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Old 10-05-2008, 10:29 AM
 
17,534 posts, read 39,131,539 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big House View Post
I'm interested in learning more about Lakeland. Is it just a community, or is it a SWFL town. You've had some pretty possitive input.
Big House - Lakeland is a small city in central Florida, almost equally distant between Tampa and Orlando. Population is just over 90,000 in the city limits, but the metro area is much larger. Even though it is a small city with it's own performing arts venue and other amenities of a bigger city, it has a quaint and charming small town feel; due to the small scale of the preserved downtown and the many historic districts surrounding it. The city if full of beautiful small lakes; most of which are public parks. Lakeland is a good options for those who want a clean, community-oriented place to live, with a lot of recreational opportunities (Lakeland has more than cities of larger size). It has plenty of arts venues; it does NOT have nightclubs or other fast-paced nightlife; it does have plenty of restaurants, both chain and mom-and-pop, and movie theaters.

Let me know if you have more specific questions, always glad to help!
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Old 10-07-2008, 07:21 AM
 
Location: Native Floridian, USA
5,297 posts, read 7,631,717 times
Reputation: 7480
Lakeland is a great place and a beautiful city. I grew up in Polk County and there are some bad areas, just as in all places. The outer east side was originally phosphate pits and small farmers and was long time settled. The outer edge on the west side was also the same way. It is just the way a lot of towns evolved. The south side is older and beautiful. The north side was cow pastures a few years ago, all the way to Dade City. It is now suburban sprawl.
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Old 10-07-2008, 01:07 PM
 
337 posts, read 1,431,805 times
Reputation: 253
Have to jump in here and add my praise for the Lakeland area. We recently relocated here (last week of Aug. '08) and are loving it so far! We came here sight unseen and only knew what we'd seen on the internet and what we learned from this forum. Gypsychic is right ON with everything she says and I have found her to be very helpful with information about the area. We are finding the locals to be very friendly folks! Love Lakeland so far! (Could do without that alligator living in the apt. swamp area though! )
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Old 10-07-2008, 02:56 PM
 
17,534 posts, read 39,131,539 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RecovringKrspyKremeAddict View Post
Have to jump in here and add my praise for the Lakeland area. We recently relocated here (last week of Aug. '08) and are loving it so far! We came here sight unseen and only knew what we'd seen on the internet and what we learned from this forum. Gypsychic is right ON with everything she says and I have found her to be very helpful with information about the area. We are finding the locals to be very friendly folks! Love Lakeland so far! (Could do without that alligator living in the apt. swamp area though! )
Why thank you! Watch out for those gators! lol, aww he's just as scared of you as you are of him!
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Old 10-08-2008, 03:25 AM
 
Location: Florida
558 posts, read 1,835,412 times
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Default different Lakeland?

We are talking about the same Lakeland Florida right? The Lakeland I live in is filled with homeless people and drug addicts. Take a drive along US-92 (the main west-east route of the city) and you'll see tons of homeless people begging for money right in the median strip and along the sides of the road. They come up to your car while stopped at redlights. Take a cruise down Kentucky Avenue to see the full extent of the problem.

Everywhere you go people come up to you begging for money or cigarettes or rides. I feel bad for them because Lakeland is a poor economic depressed city but most of them are strung out on drugs and could be dangerous. I like to just be able to go to a store without people scoping me out.

Lakeland is also a very transient city and most people who move here don't stay long. Everyone loves a new area when they first move there but after the honeymoon period is over you start seeing things for what they really are. I loved it here at first also. I doubt most of these "Lakeland is Heaven" posters will still be living here in a year .

Gypsychic is very helpful when it comes to the positive points of Lakeland but there is another side to Lakeland. I'm sure plenty of other readers agree with me but they don't want to waste their time posting everything I already did. The tread is called the Good and Bad in Lakeland and unfortunately people are only getting the good.

Snowbird season is also coming up , wall to wall traffic anytime of the day, stores packed from 8am to 8pm, people driving 15 mph in a 55 zone. Accidents and traffic jams everyday. Welcome to paradise.

LOL about the alligator though. There are tons of them here and Gypsychic is right ,they are more afraid of you than you are of them. Nothing to be worried about , I fish beside them all the time and they won't bother you. I saw a little 4 footer in a water ditch along US-92 the other day. The real big gators hang out in Lake Parker,Saddle Creek Park, and Lake Hancock.

I'm glad everyone is happy in Lakeland and I wish you all the best of luck. I plan on moving out of here the first chance I get. Thank God I-95 also goes North. Rather shovel snow off my sidewalk than crazy homeless drug addicts.
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Old 10-08-2008, 04:14 AM
 
Location: Exit 14C
1,555 posts, read 4,149,739 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gypsychic View Post
. . . almost equally distant between Tampa and Orlando . . . with it's own performing arts venue . . .
When I was in my teens through early 20s and going to tons of concerts, Lakeland also had just about every major artist who came through Florida playing there--because it's so conveniently located between Tampa and Orlando. That enabled them to just play Lakeland instead. The artists we liked a lot we'd see in both Southeast Florida and in Lakeland. (It was usually acts who'd play at the Hollywood Sportatorium that would end up in Lakeland). So I'm not sure if they still get so many concerts, but they used to.
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Old 10-08-2008, 08:01 AM
 
17,534 posts, read 39,131,539 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee View Post
We are talking about the same Lakeland Florida right? The Lakeland I live in is filled with homeless people and drug addicts. Take a drive along US-92 (the main west-east route of the city) and you'll see tons of homeless people begging for money right in the median strip and along the sides of the road. They come up to your car while stopped at redlights. Take a cruise down Kentucky Avenue to see the full extent of the problem.

Everywhere you go people come up to you begging for money or cigarettes or rides. I feel bad for them because Lakeland is a poor economic depressed city but most of them are strung out on drugs and could be dangerous. I like to just be able to go to a store without people scoping me out.

Lakeland is also a very transient city and most people who move here don't stay long. Everyone loves a new area when they first move there but after the honeymoon period is over you start seeing things for what they really are. I loved it here at first also. I doubt most of these "Lakeland is Heaven" posters will still be living here in a year .

Gypsychic is very helpful when it comes to the positive points of Lakeland but there is another side to Lakeland. I'm sure plenty of other readers agree with me but they don't want to waste their time posting everything I already did. The tread is called the Good and Bad in Lakeland and unfortunately people are only getting the good.

Snowbird season is also coming up , wall to wall traffic anytime of the day, stores packed from 8am to 8pm, people driving 15 mph in a 55 zone. Accidents and traffic jams everyday. Welcome to paradise.

LOL about the alligator though. There are tons of them here and Gypsychic is right ,they are more afraid of you than you are of them. Nothing to be worried about , I fish beside them all the time and they won't bother you. I saw a little 4 footer in a water ditch along US-92 the other day. The real big gators hang out in Lake Parker,Saddle Creek Park, and Lake Hancock.

I'm glad everyone is happy in Lakeland and I wish you all the best of luck. I plan on moving out of here the first chance I get. Thank God I-95 also goes North. Rather shovel snow off my sidewalk than crazy homeless drug addicts.
I am not going to doubt you on what you say are your experiences, but I can only say that after ONE YEAR of living right in town, I have yet to experience, even ONCE anything you say you experience on a regular basis. As for transient - my neighbors on one side have lived there for 21 years, the other side about 19 years. My realtor moved here from NYC many years ago with her husband and they love it.

Lakeland is a far cry from being "economically depressed" - that will be visible to anyone who visits this town. We have many large companies who make their headquarters here ( the main one is Publix) and they invest heavily in the town to keep it a nice place.

I don't wish to argue with you, once again, sorry you have had such a bad time of it, but I can't let the gross exaggerations stand. I nor anyone else ever said this city is perfect, because it isn't, and no place else is, either. The good here far, far, far outweighs the bad.

Hope you find your place of happiness back up north, and I mean that sincerely.
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Old 10-08-2008, 08:04 AM
 
17,534 posts, read 39,131,539 times
Reputation: 24289
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tungsten_Udder View Post
When I was in my teens through early 20s and going to tons of concerts, Lakeland also had just about every major artist who came through Florida playing there--because it's so conveniently located between Tampa and Orlando. That enabled them to just play Lakeland instead. The artists we liked a lot we'd see in both Southeast Florida and in Lakeland. (It was usually acts who'd play at the Hollywood Sportatorium that would end up in Lakeland). So I'm not sure if they still get so many concerts, but they used to.
Tungsten - the Lakeland Center is a beautiful venue, and still gets many wonderful shows; however since the major acts now will only play in Tampa and Orlando in the larger and newer halls, Lakeland is too close by to either one to make it economically feasible. Still a great place to catch a Broadway show or other entertainment!
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Old 10-08-2008, 08:16 AM
 
35 posts, read 374,775 times
Reputation: 51
Thanks everyone for all the info.

Lakeland Yankee, I will be sure to take a quick drive by the areas you mentioned just to see for myself.

I posted that I was interested in the good and bad because where we are moving from has seriously declined in recent years. Illegal immigrants stand on street corners looking for work. A lot of the downtown shops have been taken over by bodegas, dollar stores and nail salons. The town wants to install surveillence cameras in the downtown to fight crime and the local town meetings have turned into fights about eminent domaine because the town wants to take over property to build among other things, a parking garage.

I am aware that not every city is all good and that there are drug addicts and homeless people everywhere but we were hoping that the bad in Lakeland is not as bad as the bad is getting to be here.
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Old 10-08-2008, 09:18 AM
 
Location: Florida
558 posts, read 1,835,412 times
Reputation: 524
The unemployment rate here is at 8% . That is pretty economically depressed. It's only going to get worse. Lots of working class people here are out of jobs. I would post the link but I'm sure it's against forum rules because the Ledger is copyrighted material.

Everything I say can easily be backed up by either driving through Lakeland or checking The Ledger. CNN and Fox news are always doing stories regarding the bizzare crimes that occur here. Polk County seems to attract degenerates from all over the USA. I'm sure a new national story will happen here soon. Most Florida natives I met from other areas of Florida don't care much for Polk County. They say the same things as I do.

I was reading these posts for years before I signed up last week . I have always enjoyed reading your posts and will continue to enjoy them. I'm not trying to debate you. You love Lakeland and I don't, no big deal. These forums are great for people looking to relocate and they need to know the whole truth. Plenty of people have said negative things about Lakeland in the past and they always get brushed off as untruthful. That is why they gave up trying. I wish I took the negative reviews more seriously. Somethings you just don't realize until you actually live here.

A person wanting to relocate to Florida would be much better off moving to Tampa ,Orlando ,or Jacksonville . But if you have to live in Polk County, I would move to Auburndale (a very nice clean safe little town outside of Lakeland).

I hope the city of Lakeland gives you a huge raise, you deserve it.
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