[MaryLou2007]

Hi! My name is Alyssa and this is 5 years in review. Read my story and comment as you like.

Originally from the Denver area, we moved to Central Florida over 5 years ago. Our family of 4 enjoyed a very lavish lifestyle back home, we owened a nice suburban home, and had plenty of money to add to our 401k. I held an upper managerial position as an assistant director of operations, and my husband and I had a combined income of slightly over $120k.

I had a dream of warmer winters and fun summer days at a beach pier. Much like “snow birds” New Yorkers, I was seeking warmer weather with a similar standard of living. So I looked for a job down here and eventually able to find one. The salary was slightly lower than what I earned, but the cost of living down here is supposedly lower, so it looked like it would work out. Oh, and no jobs we saw listed offered benefits, to our great amazement and surprise. We thought we would have the same lifestyle we enjoyed back at home, lower cost of living down here, right? Well.. NO!

THOUGHT is the word here. What we did not know was that many companies currently demand you are Spanish-speaking and if you are not, there are no laws or regulations protecting employees against this type of practice. My husband was laid off his job after 2 years of working for this one company for not being bilingual in Espanol. Speaking Spanish was not on his original job description and all the employer had to do is suddently modify the job description to fire him. When my husband filed for unemployment, the employer had the guts to object to his claim and say “he was warned about not speaking Spanish”. According to the attorney, it's leagal. So, let's say someone hates some race or some type of people and owns a business. All the person has to to do is make a “job requirement” that all the employees speak (let's say Chinese) and hell with all non-Chinese people, no job for them.

Finding another job was very difficult for him without speaking Spanish. Last time I checked, this is STILL America and not Mexico or Puerto Rico and our language is still officially English in FL, no one should be forced to speak any language just to get a job. Maybe it will not be in the very near future (with the upcoming amnesty for illegals talk), but for now, it is ENGLISH. Basically, requiring people to speak Spanish is a form of legalized racism against all non-Hispanic races. Requiring someone who speak Spanish is nothing more than saying “all you non-Latinos need not apply”. Scary! The Filipino guy I work for could add “must speak Tagalog” and then fire me and then get someone from his country to do my job because they speak the language. Maybe we need a new Civil Rights Act to protect English-speaking folks.

Dang, I talked too much on that let's get back: even with the hubby's new job, his salary was lower than the first job. Amazing! After time, it seemed like jobs were paying less and less. We joined a job support group and learned we were not the only ones who were enduring lower pay with more job experience. My hubby was also happy to hear he is not the only one and that employers are using Spanish as a tactic to hire cheaper Latino labor (usually illegal aliens) only and legally discriminate against Americans who are white, black, native American, or asian. We also learned that Central Florida used to be a friendly, clean, safe, etc place. We never experienced Fla to be like that, but again, we lived outside the Denver area, we are used the big city feel, but certainly nothing as bad as Orlando. I am to the point now that I drive to and from work and go to the store when I need to. I choose not to fight in traffic and with the rude folk anymore. This area (Central FL) has the ruddest and worst drivers that I have ever seen. I have never seen people drive this badly, not even on ice!

Oh, we also learned that Fla is called a “right to work” state. This means that you, as an employee has no rights, companies can fire you for no reason, they do not have to provide any benefits, they can object to your unemployment claim just because, the employer can develop a handbook that has the power of law, it's crazy, employees are nothing down here, it is all about the corporations. Companies abuse employees a lot because of how hard it is to get a job down here. I had to take a pay cut in order to keep my job in 2005. It was either that or face the bleak job market down here. For professionals, there are not a whole lot of jobs here and the companies know it too. Seems like all newspaper adds are for low-paying manual labor jobs, low-paying “service industry” jobs in hotels or fast food.

[MaryLou2007]

In the meantime, our cost of living has been going up steadly. Our homeowner's insurance went up almost 500% in the past 2 years, even though we never filed a claim. To add insult to injury, our property taxes are very high and got a boost this year, even though we are protected from increases. You see, we added a small pool to our backyard, therefore opening ourselves up for an increase. Our car insurance went up as well, in fact, we learned from an insurance salesperson at the job support group that car insurance in Fla is one of the highest in the USA because of their no-fault insurance laws. Clearly, those laws were created by legislators who got major contributions from the insurance industry. Our Home Owner's Association fees almost doubled. HOA now wants to remove the palm trees from the neighborhood and replace them with shrubs in anticipation to the 2007 hurricane season. It seems like 2007 will be the hottest year on record, which in turn, will trigger massive hurricanes in 2007. More fun times ahead for homeowners!

Tornadoes are a big deal here. I never expected it to be this bad, I have friends in Kansas City, MO (tons of tornadoes there) come and tell me Central Fla is a magnet for severe/bad weather, specially tornadoes, like the ones Christmas Day 2006. Central Fla is amoung the highest tornado-risk areas in the US.

Traffic in Central Florida is very chaotic. I compare it to the Denver traffic and say Central Florida is far, far worse, because of the rude folk. Here is a tip I learned in traffic: if you use your turning signal, people accelerate and do not let you in. I have found it is better to do surprise lane changes, so no one accelerates not to let me in. I also noticed how angry people seem to be. There is a constant foul mood over the skies, it is very very bad, I like to smile and wave at little kids, but here people just look at you with disgust.

Like the receptionist and runner at our company, people are forced to live in cheap motels that have weekly rates, so they can get by until their next pay check. The motels are packed with local residents according to the receptionist, she said one of the girls living in the room next to hers used to be her room-mate at her last apt. This seems to be very normal here, it is shocking to me people live in hotels, it is awful. I have never seen this happen back home, rent prices are much better up there than here.

After these 5 years. Here are some additional noteworthy facts about Central Florida:

1.People often have their cars key-scratched at Walmart parking lots (or stolen)
2.No one speaks English at places like K-Mart and Walmart.
3.Some drunk hits your car and your own insurance rates go up.
4.You go to the Florida Mall and everyone speaks a different language, it really makes you feel like you are in a foreign country.
5.There is NO PLANNING for anything. Unlike in Denver, no one plans roads or schools, hospitals, power plants, etc BEFORE building a subdivision next to another. They build and then have the mess Central Fla is now.
6.People walk up to you and start speaking Spanish, even though I have naturally blonde hair and blue eyes.
7.It takes 45 minutes to get from my house to my job, although we are only 5 minutes apart.
8.There is a lot of crime, 100x more than Denver or St. Louis, we seem to be under constant siege from criminals, it is not safe at all. Our dogs cannot be walked too far from home for fear we could be kidnapped.
9.There is trash everyone on the side of the roads in the city. I guess this is caused by:
10.BUMS! Tons of bums downtown Orlando. Not surprised with the home prices.
11.Our neighborhood went from a simple fence to a wall, a gate to a camera-monitored gate, to now a armed security gate. Still, people get robbed. Our neighbor's dog was snatched from her fenced backyard. Their little girl still cries about it.
12.People smoke crack pipes on the street corners with no fear of being arrested.
13.Seems like criminals have a free reign here, everyone gets away with everything!
14.Summer goes from May to December, the humidity is very oppressive, it is hard to breathe, my son has developed some breathing difficulties when he is out in the heat with the high humidity.
15.Wages listed on the newspaper job ads go down constantly, companies place “pay freezes” and no one gets a raise. I know 3 girls in my church who said they have not had a pay increase in over 2 years.
16.The local enconomy is NOT diversified, all new jobs are low-paying service jobs at hotels.
17.You try to say “hi” to your next door neighbor and they look at you like you are weird.

These are just some of my memories from the last 5 years.

[MaryLou2007]

Finally, we made the decision to move back to Denver. I was offered a job earning almost $130k now (that is only me, not both of us combined). We are entering a contract in a 3/3 house, 2 car garage, huge yard for $210k. The area is very safe and clean. We visited the area and stayed in a hotel down from the house and it is quiet, safe, and the neighbors all talk to each other. No one seems afraid or angry. I talk to people at stores and everyone communicates back in a normal, calm way. Everyone is civilized, everyone was willing to talk, kids actually invited my son to play, it is a complete new worlkd we had lived in and "re-discovered" how good we had in Denver. It took Orlando to show how wonder the rest of the USA is, despite the winter weather!!

Getting paid in “sunshine” just wasn't cutting it out. We sold our home here, took a loss due to the cold housing market, but we are still moving. I must add that people might think I am bitter about living down here, but I am not. I never lived in the ghetto down here and thank God, we never scrapped for food, but I feel bad for anyone moving down here unless thay have locked a $100k+ a year job in Central Florida. If you come here with less than that, you will live in the ghetto. MOve down here with an IT job or medical jobs that you are used to get paid $100k in your state, get ready to get paid $40k here. Believe it, or not, it's your choice. You may have a good life where you are now and here it will be a living hell. Heck, you might get stuck in a condo for all you know.

I'm not coming from a position of bias or ignorance. I understand some people will love this place. But a lot of the out-of-state folk I know that live here (25+ people) are ceasing to function in Orlando and slowly loosing their minds and souls. Most have expressed such concern of how this place has made them angrier, made them less tolerant, more harsh, more distrusting, & more depressed. Not to mention more stressed, the stress levels here are very high, people seem like that a lot. It is just extrmemely sad to hear such commentary from people you know.

Yes, I am going to leave like lots of people I know. By April 2007, I'm gone back to Denver. The weather out there is much nicer, cold in the winter, but the rest of the year enjoyable, no more crazy humidity for me!

I must also add that it is just extremely sad that the aggressive people, the lack of culture, the lack of trust, lack of friendliness, lack of manners, lack of safety, lack of positive urban-energy, lack of a decent sense of community is indeed “The Florida Lifestyle”. My overall well-being comes first and this place is draining every good ounce of my being. I want to smile again, to know my neighbors, to watch my kids play safely outside. I do not want to continue to watch acts of violence in traffic or muders/robberies on TV. I just saw on TV tonight several murders and robberies, people being strangled over a DVD movie or over a pack of cigarettes. I actually found this board searching online and deicded to write this book.

I wish the locals would wake up and smell their kitchen burning. Central Florida is gone downhill, still going downhill. South Florida, well, it's been TRASH for years, no news there.

At least you know there are cheap motels with microwave and 'fridge waiting for you! You can always live there!

Thanks for reading. Good luck, everyone!

[dreamofmonterey]

Interesting post. I have to get to work, but skimmed this- what field were you in?. That is a shame. You are correct in the statement "employees are nothing"" in 2001 I was manager at a large company 5000+employees, and there were MANY security issues- The HR department looked like entrance to Ft Knox-bcs I was from NYC so never saw the big deal- until a managers tires were slashed, every week there was some hostile incident. This was in South Florida, though. Good luck!.

[AJ67]

well , thats whats it all about in Florida....
Cheaper labor by Non English Speaking , and maybe even Illegal...
Florida has ALWYAS been behind the times when it comes to wages, remember Florida use to be Retirement heaven, or heavens waiting gate not really any more the older people are being pushed out, and much younger ANGRIER I have lived in florida on two Different occassions. once back in the 80s for about 6 yrs , thats when everything was CHEAP! nd now i have been in the Central America, oops i mean Central FL area for the last 8 yrs and its WAY worse here now then before, and there is no real reason for it !

[macguy]

Originally Posted by MaryLou2007

Finally, we made the decision to move back to Denver. I was offered a job earning almost $130k now (that is only me, not both of us combined). We are entering a contract in a 3/3 house, 2 car garage, huge yard for $210k. The area is very safe and clean. We visited the area and stayed in a hotel down from the house and it is quiet, safe, and the neighbors all talk to each other. No one seems afraid or angry. I talk to people at stores and everyone communicates back in a normal, calm way. Everyone is civilized, everyone was willing to talk, kids actually invited my son to play, it is a complete new worlkd we had lived in and "re-discovered" how good we had in Denver. It took Orlando to show how wonder the rest of the USA is, despite the winter weather!!

Getting paid in “sunshine” just wasn't cutting it out. We sold our home here, took a loss due to the cold housing market, but we are still moving. I must add that people might think I am bitter about living down here, but I am not. I never lived in the ghetto down here and thank God, we never scrapped for food, but I feel bad for anyone moving down here unless thay have locked a $100k+ a year job in Central Florida. If you come here with less than that, you will live in the ghetto. MOve down here with an IT job or medical jobs that you are used to get paid $100k in your state, get ready to get paid $40k here. Believe it, or not, it's your choice. You may have a good life where you are now and here it will be a living hell. Heck, you might get stuck in a condo for all you know.

I'm not coming from a position of bias or ignorance. I understand some people will love this place. But a lot of the out-of-state folk I know that live here (25+ people) are ceasing to function in Orlando and slowly loosing their minds and souls. Most have expressed such concern of how this place has made them angrier, made them less tolerant, more harsh, more distrusting, & more depressed. Not to mention more stressed, the stress levels here are very high, people seem like that a lot. It is just extrmemely sad to hear such commentary from people you know.

Yes, I am going to leave like lots of people I know. By April 2007, I'm gone back to Denver. The weather out there is much nicer, cold in the winter, but the rest of the year enjoyable, no more crazy humidity for me!

I must also add that it is just extremely sad that the aggressive people, the lack of culture, the lack of trust, lack of friendliness, lack of manners, lack of safety, lack of positive urban-energy, lack of a decent sense of community is indeed “The Florida Lifestyle”. My overall well-being comes first and this place is draining every good ounce of my being. I want to smile again, to know my neighbors, to watch my kids play safely outside. I do not want to continue to watch acts of violence in traffic or muders/robberies on TV. I just saw on TV tonight several murders and robberies, people being strangled over a DVD movie or over a pack of cigarettes. I actually found this board searching online and deicded to write this book.

I wish the locals would wake up and smell their kitchen burning. Central Florida is gone downhill, still going downhill. South Florida, well, it's been TRASH for years, no news there.

At least you know there are cheap motels with microwave and 'fridge waiting for you! You can always live there!

Thanks for reading. Good luck, everyone!

I can identify with you being unhappy, I am also. I live in South Florida and it may be worse then central Florida in many ways. My problem is your post is so full of obvious gross exaggerations that it takes away from giving it much credibility. I am sure from your stand point the truth would be more then enough.

[CHEWY12]

I know how you feel. We moved to Fl. in "97" and stayed untill "04" we lived in Port Charlotte and it wasn"t bad although the wages were low but over all it wasn"t bad. We returned to Naples this past summer and our time here has not been real good very simular to yours in central Fl. You are not alone we also are going to leave in the spring to move back west.For us Fl has lost it"s charm. Good luck to you and your family.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Nomoresubways

Yeah I could be wrong but it does have a very familiar feel to the writing style.

Also, I seem to remember reading an article recently that Colorado (especially Denver) is getting all of the disenchanted California folk, and it is most likely to become the "Next Florida". Kind of ironic. .

I do think there is a chance that this could happen.
That would just kill our old Colorado governor, Dick Lamm. He successfully fought against us getting the Olympics back in the 70's for this very reason, he was very anti-growth.
And now the herds of sheeple are flocking to the green grass of Colorado.
Not us, though. We're doing our darndest to stay in Florida.

[cuse]

MaryLou....You took the words right out of my mouth!!!

[Nomoresubways]

I realize this may be out of context but I just have to say it. Even if absolutely everything MaryLou stated was true, it wouldn't bother me that much. Why? I live on Long Island and work in NYC. So I have extremely high property taxes, I deal with sickening traffic, rude people, crime, etc. Let me tell you about 3 very recent things that have happened and then maybe you can understand why I am moving to the Orlando area.

Friday night I left work at 5PM. I normally catch a train and get home around 7:15. Yeah it's a crazy commute. Anyways, some kid got killed painting graffiti near the tracks and all trains to Long Island were delayed a few hours. I got home at 10:30PM. I could have flown to Orlando, driven to my house and made dinner in that time. Second, Monday morning I hopped on the subway to my office and the stench was so bad I almost vomited right on the spot. Everyone around me was gagging, but the train was so packed I couldn't tell why. When I got off the train I saw that there was a homeless man passed out on the bench who had vomited all over himself and defecated himself. I felt sick all day. Third, not sure how many of you heard about "the smell", but we had an incident the other day where we had a gas like smell that went through NYC for about an hour. Many of my fellow employees felt nauseaus, got minor headaches and a few people went home.

I don't think Orlando/Florida is paradise, I just think it'll be whatever I want to make it.