[pianogal]

. The East side of Orlando (most of it, except Waterfod Lake and Avalon Park).

MaryLou, thank you for this differentiation. Orlando is so large - saying the west and/or east side is good or bad won't cover it as there are good and bad areas on both sides. I live on the east side so I can address it. There is a bad pocket on either side of SR 436 in East Orlando - especially around the Curry Ford area. However a few miles further east - from Chickasaw and east 1+ Million dollar homes are currently being built on 1 acre lots. That's also where the huge Vista Lakes Development is and continuing east from that are the Tivoli Woods Communities, the Preserve, Cypress Springs, Waterford Lakes, Stoneybrook East and a little south of this Lake Nona. All of these really nice communities are on the east side of Orlando and are far bigger than the pocket of economic depression, drugs and crime that plagued the 436 area.

If a person is seriously considering moving the Orlando, they should try to rent and really take time to study the city, talk with locals, etc. before trying to buy.

[beenaround]

Former Brevard County resident here... I can say I never felt unsafe in Brevard.

[Orange+Blue]

To get back on topic. Personally, Ive lived in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, Jax Beach, and Gainesville. Ive, been and stayed in alot of other places around FL as well. Someone else here has said it, and Ill back it up, EVERYWHERE, has its good neighborhoods and bad ones. But alot of people are kinda painting a picture here that FL is just filled to the brim with godless heathens that want nothing more to slit your throat, that we all carry guns in every street in every town, and of course, everyone is on drugs and everyone is selling drugs. Remember this, even small towns have good sides and bad sides. If your looking to come down and rent an affordable place near the beach where people are relatively quiet, and more importantly its safe, then Id say you have hundreds of places to choose from... and hundreds to avoid.

[florigidge]

i second that orange+blue (go gators).

the more i think about it, maybe it's a good thing to dissuade people from moving to florida. i mean, i loved growing up there and i loved living in gainesville as an adult.

but maybe the less people who move there the better. who knows. maybe that is the intent of those who post such outrageously negative and reactionary posts.

[gypsychic]

The thing is, a lot of it is NOT exaggeration. I am a 3rd generation native, born and raised in Tampa, and I am going to tell you that there is NO WHERE right in the city limits where there isn't a lot of crime - and that includes the "chi-chi" areas like Hyde Park and South Tampa which in the 70's were the worst part of town. It's fancy and expensive but the crime is still there.

I grew up in the northern part of West Tampa - very bad - my elderly dad was held up at gunpoint while he worked, another time he caught a man burglarzing his home in broad daylight - my dad used to keep 3 guns behind is door, no lie. I myself had several burglaries over the years, in different properties, different parts of town, but all in the city limits. The area around the University of South Florida they call "suitcase city" because of all the rentals VERY BAD!!!! Lots of crime, got burglarized here too. Tampa also has an overabundance of topless bars, which the city has a reputation for. And as was noted in another thread on this forum, we have more than our share of registered sex offenders living in all parts of town.

I also lived in Sarasota for 17 years, and let me tell you it is no paradise unless you are EXTREMELY wealthy! I had worse problems there than Tampa - 3 different occasions of indecent exposure in broad daylight - once in my beautiful northern neighborhood, and twice DOWNTOWN in broad daylight. I was also chased by unknown creeps, once on foot downtown and once at night by car as I went home from a class. We also had our fence burned down, and TWO different burglaries in our downtown home. That area was filled with crime - the police told me that Sarasota underreports it's crime because they don't want to ruin their image for the tourist industry. As I said, if you have LOTS of money and can live on one of the Keys there or in a fancy condo you won't have any problems.

Folks, I am not exaggerating. Yes, there are nice places to live, but you MUST stay away from any of the inner areas of any of Florida's cities. I currently live in Pasco county and it couldn't be more safe where I am - very peaceful, I love it! I thinkf anyone coming down would be OK to get in a nice gated community on the outskirts of Tampa, like New Tampa, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, etc. You definitely want to stay as far away from the downtown core as possible, and that includes some lovely historic neighborhoods which on the surface look great, but I guarantee you there are lots of bums, drug dealers, prostitutes and "he/she" prostitutes in those areas, so be forewarned.

[Jammie]

I doubt that any place is actually crime free. The third and the fourth house straight east of me each have a sex offender living in them. The gals in the house are friends and they both dated the men with those offenses and let the guys move in with them. I was greatful when one of them broke parole a couple weeks ago and they hauled him away. And these guys didn't have the offenses that are basically harmless to the rest of us. (I don't have any fear of the 18 year old boys who have slept with their 16 year old girlfriends and end up in jail for it) One of the guys made a career out of being a shady character.

Directly across the street from me lived a woman who was just taken back to No. Dak. She was here illegally and was only supposed to be visiting. She is bi-polar and broke her probation. She had the nasty habit of forging checks and stealing people's social security cards and identities.

Two blocks from my house was a hotel owner who was here under the witness protection program. He just recently relocated to the south. He used to have the habit of drinking too much and telling too much about his life. It sounded like he testified against some pretty rough guys that he used to hang out with in order to get out of going to prison himself. He was a pretty scary presence.

A few years ago there was a murder just a few blocks from my house. It was young boys who got in a squabble over a gal and of course they had been drinking. Four blocks from my house, in the apartment my uncle and aunt live in, there was a murder last fall. One roommate shot the other one and hit him in the knee. The ambulance stopped a few feet from our house to rescesitate (sp?) the man. He later died at the hospital cause it hit a vein or artery and the man bled to death.

A few years back, a lady that we knew was heartbroken. Her Dad shot and killed two young guys who came to his farm and were shooting at him. He ended up spending the rest of his life in prison cause he shot back and killed them both. There had been bad blood between the families.

Several years ago, a woman and two of her children were murdered at a nearby farmhouse.

And rememeber, I live in the safe, simple midwest.

[lulu]

Oh my Lord Jammie, I'd be scared stiff...you must get out of there. Florida is not perfect, but I'm sure you can find a safer place here somewhere...and warmer, too.

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by lulu

Oh my Lord Jammie, I'd be scared stiff...you must get out of there. Florida is not perfect, but I'm sure you can find a safer place here somewhere...and warmer, too.

Visit the following site and type your address, will show all the registered sex offenders within your local. Now just imagine how many are not registered?

[firemed]

This is Fort Myers news to day.

Two banks on Winkler Road robbed
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is searching for suspects in two unrelated bank robberies on Winkler Road. Before noon, the Wachovia at 6715 Winkler Road was robbed, then a few hours later the Florida Gulf Bank at 7580 Winkler Road was robbed.

Security lax at complex where teen's body found
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office says the death of a 16-year-old girl was not the result of foul play. Chelsea Pearson’s body was found Monday morning floating in the hot tub at the Malibu Lakes Apartments.
Deputies investigate teen found dead in hot tub

Description of probation office arsonist released
Authorities are looking for the arsonist who torched the Department of Probation and Parole and a pet grooming business Monday. Seven dogs were killed in the fire.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by lulu

Oh my Lord Jammie, I'd be scared stiff...you must get out of there. Florida is not perfect, but I'm sure you can find a safer place here somewhere...and warmer, too.

Thank you Lulu, I'm counting the months until I can live where it's warm. But I don't feel scared or uncomfortable here. I grew up in this area and have never personally encountered any violence toward me or my family. I guess I'm just saying that there is crime all over. The larger cities in Florida would definitely have more crime going on then there is here, but either the world is just worse then it used to be, or more crimnals are getting caught.

Rico, it looks like they took the link off to see the sex offenders in the area. I've checked my area in the past and was amazed at how many sex offenders live here. We even know several of them or their parents. Several of them aren't scary, but made the stupid mistake of dating girls that were younger then they were. One of the offenders isn't quite normal and kept thinking it was a big joke to streak or expose himself and it finally caught up with him, but he's not a violent person.

Firemed, those poor dogs didn't deserve that.