[rockyinyourradio]

With the size of Gainesville and one of the main educational and medical centers in the state, I would think that Gainesville deserves it's own sub-forum here on City Data. Thoughts? Hopefully the mod's will consider this.

I have family in Gainesville and in honesty I love the city and it's attractive residential area's. I visit there at least once/twice a year. My thoughts on what I like and dislike.

Pro's: Some of the best medical facilities in the state.
Cultural and entertainment abounds.
Plenty of state parks and nature close by, (Paynes Prairie State Park!!)
Real Estate prices are somewhat lower than further south.
Relatively easy access to both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane effects are typically mitigated by it's inland location.
People are overall friendlier than other parts of the state (especially South Florida).
Excellent EMT/fire and law enforcement ( I have a daughter who is an EMT there).
Excellent choice of restaurants of all cuisines.
A nicely run regional airport with non stop flights to Atlanta, Charlotte and Dallas.

Cons: It's becoming quite crowded. Traffic issues during rush hour. It's worse when UF is in session.
Summers (like ALL of Florida) are hot and humid with occasional intense thunderstorms.
Some parts of the city are subjected to flooding.
Bugs abound (like ALL of Florida).

What say you on this? Looking forward to replies!!

[logybogy]

I would never live *in* Gainesville. The city is badly mismanaged and the state had to take over GRU recently and they've had to raise electric rates and property taxes to the highest levels in the state. There is also a major homeless problem downtown with a lot of mentally ill and increase crime. Also, the college students are annoying.

Now, if you live 20-30 minutes away in Alachua, Newberry, Jonesville, High Springs and just commute into Gainesville for work or shopping, doctor visits, UF events. It can be a good lifestyle. Just have to stay outside the GRU electric zone and city limits.

[gypsychic]

Lakeland metro should have its own forum before Gainesville. I'm not sure why it doesn't, it is literally on many lists as one of the fasting growing areas in the country

[wizrap]

To add to the OP’s comments:

Pro’s:
Not only is the medical care stellar, but the veterinary care is too. Ditto for dental.

Not only are there cultural and entertainment events, but opportunities to see sports stars of the future (baseball, football, gymnastics, swimming, volley ball, softball, golf—I could go on and on). See future pros at amateur prices.

You definitely get more house for your money, compared to South Florida, and if you have any Save Our Homes portability, your property taxes, compared to South Florida, will be much less. In our case, taxes were cut in half.

Car insurance also cut by half.

I’ve got a state of the art gym membership that is about 4 times less than what I paid in Weston. Despite an emphasis on southern cooking and barbecue, there’s a lot of focus on fitness. And the pace of life is delightfully slower than SFLA. Much less stress.

And yes to the friendly people. I have probably triple the number of neighbors in my contact list in the 7 years I’ve lived here than I had in the nearly 20 years I lived in Weston.

And yes to feeling a bit safer during hurricanes, although with all the trees, you get worried that one could land on your roof or window. But being inland does seem to help. Our homeowners insurance also was cut in half so it seems even the insurers feel the risk is lower here.

And yes to the many beautiful parks and preserves that help with the habitat for wildlife. To drive through my development and see deer grazing a block away from the neighborhood Publix—amazing! And to see owls, hawks, woodpeckers, cardinals, blue birds—all in my backyard. I’ve been in this house for 6 years and it’s still such a treat where I can watch what’s going on from my dining room table and wonder what I’ll see. I still remember the night I was at an outdoor dog class and could hear coyotes howling. The dogs didn’t quite know what to do!

And yes to having easy access to the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean—Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Tampa, St. Pete, or even Orlando—all can be day trips or long weekends.

Cons: If you don’t have SOH portability, property taxes are as high, if not higher, than most of South Florida. Alachua County is #2 in the state (out of more than 60 counties) in terms of its high tax rate.

And as loggyboggy states, Gainesville is far more poorly run than the county. Although I have a Gainesville address, I’m in the unincorporated part, in the SW part of the county, so even though they can’t mess with my property taxes, they can play games with my electric bill. We have a slightly smaller house than what we had in South Florida and our utility is about the same. We’ll see if Gainesville Regional Utilities is better run now that the state wrestled it from the city council.

But we had Clay Electric when we were renting, and the electricity went out during any bad storm or strong wind. And it was cheaper, but really not by a lot. Anyway, I’m praying for FP&L to drive in and take over GRU. When I see those trucks, I’ll be blowing kisses as a welcome.

We go downtown from time to time, and noticed most of the homeless that were near the old fire station had moved—but where, I don’t know. We did see a couple lingering. I’m sure the new Hyatt had something to do with a lot of the homeless moving.

Lots of great non-chain restaurants downtown. Butler Plaza has some nice mid-scale chains, and Celebration Point has a combination of locally owned and chain restaurants.

That being said, I’d love to import a Char-Hut and a Flannigan’s from South Florida up here.

I’ve rambled long enough. The whole state is booming and Gainesville is no exception.

[beach43ofus]

Pro: college scene for arts & sports

Con: hotter than hades, but no beach

If I had to live in the middle of the FLA penninsula, I'd live in Winter Park (Orlando), or Winter Haven. Close proximity to the Orlando airport opens up the rest of the world to you.

[Ghaati]

I don't see many posts about Gainesville elsewhere in the Florida forum.

I assumed that sub-categories exists because *posting* about a topic is popular enough to need it tucked into its own subcategory. Doesn't matter how popular Gainesville is, what matters is how popular posting about it is.

[DanielAvery]

Yes, the site owners use data on the number of times a certain place is mentioned when making decisions about creating or deleting subforums, though it would be a tall order for them to add more Florida subforums when the state has more individual subforums than any other state already (well, last time I checked). It would be more likely to see them merge some of the slower ones together.

[HarryWhom]

They could put it in with Ocala and add the Villages too.

[Chas863]

Originally Posted by HarryWhom

They could put it in with Ocala and add the Villages too.

The Villages has their own website forum https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...discussion-73/ . I'm not sure if grouping The Villages with Gainesville and Ocala on City-Data would be a good idea or not. It might just result in a lot of people double-posting questions about The Villages on both forums. However, I do think that a sub-forum for Gainesville and Ocala (combined) would be a good idea.

[dgreen]

This has been asked for years and should've been done. or GNV combined with Ocala.
Seems weird.