[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by homiej

Because I'm 21 and in college, debt free but with little savings left and about to move 800 miles further north for a job.

I'm also a student of urban studies so I was hoping to gain insights on what the urban experience is like in Florida via the words of those who live it daily.

A Florida vacation for most does not show how true Floridians live anyway. That's what I'm interested in.

To all of those who were rude, I wasn't trying to troll. Jeez. No need to be so mistrustful and hateful.

This is actually a point most people miss when they decide to move to Florida.

1. You will not become an overnight milllionaire renting beach chairs to tourists. (or owning a bar selling margaritas)
2. You will not go to the beach every weekend (because you went there everyday while on vacation has no correlation to real life!).
3. Florida is full of people with burnt out dreams and generally is a drop off point for the nation's losers (they couldn't make it in Ohio so the zip code must have been the problem, so lets move to Flariduh).
4. Florida is a sunny place for shady people!


Things they don't show in tourist guides:
1. FL is full of poverty, for every Bentley there is a homeless guy panhandling/sleeping on a park bench
2. Million dollar homes are frequently just over the bridge to a ghetto. Lauderdale has thousands of waterfront mansions yet 2 miles west of the water is the ghettos of Broward Blvd/ Sistrunk Blvd/ etc. You share your local stores/gas stations/movie theatres with the neighboring communities.
3. Flash is over the top. You will see bartenders spending every dime they make to drive a leased BMW, the keep up with the Jones's theory is on steroids in Florida! Crime is also influenced by flash, it is the supply and demand in many cases.
4. Lots of guns in the gunshine state. Assume everyone has a firearm (licensed and unlicensed). From the stockbroker type in the Mercedes to the thug looking guy in the lowered 30 year old Chevy to the woman in the lifted F150!
5. Drugs of all types (from prescription pills to hardcore stuff like cocaine/heroin). Spend a few days here and you will see the effects of a culture hooked on drugs. Surburbia has it the same issues as South Beach though it maybe the soccer moms popping Xanax to get through another day instead of strippers bumping lines to get through another shift. (google FL pill mills, pill-billies, FL drug rehab and you will get pages of info).

100K may buy you a nice home in the midwest but in Florida is can buy you a 450 sq ft studio in a 50 year old building in South Beach, a trailer home on an acre in central Florida, a townhouse in suburbia or a single family home in a small town a hundred miles from any beach. Florida is many things to many people.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

South Florida also does not have the sulfur water, which is not so bad IMO. Sout Florida's water comes from the Biscayne Aquifer and the Lake.

It does for now but how much longer? Biscayne Aquifer is being compromised by salt water intrusion and wells are being closed. Lake Okeechobee has been too low for years (part from drought, part from **** management issues: if it was full, **** would break).

Wow I guess you can't use the D word that rhymes with bike!

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by homiej

Because I'm 21 and in college, debt free but with little savings left and about to move 800 miles further north for a job.

I'm also a student of urban studies so I was hoping to gain insights on what the urban experience is like in Florida via the words of those who live it daily.

A Florida vacation for most does not show how true Floridians live anyway. That's what I'm interested in.

To all of those who were rude, I wasn't trying to troll. Jeez. No need to be so mistrustful and hateful.

So if you wanted to learn....why not just ask about what you wanted to know instead of throwing out a stereotype? What you got back was a stereotype that we all have heard about Kentucky.....same thing you did. Of course stereotypes are not true.....they generally take the worst or funniest about someplace and run with it.......in a jesting sort of way most of the time.....

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

This is actually a point most people miss when they decide to move to Florida.

1. You will not become an overnight milllionaire renting beach chairs to tourists. (or owning a bar selling margaritas)
2. You will not go to the beach every weekend (because you went there everyday while on vacation has no correlation to real life!).
3. Florida is full of people with burnt out dreams and generally is a drop off point for the nation's losers (they couldn't make it in Ohio so the zip code must have been the problem, so lets move to Flariduh).
4. Florida is a sunny place for shady people!


Things they don't show in tourist guides:
1. FL is full of poverty, for every Bentley there is a homeless guy panhandling/sleeping on a park bench
2. Million dollar homes are frequently just over the bridge to a ghetto. Lauderdale has thousands of waterfront mansions yet 2 miles west of the water is the ghettos of Broward Blvd/ Sistrunk Blvd/ etc. You share your local stores/gas stations/movie theatres with the neighboring communities.
3. Flash is over the top. You will see bartenders spending every dime they make to drive a leased BMW, the keep up with the Jones's theory is on steroids in Florida! Crime is also influenced by flash, it is the supply and demand in many cases.
4. Lots of guns in the gunshine state. Assume everyone has a firearm (licensed and unlicensed). From the stockbroker type in the Mercedes to the thug looking guy in the lowered 30 year old Chevy to the woman in the lifted F150!
5. Drugs of all types (from prescription pills to hardcore stuff like cocaine/heroin). Spend a few days here and you will see the effects of a culture hooked on drugs. Surburbia has it the same issues as South Beach though it maybe the soccer moms popping Xanax to get through another day instead of strippers bumping lines to get through another shift. (google FL pill mills, pill-billies, FL drug rehab and you will get pages of info).

100K may buy you a nice home in the midwest but in Florida is can buy you a 450 sq ft studio in a 50 year old building in South Beach, a trailer home on an acre in central Florida, a townhouse in suburbia or a single family home in a small town a hundred miles from any beach. Florida is many things to many people.

One remark......is the beach ever 100 miles away from anywhere in Florida?

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Things they don't show in tourist guides:
1. FL is full of poverty, for every Bentley there is a homeless guy panhandling/sleeping on a park bench

True, but in terms of poverty rate, Florida isn't even close to being at the top in terms of poverty rate. A lot of places with so-called "strong economies" have much, much higher rates of poverty:

List of U.S. states by poverty rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Florida is #19 of 50 (with 50 being worst).

Originally Posted by CityGuy997S

2. Million dollar homes are frequently just over the bridge to a ghetto. Lauderdale has thousands of waterfront mansions yet 2 miles west of the water is the ghettos of Broward Blvd/ Sistrunk Blvd/ etc. You share your local stores/gas stations/movie theatres with the neighboring communities.

That can happen, especially in SE Florida. BUT, poor people gotta live somewhere too!

When I was younger I remember driving near the water up in Martin County with my friend and her dad. Beautiful riverfront homes... and then, trailer park. I said, "what a waste." He said something that stuck with me: "What, only rich people deserve to live near or on the water?"

Originally Posted by CityGuy997S

3. Flash is over the top. You will see bartenders spending every dime they make to drive a leased BMW, the keep up with the Jones's theory is on steroids in Florida! Crime is also influenced by flash, it is the supply and demand in many cases.

THAT is a personal choice to associate with people into flash, and to be sucked into it.

I have friends who are very much about the materialism. I also have friends who pull in six figures and drive Hondas...or, 1999 Jettas with no air conditioning!

Originally Posted by CityGuy997S

4. Lots of guns in the gunshine state. Assume everyone has a firearm (licensed and unlicensed). From the stockbroker type in the Mercedes to the thug looking guy in the lowered 30 year old Chevy to the woman in the lifted F150!

Lol, this is a plus to some people!

Originally Posted by CityGuy997S

5. Drugs of all types (from prescription pills to hardcore stuff like cocaine/heroin). Spend a few days here and you will see the effects of a culture hooked on drugs. Surburbia has it the same issues as South Beach though it maybe the soccer moms popping Xanax to get through another day instead of strippers bumping lines to get through another shift. (google FL pill mills, pill-billies, FL drug rehab and you will get pages of info).

Dude, welcome to America! Even in small town Kansas you'll find everyone on pills... or METH!

Originally Posted by CityGuy997S

100K may buy you a nice home in the midwest but in Florida is can buy you a 450 sq ft studio in a 50 year old building in South Beach, a trailer home on an acre in central Florida, a townhouse in suburbia or a single family home in a small town a hundred miles from any beach. Florida is many things to many people.

100k can also buy you a nice home in Florida. Depends on the town. Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Northport... 3/2/2s on half acre lots, commutable to larger cities for jobs. North Florida 100k will typically go even further.

100k isn't gonna buy much in MIAMI, of course!

[crazynip]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

What do you call Pasco and Polk Counties?

Polk and Pasco are NOT Tampa...

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

This is actually a point most people miss when they decide to move to Florida.

1. You will not become an overnight milllionaire renting beach chairs to tourists. (or owning a bar selling margaritas)
2. You will not go to the beach every weekend (because you went there everyday while on vacation has no correlation to real life!).
3. Florida is full of people with burnt out dreams and generally is a drop off point for the nation's losers (they couldn't make it in Ohio so the zip code must have been the problem, so lets move to Flariduh).
4. Florida is a sunny place for shady people!


Things they don't show in tourist guides:
1. FL is full of poverty, for every Bentley there is a homeless guy panhandling/sleeping on a park bench
2. Million dollar homes are frequently just over the bridge to a ghetto. Lauderdale has thousands of waterfront mansions yet 2 miles west of the water is the ghettos of Broward Blvd/ Sistrunk Blvd/ etc. You share your local stores/gas stations/movie theatres with the neighboring communities.
3. Flash is over the top. You will see bartenders spending every dime they make to drive a leased BMW, the keep up with the Jones's theory is on steroids in Florida! Crime is also influenced by flash, it is the supply and demand in many cases.
4. Lots of guns in the gunshine state. Assume everyone has a firearm (licensed and unlicensed). From the stockbroker type in the Mercedes to the thug looking guy in the lowered 30 year old Chevy to the woman in the lifted F150!
5. Drugs of all types (from prescription pills to hardcore stuff like cocaine/heroin). Spend a few days here and you will see the effects of a culture hooked on drugs. Surburbia has it the same issues as South Beach though it maybe the soccer moms popping Xanax to get through another day instead of strippers bumping lines to get through another shift. (google FL pill mills, pill-billies, FL drug rehab and you will get pages of info).

100K may buy you a nice home in the midwest but in Florida is can buy you a 450 sq ft studio in a 50 year old building in South Beach, a trailer home on an acre in central Florida, a townhouse in suburbia or a single family home in a small town a hundred miles from any beach. Florida is many things to many people.

Wow - what the heck is your problem - who exactly are you trying to convince, anyway. And it is spelled FLORIDA - not "FlariDUH!

[Not_liking_FL]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Wow - what the heck is your problem - who exactly are you trying to convince, anyway. And it is spelled FLORIDA - not "FlariDUH!

I remember it being spelled this way a lot after the last governors election.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by crazynip

Polk and Pasco are NOT Tampa...

I think they were talking Tampa Bay.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by crazynip

Tampa bay has never been "full of rednecks", at least since I have been alive (1971)

You must have never ventured East of I-4 ?