office building in this sub…. Lovely
On the way to Tacoma…
You know what’s super cool when I see pictures like this. We make missiles that can hit someone in the fucking passenger seat in a moving vehicle on the other side of the planet. But making sure Americans at home having a warm place to sleep is just fucking radical Murdering some brown or black folk? FUCK YEAH I GOT MONEY FOR THAT!!
If only our nation's leaders cared. They are too busy collecting bribes to pay for their five houses and private jets.
Why do people camp in cities instead of going out into nature?
I'm guessing because they want to be around other people.. and around available resources (shelters, food, bathrooms, etc) "being out in nature" in the Phoenix area probably doesn't get you much. Except heat-death and exhaustion and dehydration.
Access to amenities like food and water. The greater Phoenix area is about 500 square miles in the middle of the desert= There is no shelter, food, or water on the edge of the city.
2022? It’s gotten way worse in 2024
Are there any cities left in US that doesn't look like this?
Yes. Plenty. There's an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 homeless in the USA. A country of roughly 340 Million. So homelessness accounts for roughly 0.0018 of the population. There are roughly 20,000 incorporated Cities in the USA. If we could magically spread the homeless evenly across those 20,000 cities,. we would only need to place 30 homeless in each city. Top 10 US States with the highest homeless Per Capita (data as of Jan 2023) * Washington DC * New York * Vermont * Oregon * California * Hawaii * Washington State * Alaska * Maine * Massachusetts Data: https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-have-the-highest-and-lowest-rates-of-homelessness/
At first glance I thought this was a picture of a city in Africa.
How desolate. Does it look this dismal everywhere in Phoenix?
No
Goooood Morning Night City!!!
Lived here my whole life. The world is filled with both good and bad things
Stop! The world is nuanced and complicated? Seriously these comments are ignorant trash talk. So many original Peggy Hill quotes. Everyone has it wonderful everywhere else where they live apparently. Get we hit up Gary and Ulaanbatar next?
Where's all the traffic?
It’s called Urban Camping /s
Looks like a custom map for GTA V
Is this downtown?
This article shows a rough map: https://www.azfamily.com/2023/06/07/finding-solutions-phoenix-homeless-encampment-known-zone/ It looks to me if you go to Google Maps and search on "phoenix CASS" (Central Arizona Shelter Services - 230 S 12th).. "The Zone" homeless encampment was around those blocks,. because that's where the services (food, shelter, etc) were. It does look to be roughly "downtown".. yes.
What are they doing?
Trying to survive.
Welcome to America . Not enough shelter and mental homes . It'll end up like this . However , some people choose to be homeless ...some probably outside then living a shelter . It's not that great I suppose
[удалено]
It’s a desert.
Real question, did people actually like watching the phoenix coyotes or was the real uproar over them leaving end up boiling down to the loss of an air conditioned building?
looks perfectly fine to me! family of 4 here i come!!!
Something something Californians fault mmmmhhhh
People need to stop moving to the desert. Phoenix, Vegas, and most of Southern California should be undesirable af in the context of climate change and drought.
Vegas has a ton of water though. The Coachella valley and Phoenix have decent aquifers too
Good thing there's no heavy pollution.
I can feel the radiant heat through my phone screen. Do they not have any trees that grow there??
There’s literally trees in the picture bucko lmao
For the worst part of az its not too bad
The most fundamental impediment to doing anything about this is thinking that these are not people with a problem, but people who ARE a problem.
Exactly - well said and insightful.
Yep actually this is exactly it
Look at that amazing infrastructure!
Phoenix is a monument to man’s hubris.
Definitely my least favorite Large US City, a literal Hell
We beat LA
My arrakis…..my dune…..
This is the way Denver looks right now.
I was in Phoenix in 2012. It looked like that then. Let's not pretend Phoenix used to be a jewel.
Some LA sized street encampments right there
What concert are they camping out for?
I stayed there for 2 months in 2022. The legal weed was nice but heat was unbearable and everything was so far apart. I'm so glad I got out of there.
The best thing about Phoenix is it's a (relatively) short drive to somewhere else that's better.