Full Review of Palm Bay, Melbourne, West Melbourne, Rockledge and Viera (taxes, living in)

[Sun Thinker]

I prefer the old town looks to strip malls as well, but they tend to be more inland, by Rt 1 and West. Hey, if you have a chance to live in a hopping town that's very cool, do it while you can.

But the pics? Yeah, hmmmmm, treadmills looking out onto a stadium? The fun's down by the water man.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Originally Posted by cfo.evo

soo i was wondering how melbourne could be so great when it doesn't even have any of this?

(Piccy)

its a serious question not trying to stir a commotion

Originally Posted by cfo.evo

and here is good old country melbourne lots of sunshine but also a bunch of nothing

(Another Piccy - very flat)

It doesn't have too many of these, either (and I will certainly miss them )



But you can't have everything all the time. - And when it's too hot and sticky in Florida (though probably not quite as hot and sticky as it gets in Mississippi in summertime ) I just might find an excuse to come back here.

Originally Posted by cfo.evo

Thanks I am enjoying it so far but I sincerely would like to understand, and excuse my "naivete", but what makes melbourne such an attractive place to some of you?

South Florida has everything Melbourne can offer and more, with the convenience of being nearby to large municipalities and society itself.

I was raised in the midwest so I know what its like to have that country, simple-minded, family-oriented lifestyle. But I place Melbourne below that. So what is it that attracts you? Your upbringing and background? Lower cost of living? Social insecurity?

It surely can't be traffic, convenience of shopping, and things to do because from what I've seen there are plenty enough communities to suit most everybody.

You grew up in the mid-Waste ... You have my sympathy (though I did enjoy living in Pothole Creek Where Americans get their driving licences ... 'Send a check for $5 and two Cornflake box tops to Kelloggs Ltd ... )

I grew up on a tiny (4 miles long, 1 mile wide) Island.

(the photo shows about ¾ of the Island.) (I can't find one of my own.) (The shaded bit at the top of the photograph is the Cotentin Peninsula, in NW France - about 6 miles away.)

An idyllic place to grow up. No crime, no paedophiles, no problems ... well, you could fall off a cliff and kill yourself, or you could fall in the sea in the wrong place and drown, or you could simply fall over and break your leg.

No crime. Massive gun ownership - most people had at least one - but nobody shot anybody. Most houses had locks on the doors, but most people didn't have keys - and didn't understand why anybody would want to lock a door, anyway. What if somebody came to visit and you were out? How would they get in? - You could hardly expect them to stand outside and wait!

Not a lot to do. Fishing, F*****g, Drinking, Sailing and Swimming. - For most of my time there I was too young to do the one with the asterisks and until I was about 14, too young to go to the pub. (we do have more relaxed attitudes than exist in some other places.)

Paradise? - Sort of. OK in summer, but in winter it was too cold to go fishing sailing and swimming. OK for the adults - but a bit boring for younger teenagers.

Until I was 18 (and left home) I had rarely been more than a mile or two from the sea. Most of what I did involved water. Since then, I've spent little time within 45 miles of it. Time for a change.

I do enjoy sailing, I enjoy fishing (both in salt water and maggot-dangling) and I enjoy swimming. I can do all of those in Melbourne (I've got an 18ft sailboat - and a place to put it.)

Originally Posted by jdoty

I'll take a stab at this. For me it's the low crime, low traffic, lower cost of living, slower pace, and abundance of outdoor activities. There's almost no hiking in South Florida. It's too swampy. And the kayaking opportunities aren't as diverse. Plus my well-paying job and my friends are here. The schools are better here. I don't care about shopping - there's no stores that Melbourne is missing that I would frequent, other than maybe an outdoor store like Gander Mountain or Bass Pro Shop. Anything else I can get in Orlando or online. My friends and I go out regularly and very much enjoy the style of nightlife that Melbourne has to offer - we're bar/pub people, not club people.

My personal hell would be living in a tiny apartment in the middle of Manhattan or some other big city. My dream house is either on 50 acres in the country or a quiet place in the keys (one of the middle keys, not KW). Saying that I have "social insecurities" is a bit closed minded. I just enjoy a different lifestyle than you do.

I've spent a fair amount of time in South Florida. It's a nice place to visit, but I'm glad I don't live there. If I had to move to a city I'd rather go to Orlando or Tampa. I don't doubt I could find a nice community to live in there, it's just much more expensive and not really what I'm looking for.

Note that I'm not a minority. I haven't had to deal with any of the racial issues here that you unfortunately have.

As for my background, I grew up in a medium sized city in Indiana (~250k people).

Low crime? - I suppose that's comparative. Where I live we have no crime (as you know it.) (Dropping litter or allowing your dog to crap on my flowerbed is a crime, but that's about it.) I agree with you about living in a tiny apartment in a city. I don't have to do that - and I'm very grateful I don't have to do it. Southern Florida was OK ... but I'm glad I don't have to live there any more.

As for being a minority, I'm a majority minority. I wonder how many Americans would be happy if the government decided to scrap the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

They (or rather the protections offered by them) do not apply to me. It's not a huge problem.

Discrimination? - Been there, experienced it. You learn to live with it (and now that I'm retired, it occurs far less frequently.)

Originally Posted by VtSteve

At your age, my father asked me why I liked the high style and fast life of places like Lauderdale, even Miami. It was cool, we felt cool, even brazen. We were out on the town supporting our lifestyles and loving it. The downtown lights and fast lifestyle gets old, or you just get sick of it after awhile. You find other things to do than listen to phony people trying to pretend they're livin large, wearing gold chains, talking smack, living the high life around the "In crowd".

I'd prefer to visit some places like South Beach or Lauderdale for a couple of days. I have the entire series of Miami Vice on DVD if I need to relive life in the fast lane

Pretty cool place to start in FL. I'm more boat and water oriented, so your mileage may vary.
...

I prefer to be more waterfront myself, but sometimes not practical.

You have fun down there. Chances are, we've been there too

IMO, life's what you make of it. I intend to enjoy living in Melbourne, but I accept (and am really glad) that it doesn't suit everybody.

It's crowded enough already.

[cfo.evo]

Originally Posted by Rabflmom

Actually I think your best pic was the one from the lake at the library looking toward the hospital. Very good picture capturing the stork and egrets . There is beauty here on the Space Coast.

funny you say that because if i turned the other direction all you would see is bird poop allll overrrrrr the sidewalk and on the bench too, there were also 1 or 2 bums hangin around lol

[cfo.evo]

but thank you

[cfo.evo]

thanks for the cool stories, and rupert, when i make it big, ill be sure to visit that island near france. it sounds interesting.

[cfo.evo]

and yes of course i will make it over to the water for sure. i think whats missing from this equation is the fact that i am stoked about all of this and the opportunity because i really had to work hard for all of it. i just finished school, and those hotels were paid for by my employer as well as a few other perks. the first hotel picture, yes a cheap hotel. the second was an old historic hotel off las olas, a bit less 'cheaper' i would think.

so im not sure where you all were when you were my age, but that, plus the fact that the years i spent growing up in a military family i was moving every year or so to a new location and starting all over again. in my case, i wasn't excluded to an island, i actually saw most of the country and overseas as well by the time i was 12. so given an opportunity to live in a place like fort lauderdale and south florida means opportunity for me. to be able to earn a good income, travel, and meet many other social people from around the world, in so many ways contrasting with melbourne IMO.

[Rupert_Baehr]

It's a very interesting place ... Spoiled, of course - over-run by British immigrants! (I hardly know anybody there nowadays - most of the locals have left and the locals are now a minority.)

Three are two Bailiwicks (self-governing entities.) The Bailiwick of Jersey (nothing to do with 'New' Jersey ) and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. (Guernsey, Alderney [the island on which I grew up], Sark, Herm, Jethou Brecqhou and assorted uninhabited rocks.)

We are the remnant of Duke William's (aka Bill the Bastard, William the Conqueror) Normandy. He conquers the UK (actually, he went over to take the crown from Harold Oathbreaker) in 1066. When mainland Normandy was returned to France, our islands remained.

We are self-governing and have our own (sometimes amusingly strange) laws.

I - as a Channel Islander - can be required (it's not voluntary!) to bear arms on 3 occasions:

1. To protect the person of my liege Lord the Duke of Normandy (the King or Queen of England - we're not into this 'equality' thing, the Duchess of Normandy was a ferry.)

2. To protect the family of my liege Lord.

3. To invade England. We did it in 1066. England is our oldest possession.

With the clarity of hindsight, Bill should've stayed well away.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Originally Posted by cfo.evo

...

so im not sure where you all were when you were my age, but that, plus the fact that the years i spent growing up in a military family i was moving every year or so to a new location and starting all over again. in my case, i wasn't excluded to an island, i actually saw most of the country and overseas as well by the time i was 12. so given an opportunity to live in a place like fort lauderdale and south florida means opportunity for me. to be able to earn a good income, travel, and meet many other social people from around the world, in so many ways contrasting with melbourne IMO.

I too am retired military. I left home at 18 and since then, I've moved house 34 times.

Time to find a house and stay in it .... well, 2 or 3 houses... I can't imagine living in the same place all the time.

[Sun Thinker]

CFO, you are in a nice area now, enjoy it. Some pretty nice places down there for sure.

I prefer the Jupiter area to live, But I have thirty years on you, so a bit different. Have fun, work hard, and learn to live with differences. You had a post awhile back about racial problems. Not that it's on the same level, but you've held you're young nose pretty high in the air, and told many members that where they live, and the people, are second rate.

Think about your post, how you say you feel, and then revisit how you think about others. You may just find out, that you're a large part of the problem. I don't care if someone's black, latino, pink, purple, or cross dresses. If they treat me with respect, I'm OK. I expect the same of myself.

Re-read your posts on this forum. You really need to take it down a notch, and apologize to many people. It's never too late to start.

[cfo.evo]

Originally Posted by VtSteve

I don't care if someone's black, latino, pink, purple, or cross dresses. If they treat me with respect, I'm OK. I expect the same of myself.

Re-read your posts on this forum. You really need to take it down a notch, and apologize to many people. It's never too late to start.

i think the same thing, where does it end? or better question, where did it start? i surely couldn't have been born or raised this way. i knew what it was like living in other places, but living in a place like melbourne, i realized there are many more people who have strong feelings about people of other backgrounds and ethnicity. it might not be you, but a fair amount of the rest of the population.

yes my nose is high, it would have to be in order to survive a mob of this sort.