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Old Posted Apr 1, 2013, 11:05 PM
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southtucsonboy77 southtucsonboy77 is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: T-Town, AZ
Posts: 378
Quote:
Originally Posted by azliam View Post
Listen "Ted", what's more annoying are the comments in the Tucson forum about how everyone wishes for Tucson to never become another Phoenix. That's fine; however, as I was a Tucson resident from '92-early 2010, I started posting in the Tucson forum originally, lived through the Rio Nuevo debacle, and watched how Tucson really did not progress for all too many years. While I am happy to see Tucson flourishing, I'm not just some random poster here. I think I'm perfectly qualified to comment when people don't "get it right" about either city.
I love the ol' Phoenix/Tucson debates...

When you compare the 2 cities head-on, its not proportionate. Phx metro is nearly 5 mill and Tucson is 1 mill. Downtown Phx has a bigger footprint, has newer, taller, and more skyscrapers. Chase Field and U.S. Airways are located there...but when you compare apples with apples, oranges with oranges, Downtown Phx compared to...let's say...Downtown Denver/Dallas/Houston/Atlanta...it does not compete. Downtown Phx is a ghost town after 5pm. Weekends is just as bad. If the D-backs are not good, downtown is not good. Suns game, eh. Concerts...little more action. I'll take the less commercial, less formal Congress and 4th Ave in the Old Pueblo any day.

The problem with Downtown Phx is that there's not one concentrated "club/bar" district. Many restaurants are too formal and expensive. Mill Ave in Tempe and Scottsdale are the places to be and rule in that clientele. Too, Phx is soooo freakishly spread out. People wanna go home and be near home. Lastly, Downtown Phx failed with the Arizona Center. "Let's bring in all the commercial restaurants/stores of the suburbs and bring them downtown..." Didn't work. What do Phx leaders do? Arizona Center part 2 (aka CityScape). Rio Nuevo failed miserably. But behind the scenes, the local developers and small business-restaurant/bar entrepreneurs were bringing in these unique establishments that has given Downtown Tucson a distinct character...complimenting the distinct character of 4th Ave. Without big concerts or big sports entertainment, people are going downtown. Downtown Tucson hasn't even peaked. It's just starting and I can proudly say its a cool place to be.

This is only one man's opinion.
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