Does anyone still believe the myth of Scottsdale “wealth”?
October 24, 2007 by Frank
Now that the house of cards is tumbling and we’re seeing:
- Record foreclousres (doubled in the past month!)
- Repo men patrolling Scottsdale streets daily
- No more credit and housing ATM
- Restaurants and businesses dropping like flies
- Skyrocketing crime
- Loudmouthed blowhards in BMWs and Tommy Bahama shirts suddenly silent
- Mass exodus of beautiful single golddigger women from Scottsdale, replaced by white trash
- No more luxury cars and designers clothes in old town, just lowriders and wifebeater shirts
- No more lines to get into old town clubs, which are increasingly empty
- Continuing increases in poilce corruption and bogus tickets to offset property tax losses
…does anyone still believe in the fairy tale of Scottsdale’s “wealthy”? Is anyone – besides the phonies themselves, who are in denial – actually stupid enough to believe that there was ever any money in Scottsdale?
Does the town’s reputation even stand a chance, or will it forever be known as the land of shysters, fakers, phonies, and real estate hucksters?
From AZCentral.com:
District to students: No more free hot lunches
Ofelia Madrid
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 24, 2007 11:11 AM
SCOTTSDALE – There’s no such thing as a free lunch in the Scottsdale Unified School District.
Starting Nov. 1, elementary students who don’t pay for their lunch for three days in a row will no longer get a regular lunch, but a sack lunch consisting of a peanut butter sandwich and juice.
That’s because the district’s nutritional services department has more than $20,000 in outstanding balances from students who haven’t paid their lunch tabs, said Patti Bilbrey, who oversees the district’s middle and high school cafeterias.
These aren’t kids who are on the federal free and reduced lunch program, but students or parents who seem to be taking advantage of a generous IOU system.
Last year the district’s director of nutritional services changed the policy to allow a student who forgets lunch money to receive a regular lunch, instead of the peanut butter sandwich and juice, which is standard in most school districts.
“The negative meals climbed dramatically” and quickly, Bilbrey said.
Parents have been contacted over and over about the outstanding balances, Bilbrey said.
There are several ways Scottsdale parents can pay for children’s lunches, including cash, check and using mylunchmoney.com, an online credit-card prepayment service that also allows parents to see what food their children buy.
Middle school students will be allowed to receive two regular lunches in a row before they start getting the peanut butter sandwich. At the high school, students won’t receive anything.
“What we found out was that students come to school and have cash, but they figured out they could get a meal for free and pocket their lunch money,” Bilbrey said.
An elementary lunch combo costs $2 and students choose an entrée, two sides and milk. For example Thursday’s menu is teriyaki chicken bowl, chicken Caesar salad or grilled cheese sandwich as the entrée with Asian vegetables, sliced peaches with strawberries and fresh pears.
A middle school lunch costs $2.25; it’s $2.50 at the high school.
It’s a tough situation to be in since the department sells meals basically at cost, Bilbrey said. Also, because unlike some school districts, Scottsdale’s nutritional services department is self-sufficient, meaning it doesn’t receive financial support from the district.
“With food and fuel costs rising, that cost will somehow end up in the price of a meal,” Bilbrey said.
Link to story:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1024sr-lunch1025ON.html
My aunt visiting from Texas went to Fashion Square Mall and said she felt very poor walking around there. I told her she was crazy to even be thinking that because most people who shop there aren’t wealthy. Carrying a Gucci bag or driving a luxury car does not make you wealthy. She doesn’t seem to understand that because she’s an honest woman used to living within her means. She was baffled when I tried to explain the 30K millionaire phenomenon and how people out here feed an illusion (especially my fellow twentysomethings).
Here is a link to a new site featuring PHX flippers in trouble:
http://phoenixflippers.blogspot.com/?ref=patrick.net
Several of the homes pictured are in Scottsdale. People are down some serious money.
So glad we are not going to buy there (we were thinking of it seriously, but came across this blog and decided not to).
Well, Frank, I’m pretty sure you won’t post this, but I know several Scottsdale residents who I consider wealthy. I am not going to name names, but two gentlemen have assets that I would guess to be over $100M. I know plenty of people with at least $10-15M in the bank – young people, retired early, that either grew up here or moved here. They like it just fine. I live in the “central Phoenix ghetto” and I know plenty of people down here who don’t have real estate jobs that are doing just fine.
I grew up in a middle class Scottsdale home. Nice house, great childhood, etc…
While I agree that the fake Scottsdale people suck ass, there are those in Scottsdale who don’t fit that bill, and when you say everyone in Scottsdale is (fill in the blank), it’s hard not to be personally offended because that is where I grew up. It’s my home. My parents and sister live in Scottsdale. Some of my oldest friends live in Scottsdale. It used to be a wonderful town. I am betting that it will be again in the near future. How do you like the stereotype that everyone from New Jersey is a Bon Jovi-listening, Camaro-driving guido that talks with his hands and has a small dick? I don’t think you like it, I think you probably say to yourself – “wait, that’s not me. What the “f” are these people talking about?”
That guy from El Paso that got pulled over and harassed by SPD? Sorry, I don’t believe it. I believe it may have happened, but if this guy was at a Fleetwood Mac concert, it’s probably a safe bet that he was impaired somehow and most likely driving like a douche. I have seen SPD get downright criminal with people, but I’ve never seen it happen to someone who didn’t have it coming – and let’s put things in perspective. These cops took an hour of this guy’s life away. They didn’t beat him to death or stick a plunger up his ass. Sorry dude, but most people in AZ believe that most people from TX are assholes. I know it’s not true (I’ve got plenty of family there), but y’all send your worst representatives to this state.
I think I’ve toiled in futility enough – I know you won’t publish this Frank. But believe it or not, there are wealthy people everywhere. You should talk to the guy that lived in the old house down the street from my aunt in Omaha. Warren something? Rumor is he’s got a few bucks, but it must not be true, because everyone in Nebraska is a corn fed hayseed, right?
Well, “no name” ….
First of all, the rules here state that you must enter a name or alias. So no more of this “no name” crap … fair?
I’m responding to state the fact that I know several wealthy people who live in Arizona. Millionaires. The ones I know live in the following areas:
- Gilbert
- Arcadia/Biltmore (several, in fact)
- Moon Valley
- North Glendale
- Paradise Valley
- North-Central Corridor
Scottsdale is notoriously absent from the list. The reality is that all of these wealthy people who I know in Arizona despise Scottsdale. They look down on it as a collection of phonies and would never live there in a million years. The few successful people I know who lived in Scottsdale have packed up and moved on.
So, while I agree that there are plenty of wealthy people in the Phoenix area, I find it highly unlikely that any are still living in the People’s Republic of Scottsdale.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Why would anyone with *that* much money live in Scottsdale?
As to the guy from El Paso who claims to have been harrassed by the SPD, I know several people, all totally reliable good people who wouldn’t make this up, who have been harrassed by the SPD. Do you even read the papers? Come on, get a clue. Scottsdale is known nationwide as a police state. Consult the National Motorists Association if you doubt me on this.
In fact, since moving to CA, I met a gentleman who is a police officer here who brought up the subject of police harrassment in the “Republic of Arizona” (his words, not mine) before I even thought about the subject.
Sorry, but you’re either a Scottsdale cop yourself, or you have never dealt with the steriod-pumped scum of the SPD.
And as for Texans, when I was living in Scottsdale, I visited a friend in Texas and didn’t want to live. I have several friends who live in Texas. They are downright better people than the garbage that lives in Scottsdale. With the possible exception of Dallas, which is coincidentally very similar to Scottsdale, Texas people are way better and far friendlier.
You really need to travel more. And sorry but Mexico, Vegas, and San Diego don’t count (the only places that Scottsdale residents ever “travel” to.)
Ok, fine. My name is Pete. I consider myself fairly well-traveled – I’ve lived in Nebraska, Los Angeles and New York City besides the Phoenix area where I grew up and currently live. I’ve traveled all over the United States and been all over Mexico (not just Rocky Point and Cabo), Guatemala, Costa Rica, el Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, England, Switzerland, Spain, France, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Italy. There are several places I haven’t been yet but plan to get to – I’m still young; I’ve got time. If you think that’s not enough traveling, I am jealous of where you must’ve been, because for a working person I think I’ve seen a ton.
I’m not a cop. Like I said, I’ve seen SPD get nasty with folks, but I’ve never seen them start something for no reason. That is just my experience. I know you think I need to get out more, and maybe if I spent more time around the Scottsdale nightlife, I’d see all sorts of random acts of police brutality. It could happen. But that’s not how I choose to spend my time, and even when I lived in Scottsdale, I didn’t wish to be around any of that crap. I don’t doubt that SPD does bad stuff – all police departments have serious skeletons – it comes with the badge, as the Stanford Prison Experiment seems to suggest. I’ve just never personally witnessed it in Scottsdale.
There are reasons people live here. There are just none that make sense to Frank Rumbauskas. I have traveled, and I have lived in other places. I like the desert, what can I say? Some people do, and I readily acknowledge the fact that most don’t. My roommate (who first showed me your website) can’t wait to get out of here. He wants to go live in Florida. I will never understand that, but that is his choice. Who am I to judge?
For what it’s worth, I appreciate the fact that you moved away from Arizona. A lot of the people that live here don’t like it and that’s all they have to talk about – it really doesn’t make for good conversation. AZ would be a much better place if everyone who felt like you did got the fuck out. I didn’t care for NYC or LA, that’s why I don’t live there. But even when I did, I never took up an acquaintance’s time discussing my grievances about the place. I just left.
Phoenix isn’t perfect. No place is. But it is the place I prefer, and it’s NOT for a lack of travel/living experience. Living in NYC was a great experience I will always treasure. I will never miss my 700 square foot Bowery shithole apartment. I will never miss the way the city smelled like manure in the summer. And actually, having been around farming most of my life, that’s an insult to manure. I will never, ever miss the Noreasters or the snow. Just like I’ll never miss the earthquakes and congestion that I experienced in LA. I’ll never miss the people in either place, whom I found far more rude and inhospitable than Phoenicians by and large (but I still do miss Nate and Al’s). But I don’t make it a point to bash every person who chooses to live in these places, mainly because not EVERY person who lives in NYC or LA is a loud, arrogant, buffoon.
And just because you don’t know anyone of wealth in Scottsdale doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I know firsthand that you are right one when you talk about the people who fake it. But I also know that a blanket statement such as that is ignorant. I personally don’t care if there’s one millionare or ten thousand in Scottsdale. I really don’t. But to say that everyone that lives there is poor is silly.
I don’t have time to read Pete’s comment right now – busy busy – but I trust you all will respond appropriately. – Frank
Ok, I finally got around to reading that.
You bring up some valid points. I’d like to clarify that my issue lies with Scottsdale, not Arizona in general … for all of Arizona’s faults, I really enjoyed the years that I lived in Arcadia as well as North-Central Phoenix. Those are both classy areas with friendly people. (Or at least they were – reports from readers indicate that those areas are also in decline due to the mortgage fallout.) Living in those neighborhoods made me forget that Scottsdale even existed, and it felt like it was another world entirely.
We also share a distaste for both NYC and LA. Even visiting NYC is something I choose to pass on, and while I enjoy living an hour outside of LA and having easy access to it, within 10 minutes of getting there I’m always very glad I don’t actually live in the city itself. The term “urban blight” comes to mind.
(According to some of the pro-Scottsdale trolls who post here, however, I “live in LA.” Apparently they don’t own a map because that’s as valid a statement as saying someone in Scottsdale lives in Casa Grande, which is about the same distance as between LA and South Orange County.)
However, after all is said and done, you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who has lived in Scottsdale (other than the plastic queens themselves) who would disagree with the fact that it’s populated by the largest concentration of rude, miserable people in the USA.
Keep in mind that this blog is directed at Scottsdale itself. You’re right, as a whole, Phoenicians are friendlier than New Yorkers, and to a lesser extent, Angelinos. (They most definitely however aren’t half as friendly as the people where I currently live.) Scottsdale residents, on the other hand, are far less friendly and ruder than the vast majority of New Yorkers and Angelinos. And that’s a statement I’d bet my hard earned money on.