Verrado raises the question: Would you trade an urban community for a suburban farce?

So you visited one house occupied by a seemingly airhead-type female and decide that Verrado is a pitiful excuse for a planed community? Gimme a break.
Do I live there? NO
Would I live there? NO
But I have visited there and think it's a neat idea.
WHO CARES why people move there. Why people move anywhere can be for a variety of reasons. Go to each house. Knock on every door. You're going to hear a bunch of different reasons for why people chose to move to Verrado.
For some, it was affordability. More house for less money (than if they chose elsewhere in the valley).
For some, it was location - they want to be on the outskirts of town. Perhaps they want to be in a (seemingly) safer part of the valley (though anyone who pays attention to the news knows that plenty of dead bodies pop up in that area of Buckeye all the time and there are lovely at-home hookers advertising on craigslist, etc....yes, sad but true Verrado is not the safe haven that some would like to think).
For some they liked the small town feel.
Who frickin' cares? We can't all embrace old homes and homeless people walking down the sidewalks and peeling paint. Just because some people like "vanilla" doesn't make those people less worthy.

Interesting article -- makes one wonder about the facade of beautiful homes that one finds in Arizona that are a thin veneer hiding the backwater laws and dark side of Arizona that is the reality of living here. How sad it is to move here and find there is nothing -- no depth. Just overzealous law enforcement and prosecution and "they want you and your money"! All they care about is a "head count", not building a community of families, children and mixture of people who make great communities. Both neighborhoods described in the article put families at risk. Wake up Arizona to the fact that we have do-nothing elected officials fighting with one another and the taxpayers foot the bill for endless lawsuits. No wonder they advertise heavily to out of state people to move here. Think again -- Arizona's law put families, children and women at risk, along with young professionals.

Charming homes and neighborhoods do not make up for a poorly run government and poor public policy and laws that are draconian with very harsh mandatory minimum sentencing. Great architecture can no longer hide what the destructive culture Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Thomas have created during their reign of terror. If they get re-elected it will give a newcomer a glimpse of why not to move into a state that takes one back decades -- old houses, archaic laws -- new houses, archaic laws. And who is paying for the approaching ONE BILLION dollar prison system with no end in sight? This information needs to be part of "full disclosure" in the real estate developer brochures, the tourist and chamber of commerce brochures and then people would not be sucked into the system that destroys lives without even a backwards glance. Arizona is a mass industrial complex of prisons, military, border and police state. Broken legal and criminal justice system where people are arrested for DUI's without even having one drink. Where young professionals' lives are thrown away with the slightest false allegation -- no protection, no unions, nothing.

Anyone can see that the legislators and elected government officials cannot work together to truly help the people who elected them. Few have the courage to act on principal and with good conscience, but work for their own self-interest rather than do the job they were elected to do.

Write about that and the cost to the society, and the unforeseen disastrous consequences of all this, while those who created the mess "move on" to higher positions because they didn't fight for anything but remain dormant.

Worst piece of journalism I have read, maybe ever. If you had actually gotten off your azz, stopped sipping your iced tea and actually done some reporting you may have found much more about Verrado. Yes the "New Urbanism" is really the "New Suburbanism" but at least admit that the planning and development of Verrado are a much better step in the right direction than 99% of the developments around the valley. Unlike most developments, there was thought put into the planning and the result is homes, streets, parks and outdoor spaces that are very livable and enjoyable. Most of us like the traditional neighborhood planning without the lead pipes, lead paint, asbestos, and outdated everything that goes along with "This Old House". Verrado is a very nice community. We enjoy living here. Yes it has its problems - which on the contrary actually makes it a "real place". Please do some real homework next time before making flippant observations and comments about what you clearly have no understanding.

Wow, what a jerk. Is this what you call journalism? Thanks for wasting the last 5min of my life. What did I learn here? The author has a giant chip on his shoulder and that he likes to play gotcha journalism. It does'nt suprise me you have no idea why the NT has the rep that it does.