Safety: I have lived in Mesa, downtown Phoenix, and downtown Scottsdale. Guess which felt most unsafe? Living in the suburbs in Mesa (in fact, I lived with my sister in her home at first and there have been 2 attempted kidnappings in her hood in the last month). Plenty of police in Phoenix & Scottsdale. Dare say apartment is safer then a home.
Careers: Ugh, haven't looked for a job in years so I can't answer.
Hope this helps, and if you end up out here I'd love to take you out for a drink.
Really depends. Good news is that in the morning the traffic on the 101 is worse north bound then it is south, so you would be reverse commuting. The traffic is worse headed towards downtown Phoenix then it is headed from it.
True. I live in Chandler right now (moved away from the students/noise in Tempe), so I commute every morning from Chandler to northern Tempe. Paradise Valley is only a few miles further away. Depending on where you live in Paradise Valley, and where you are working in Chandler, it shouldn't be more than 15-20 miles. You DO have a reverse commute, I have rarely seen traffic bad on the 101 southbound. 101 northbound is worse in the mornings, but only in short sections of slow traffic. I love the traffic here.