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South Florida summers are hot but the winter is very nice, Fall and Spring are good also down there. Delaware winters are bad b/c of the "grey sky" not just the cold. Summer is good here if you go to the beach alot.
This relates back to James420's pilot post about "crappy weather". I actually like Delaware's weather and unique seasons, but I can recall that you seem to have the same opinion on Delaware's weather as my husband. He cannot stand winter, snow, or any temperature below 50 degrees. He hates being cold. I, on the other hand, don't really mind winter (not extreme winters though!) and favor spring and fall temps. I have little tolerance for extremely high temps and high humidity, which we have plenty of in the summer.
Florida heat doesn't bother him, but it gets to me. Ohhh, how I cannot stand to be hot and muggy!! Yuck. Makes it hard for me to enjoy the great outdoors.
Legend 302--I heard that about south Florida's fall, spring, and winter seasons. I guess that will be my consolation prize for putting up with the summers down there once we move.
James420, just curious, can you tell us where you are thinking of moving? I assume it's somewhere farther south.
The heat can be as bad as the cold IMO.
Yeah I know but I'm the guy who gets laughed at because I still wear my hoodie at work until mid May or early June. St Johns County in Florida is where we are looking and Julington Creek Plantation is the community. Its a much younger population + they have the top rated public schools in the state.
I'll always work outside and I enjoy it but I have had enough of freezing my butt off with cloudy and gray skies for 5 months a year. My wife has never minded the cold until the last few years and finally she is ready to go. All of her close friends have their kids in private school or they have moved on to PA or NJ for the schools. I'm not talking about two or three, try like 15 or 20 couples, with school aged kids. One middle school here started with around 800 kids and they average 10 kids a month getting arrested times that by 8 months and I finally realized what happened to enrollment by June. I can't stand how the lower performing schools up here get the gited or IB programs just to raise the standards either. A cop from one of the schools said its either gifted or considered general population. I don't my kids to be segregated from the rest of the school for their own safety, it shouldn't be that way IMHO. I want my kids to make friends with all the school not just 20 or 30 kids. I want my kids in schools that most of the other kids in that school want to go to college not drop out. I'm tired of sending my kids to school with extra sandwiches because some of their classmates families are too lazy to fill out free lunch forms and so I might provide them with the only meal they get that day. I'm tired of paying $6000.00 for each pair of hearing aids that my kids get, but watch people who don't work get the best ones for free. Yes Delaware goes by parents income not the childs disability.
I put your name in the title so you can feel free to post what you want without getting ripped, I put out some facts that I can clearly back up if called upon. Keep it clean and fair please.
If you look at every state forum on citydata at certain times you'll see the same things being said about everystate. Each state has its good and bad points it coul be the weather, crime or schools. Heck in Delaware we rank super high for crooked politicians but Delaware isn't cutting school programs like PA and NJ.
People will defend their home no matter what, I have in the past gone about attacking certain things about this state the wrong way wheter its schools or crime but if you look at the lifelong residents like rdlr or beachliz they will confirm some, if not all of these things. Good and bad.
I through doing much research have found Delaware to have a high poverty problem in the school districts, much higher than I thought and if you look around the country high poverty doesn't mean great schools.
Most of the states districts have over 50% low income students, with the exception being the Indian River School district thats has close to 70% low income but their test scores rank with Appoquinimink school district. They are the exception not the rule. Check Seaford, Laurel Colonial, and Christina and you'll see what effect high percentages of low income students can have on a school district.
Crime wise Delaware didn't become the 7th most dangerous state to live in just because of Wilmington, especially since those numbers come from '09 when Wilmington actually had a good year. Btw I'd hate to see the numbers from '10. Just ask beachliz about Sussex county, especially eastern, Is amazing the things that get covered up or don't make the newspapers.
If I could afford private schools or have my children in the Appo school district I probably still wouldn't stay in Delaware, I've been in the same basic area my whole life, south eastern PA and northern DE. I can't stand 5-6 months a year of what I consider to be crappy weather. There is no reason I should be watching Little League in the middle of April when its 40 degrees outside.
I love the beach areas, I love having a major horse racing track 20 minutes away, I love how Middletown DE became a major relocation point for so many, not just in Delaware but NJ, PA, MD, and all over the eastern U.S. For whatever reason senior citizens have been flocking here for years, all those old people can't be wrong. lol. The festivals all over the state, flower market in Wilmington, the State Fair, Nascar at Dover Downs, hunting and fishing, The fact that we border the DE Bay and River, Bombay Hook. Its amazing that DE is such a small state but you can really get two different cultures from Lower slower to above the canal residents.
I believe Delaware has way more positives than negatives and when I do move away this or next summer, I'm sure that I will miss it. But schools at this point in my childrens life are way to important to not try for better.
btw, our schools don't have a curriculum or teacher problem...Even in Glasgow high, our schools have parent problems or a lack there of.
In closing, feel free to post what your problems are with the state, yes Delaware could be better and it could be alot worse. But as someone wrote on another thread, home is what you make it and how you feel about yourself.
Wow, a thread topic with my name. How sweet. lol
I agree with everything you had to say. Although if you really wanna see corrupt politicians head on over to my home state, Illinois. By far, worse than that of Delaware.
I understand that people will naturally defend their "home" but at times this is also what stops problem solving all together. There is a much higher occurrence of complacency here. Mention cancer rates or crime and everyone is on the defensive. Both are scary facts of life that would have most towns/cities/residents wanting answers. For whatever reason, that isnt the case here. Its the same for Marylands Eastern Shore as well.
Im from the St Louis area. Is that area perfect, definitely not. There are tons of problems there. Do I overlook or get defensive about the problems there? No.
IMHO this entire web forum isnt about sugar coating things. If I was uprooting my entire life to move all my possessions and family hundreds of miles away and was relying on truthful info from other Delaware residents, what kind of info would you want to read? There are certain things in life that can't be learned by looking at a stat. The overall "feeling" of a community and its residents is something that this forum provides to its members. Just because I have a matter of fact way of looking at things doesnt make my positive or negative experience any less important than someone else who chooses to deny or overlook blatant imperfections.
One of the reasons I dont post here that much is due to the one-sided nature of this forum. There could be a 3 page rant with numerous members commenting and somehow I will get called out and deemed a "troll". There are 2 sides to every story. Deal with it.
Wow, a thread topic with my name. How sweet. lol
I agree with everything you had to say. Although if you really wanna see corrupt politicians head on over to my home state, Illinois. By far, worse than that of Delaware.
I understand that people will naturally defend their "home" but at times this is also what stops problem solving all together. There is a much higher occurrence of complacency here. Mention cancer rates or crime and everyone is on the defensive. Both are scary facts of life that would have most towns/cities/residents wanting answers. For whatever reason, that isnt the case here. Its the same for Marylands Eastern Shore as well.
Im from the St Louis area. Is that area perfect, definitely not. There are tons of problems there. Do I overlook or get defensive about the problems there? No.
IMHO this entire web forum isnt about sugar coating things. If I was uprooting my entire life to move all my possessions and family hundreds of miles away and was relying on truthful info from other Delaware residents, what kind of info would you want to read? There are certain things in life that can't be learned by looking at a stat. The overall "feeling" of a community and its residents is something that this forum provides to its members. Just because I have a matter of fact way of looking at things doesnt make my positive or negative experience any less important than someone else who chooses to deny or overlook blatant imperfections.
One of the reasons I dont post here that much is due to the one-sided nature of this forum. There could be a 3 page rant with numerous members commenting and somehow I will get called out and deemed a "troll". There are 2 sides to every story. Deal with it.
I'm not sure if there is anything unique about the poverty problem here or not. It seems to me that much of the U.S is plagued by some of the same problems Delaware is. I've always tried to post in a humorous way, well not always but all here don't sugarcoat things, I believe newcomers should hear the good and bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legendof302
At least somebody is real around here...,
lol @ people on this site with thousands of post sugar coating stuff. Some people have NO heart sitting around on the CPU....smh
It's cool b/c we are all just "dust in the wind" one day. (Kansas)
People feel safe at home on the cpu, scared to look poverty in the face.
At least attack something other than Wilmington, I can post pics of Ghettos in Philly, LA, NY, Chicago and just about every city in this country. Beat a deadhorse monthly, not pick every Wilmington thread and post the same things over and over on a daily or weekly basis. Long before me and you showed up on citydata everyone here already knew that Wilmington has a crime problem and projects, teach us something different about Wilmington, good or bad and you'll have everyones ear.
I know I shouldn't...but as a reference point I particularly had in mind the dire summertime heat that you have, for example, in most of Texas. Unremitting temperatures in the triple digits aren't pleasant for most people. In fact, I don't think I knew anyone who enjoyed living all summer in the constant Texas heat. The question becomes more like which poisen do you prefer, six months of blast-furnace heat or six months of deep-freeze.
Just moved back from Houston and weather was one of the key reasons. Summers (i.e., April - early October) are horrific. Trust me - its in the low 90's there all this week and it ain't getting any better. One would think the trade-off of bad summers/pleasant winters is in balance with a climate of bad winters/pleasant summers, but for me it wasn't. The down side to the former is that when the nice weather finally does arrive, daylight savings time also ends meaning there is less evening time to enjoy it.
In my eagerness to return here, I questioned how we'd handle our first winter. Well, as you know, it was quite a test. I am pleased to report we found bundling up to fend off the cold much more preferable to the inescapable heat and humidity we encountered down south.
I can post pics of Ghettos in Philly, LA, NY, Chicago and just about every city in this country.
Lets let people in those states deal with that...
As for me I will post pics & links until I see problems with poverty in Wilmington drastically ease up. Dont judge me, No need to over-analyse what I post.
People are extremely scared of Wilmington on City-Data for some reason. Lets be clear here, I dont care if people think its redundant or "beating a dead horse". Im going to do it regardless b/c I feel in my heart its the right thing to do. Even if they want to ban me for that then "it is what it is".
Last edited by toobusytoday; 05-09-2011 at 05:15 AM..
Reason: Removed offensive comment
Most of the states districts have over 50% low income students, with the exception being the Indian River School district thats has close to 70% low income but their test scores rank with Appoquinimink school district. They are the exception not the rule.
so I checked just two district on this site - Milford Senior High School - Milford, Delaware Schools | Schoolmatters.com (http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=sp/sid=38880 - broken link) and I see that Milford has less then 30% economically disadvantaged and same with Cape Henlopen. Two others that I checked had less then 40%. That's quite a bit different then 70%.
From the State of Delaware's Website for 2010-2011, Miford is at 53% low income. Check the State of Delaware website and type in school districts. Christina and Colonial are really high percentages, so is Capital, Laurel, and Seaford. Woodbridge wasn't good either but I have no idea where that is. School Digger and School matters are usually a few years behind.
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He cannot stand winter, snow, or any temperature below 50 degrees. He hates being cold. I, on the other hand, don't really mind winter (not extreme winters though!) and favor spring and fall temps. I have little tolerance for extremely high temps and high humidity, which we have plenty of in the summer. 
