Wow, you are all beating up on my adopted homeland.
On the surface I agree with your assessment that the overall Valley of the Sun looks like sh%#. (I usually refer to it as a sewer) However, this is a very complex issue. The housing industry is the state’s “engine of growth”. Just about everyone is involved in the housing industry whether it be real estate agents, mortgage brokers, or home improvement. Large real estate firms and entitlement lawyers run the state. Our legislators are ineffective. There is no strong state government. Communities fight with one another to gain stadiums, retail stores and any thing that might increase their own tax base. On top of it, Maricopa County acts as its own fiefdom by allowing huge master planned communities to be planned and built outside of city limits. Of course, the county standards are nowhere near the same as the cities nearby and this form of development creates an inefficient infrastructure. Nevertheless, this goes on and on even though the state has a smart growth statute. Oh, did I forget to add that no one wants to pay any more in taxes. Many of the retirees live in communities that do not have to contribute to the K-12 school taxes. These same retirees who are not interested in spending a dime control the funding mechanism for many of infrastructure improvements.
However, when you compare Phoenix to other desert cities I think it is one of the better-looking desert communities. There are design guidelines in place that work to create some fairly good housing (albeit dominated by single-family) Many of the problems are temporary and will cease when communities are able to better up with the torrid pace of development.
As far as the gas crisis, it was panic driven. Big trucks and SUVs that need lots of gas dominate the Phoenix auto inventory. People also travel great distances to get to work everyday. There is little conservation in this state. (On a side note when I moved here from Wisconsin, I was shocked to find out that there were few recycling or conservation programs in place) Gas is looked at as a right. Even our governor is quoted as saying “Arizona drivers deserve to get gas when they go to gas stations," Napolitano said Tuesday. "That's not an unreasonable expectation."
So throughout this crisis, people’s patience was certainly tested. There were numerous accidents b/c traffic was backed up trying to get into stations that had gas. On one of my attempts to get gas, I was behind an idiot woman who waited in line only to try using a credit card that wouldn’t work. Instead of pulling away from the pump she got on her cell phone and spent at least five minutes screaming to whoever was on the other end. When she finally pulled away, I moved next to the pump and the station attendant came over and said they were just about out of gas and had to use what remained for the post office vehicles. (It was one of those days) I left, went home and didn’t venture out into the madness for the rest of the day. On the up side, the gas crisis has given us something to do with out time other than complaining about the terrible monsoon heat.
Today things are starting to return to normal.
