[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Michelle2H

Regarding Lakeland. I just saw Inside Edition which featured Lakeland. It was an expose on how Lakeland Police has been arresting innocent people for DUIs. People are being pulled over & told they have failed field sobriety tests & arrested. At the police station they ask for a blood test (I guess they have to give one if you ask) & end up with 0 level of alcohol, no drugs. Charges eventually get dropped, but they end up with an arrest record. Memos showed police were mandated to meet a certain number of quotas for DUI.

So if you decide to live there, bring your bike.

Actually, I looked up the article, and it's not just Lakeland, this happens in every city - they want the cops to meet quotas.

At least I can say that the police dept. here does a great job patrolling our streets. Crime is very low in the city.

[Explorer Dave]

The same sort of thing happened to me in Sarasota. I was given a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign that I know I stopped at. It makes me really mad and I want to fight it, but everyone I've talked to says I'll loose, the court here will automatically side with the officer, so I'm pleading no contest. I'm still mad about it, in some ways a DUI might have been better in that case I could at least prove it with a zero alcohol blood level, in this case it is my word against a police officer's. I thought at the time that it was interesting that it was the next to last day of the month and perhaps the officer needed to make quota.

Dave

[Explorer Dave]

Yesterday, late morning, about 11:30, I called the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce to request an information package. I just went out to the mail box and there it is about two inches thick full of information! Now I did expect it this week, but not today! Of course I do live fairly close, but still to get it that soon they likely had to get right on it to get it yesterdays mail. Great service! I have to leave for work now but I can’t wait to start digging into it.

Dave

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Explorer Dave

Yesterday, late morning, about 11:30, I called the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce to request an information package. I just went out to the mail box and there it is about two inches thick full of information! Now I did expect it this week, but not today! Of course I do live fairly close, but still to get it that soon they likely had to get right on it to get it yesterdays mail. Great service! I have to leave for work now but I can’t wait to start digging into it.

Dave

That's awesome, Dave! I read that Lakeland Chamber of Commerce was named Chamber of the year last year. Lakeland and Polk County win a lot of awards.

[carolyn56]

I agree with thedude. Reply to dragonflytonic -- if Lakeland is 30 min to Tampa and 45 to Orlando how can you say it's not in the middle of nowhere. That sounds like it's dead center.

[Explorer Dave]

Originally Posted by carolyn56

I agree with thedude. Reply to dragonflytonic -- if Lakeland is 30 min to Tampa and 45 to Orlando how can you say it's not in the middle of nowhere. That sounds like it's dead center.

The middle of nowhere is very subjective. I grew up in Eugene OR, when I was in high school I’d say it was about the same size Lakeland is now. It is about an hour to another city of about the same size, about 2 hours to Portland a very nice city but much smaller than either Tampa or Orlando. It is about 6 hours to Seattle to the North and over 8 hours drive to San Francisco to the South. I didn’t consider that to be “in the middle of nowhere”, but it wasn’t nearly as close to things as I would have liked either.

I know someone who recently moved to Kansas, she’s in a town of around 2000, it’s a 45 minute drive to the nearest town over 40,000, and at least 3.5 hours to the nearest city over 300,000. Now I would consider THAT to be in the middle of nowhere!!!

Lakeland’s official population is just about 90,000, the metro area is close to 220,000 Tampa and Orlando are each less than an hour a way in opposite directions. In fact there is over 7.5 million people within 100 miles. Others can call that in the middle of nowhere if they like, I call it an ideal location. It basically provides very easy access to the great things about bigger cities, including the tourist Mecca of the world with Disney, Universal , and more, without having to live with the negatives of those big cities on a daily bases.

Before I started looking at Lakeland I was thinking of moving to Orlando, I really like a lot about it. But the cost of living is higher, crime is much higher, and wages are lower. Lakeland looks like a much better place to live while still providing very easy access to Orlando. In fact with the traffic I’ve seen in Orlando I might be able to get to a lot of the places that I want go to faster from Lakeland than if I was actually living in Orlando!

David

[RiWrites]

I have lived in Lakeland since 1987 and I like it. I moved from Los Angeles and it did take a bit to get used to the change. People here are Southern and they go at their own pace. It was really a nice change from the craziness of LA.

The only problem I have about Lakeland, is that I wish public transportation was better. The bus system isn't what it should be for a city this size.

When I first moved here, there was a lot of pastures and open land. Now it seems housing developments are popping up everywhere. When you move here take the time to just go for a drive. Lake Hollingsworth is nice with really expensive homes. There are farmers markets all over the place.

It can get humid here but this is Florida and air conditioning helps. For the most part just a jacket is enough for the winter. We did have some cold days last winter but usually it is sunny and hot.

[Explorer Dave]

Next Sat Oct. 20th there is a Home Improvement Show at the Lakeland Center, somewhere I saw promoted that there is a tour of homes at the same time, Friday night the 19th there is Music on the Promenade around Lake Mirror. So I thought it would be a great time to come back over and explore more of the community. I took next Friday off so that I could get over there during the day and go to the chamber of commerce, the Ledger office, check out a couple employment agencies. etc.

One thing that I really enjoy is bookstores and libraries, in fact a library job would be near the top of my list. I know where the libraries, Books-A-Million, and Barnes and Noble are. Are there any other good bookstores in Lakeland, especially a good used bookstore?

Thanks

David

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Explorer Dave

Next Sat Oct. 20th there is a Home Improvement Show at the Lakeland Center, somewhere I saw promoted that there is a tour of homes at the same time, Friday night the 19th there is Music on the Promenade around Lake Mirror. So I thought it would be a great time to come back over and explore more of the community. I took next Friday off so that I could get over there during the day and go to the chamber of commerce, the Ledger office, check out a couple employment agencies. etc.

One thing that I really enjoy is bookstores and libraries, in fact a library job would be near the top of my list. I know where the libraries, Books-A-Million, and Barnes and Noble are. Are there any other good bookstores in Lakeland, especially a good used bookstore?

Thanks

David

Next weekend is a GREAT time to come to Lakeland - it is the weekend of the Lake Mirror Auto Classic, one of the biggest and best vintage car shows in the southeast! Friday night is the hot rod rendezvous all over downtown, with classic rock music on the Lake Mirror Promenade. During the breaks, all the hot rods are supposed to rev their engines! On Saturda is the concours d'elegance, around Lake Mirror and downtown with all the classic vintage autos. Here is the link to the website:

Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival

I don't know about the used bookstores yet, still new in town and discovering things. But the longer I am here, the more I am loving it. Hopefully our beautiful weather will continue until next weekend!

ETA: I googled used bookstores - here is the website for one that sound insteresting:

BOOK BAZAAR

I see another called Mary's Bookstore, used and out of print, way up on the north side of town.

[Explorer Dave]

Thanks Gypsychic

Guess that I could have done the Google search myself, which I will do, but it wouldn't have led to this conversation!

Thanks for the info on all the activities, I had some but not all of that. I'll check it out for the music, etc. But I'm far more interested in the home show and Parade of Homes, http://pcba.com/content/default.asp?p=69 than I am in cars.

One down side of all the activity there next weekend is it might be hard to find a good, cheap, and most of all QUIET, place to stay!

May have to look closer to Orlando, maybe around Hwy 27 as I do want to visit the Polk Outpost 27 Visitor Center over there, In fact (If it paid well enough) that looks like the type of place that I'd love to work at.

I already want to do a web site on Lakeland so going to these events will be great. I may not have time to get to a bookstore!

David