QUESTION: if i moved to northern fla/st augustine area... (Miami: fit in, house) - Jacksonville - Florida (FL) - Page 5 - City-Data Forum

Blue717 · 05-09-2007, 01:30 PM

I'm looking for the same thing you are. Originally from a small town in Pa, a place that was described as Lily white, by outsiders. Would like to have that small town feel to it again. I am looking into the St Augustine/Clay county area. I dont mind the outskirts since Orange Park, Middleburg, and Green Cove are not that uncivilized. We all do drive. And thats where I have been looking. I'd rather have a half hour ride to get to some place than to live in an uncomfortable situation. And these areas are only going to keep growing!If I can help you with anything I've found so far, let me know!

backtofla · 05-09-2007, 04:52 PM

you visited st aug lately? i havent been there in a couple yrs. but love the area --- i live in orlando now, need i say more?

CELERITY · 05-09-2007, 06:50 PM

I am a native Floridian, born in St. Augustine, live in Jacksonville. Read the obits in the St. Augustine record at staugustine.com for a few days. You can see that it is a retirement community for our neighbors from the North. Between the tourists and the little blue haired ladies in Cadillac's, (Q-tips we call them, bless their hearts) the traffic has become frustrating. I love to visit St. Augustine but certain areas are very congested. World Golf Village, just north of St. A, has attracted a lot of northern retirees. Jacksonville is probably a more youthful city, if that is what you are looking for. One can also make a living in Jacksonville. St. A doesn't have as much to offer in employment opportunities. Jacksonville has become more ethnically diverse but you won't yet be or feel like a minority. My neighborhood has many different nationalities and we love it, especially our block parties where everyone brings food. There are many families from India and they and their children are very polite, friendly and bring a lot of interest and character to our community. Depending on the part of town you are in, you can go to Publix and hear many different languages. Many of the smaller towns which are in the counties surrounding Jacksonville, are still old Florida but no doubt, you will find immigrants everywhere. Clay county is still old FL for the most part. Nassau county also. If you like small towns or rural, look at Middleburg, Green Cove Springs in Clay, and Callahan and Yulee in Nassau. Ponte Vedra is expensive but beautiful. Being east of the Intracoastal, it comes at a premium. I don't know that it would be what you are looking for though if you are looking for other native Floridians. Most of the old Florida areas of Ponte Vedra (Palm Valley) have been sold to developers.
Florida has so much to offer, of course it attracts people from the North looking for lower prices and a moderate climate. I have lived in several states in the U.S. and in other countries outside of the U.S. and I love Florida. Jacksonville has a lot to offer and there are plenty of Floridians here. The New Yorker who states you won't catch her/him in Middleburg or Greencove appears to possess the attitude toward Southerners that you wish to avoid. There will always be those biased against Southerners to the point you wonder why they came south. Our only request is that if you come to visit or to live, you pick up some manners on the way down, don't make Florida like what you left behind, and if you talk bad about us, at least learn to say "bless their hearts" somewhere in the sentence

riveree · 05-09-2007, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riveree

There ARE a lot of New Yorkers in North Florida and more coming, so if you're wanting to get away from us, maybe you should try living out in the sticks.....Middleburg, Green Cove, Keystone Heights.....I avoid these places like the plague, you won't run into me there.

You can quote me Celerity, I'm only happy to explain what I said above. Backtofla has made many comments about his dislike for New Yorkers and Spanish-speaking people in many, many posts - this is only one.

My response above is to say to Backtofla that if it's NYers or Spanish-speakers you're trying to avoid, you won't have much more luck here in the areas being considered (out near/at the beach)...as you stated yourself Celerity, Jacksonville/St. Aug is diverse and becoming even moreso as time passes. Not too many NYers are choosing to live out in the rural areas - they usually choose to be near the coast...often it's the whole point of moving here - hence, Backtofla will not find too many out in those areas.

p.s. No bias against Southerners, I'm married to one, but I do have a bias against racists and biggots.

backtofla · 05-09-2007, 08:27 PM

i'm not a racist nor a biggot. that is rediculous if you are suggesting i am. i dont think you are, as i remember having this conversation with you before, and asked for advice.

just b/c i want to live around a certain group of ppl, and not be surrounded by ppl from ny and pr, as i do in east orlando, doesnt make me or anyone else a biggot.

if you could see the problems and frustrations we have in east orlando firsthand, i think you could empathize a little more. blacks for the most part, want to live around blacks, and why do hispanics migrate to orlando? why is orange co so incredibly populated with puerto-ricans? b/c there are many here, and the word is out, and they want to be in an area that suits them, and is familiar with them. that's the way most ppl are.

ShaunSmith · 05-09-2007, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by backtofla

i'm not a racist nor a biggot. that is rediculous if you are suggesting i am. i dont think you are, as i remember having this conversation with you before, and asked for advice.

just b/c i want to live around a certain group of ppl, and not be surrounded by ppl from ny and pr, as i do in east orlando, doesnt make me or anyone else a biggot.

if you could see the problems and frustrations we have in east orlando firsthand, i think you could empathize a little more. blacks for the most part, want to live around blacks, and why do hispanics migrate to orlando? why is orange co so incredibly populated with puerto-ricans? b/c there are many here, and the word is out, and they want to be in an area that suits them, and is familiar with them. that's the way most ppl are.

I understand your frustration with FL. I live in north jax and I have seen my area go from a small, friendly community. To an area with new neighborhoods with side yards that are literally less than 5 foot. No trees, no animals, no anything but rude neighbors and noise.

But its becoming that way in all the areas, people from other places (New York for example) see an area and think, people are nice, traffic isn't bad, and homes are cheap. So before you know it, the New Yorkers have brought their rude and arrogent attitudes and ruined it for all the natives.

I don't mind the people from other countries, as long as they speak English, I am not a fan of fence jumpers. But the people who come here legaly and work hard, they are some of the nicest people around.

(A side note, I was talking to a relative of mine (about 75) who grew up in FL, he was talking about Arlington 60 years ago when it was considered the end of the world. He said there was one dirt road running through there)

wildwumanxoxo · 05-11-2007, 05:58 PM

wow! I am a ny'r Central New York that is. I've been looking for a nice warm place to move when my baby graduates in June, I started in the Carolinas and found they don't much like us "yankees" there either. Believe me if I could have been born in the south I would have. I am a displaced beach bunny. Not all of us NY'rs are bad and most of us aren't from NYC. I do understand your not wanting to be pushed out of your home state though. I live 20 miles north of Syracuse and we had 11 FEET of snow in one week this year! I just want to get away and live in the warm weather! NY <3 FL. JP

monkiemom · 07-13-2007, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by backtofla

i'm not a racist nor a biggot. that is rediculous if you are suggesting i am. i dont think you are, as i remember having this conversation with you before, and asked for advice.

just b/c i want to live around a certain group of ppl, and not be surrounded by ppl from ny and pr, as i do in east orlando, doesnt make me or anyone else a biggot.

if you could see the problems and frustrations we have in east orlando firsthand, i think you could empathize a little more. blacks for the most part, want to live around blacks, and why do hispanics migrate to orlando? why is orange co so incredibly populated with puerto-ricans? b/c there are many here, and the word is out, and they want to be in an area that suits them, and is familiar with them. that's the way most ppl are.

they are moving there 1 because family members are there 2 jobs3alot of apartments and condos . just left our .elementary school was almost 98% spanish my girls were the only 3 non hispanic at a bus stop of about 50.they felt very out of place and lonely because they did not speak spanish.

backtofla · 07-15-2007, 08:41 AM

monkiemom, was this in orlando or green cove springs? i am assuming orlando, but i saw you were located in green cove springs.

"elementary school was almost 98% spanish my girls were the only 3 non hispanic at a bus stop of about 50.they felt very out of place and lonely because they did not speak spanish." that is disappointing. that is why i am trying to escape orlando, and hoping to find nfla to be different. that is still up for debate at the moment.

monkiemom · 07-28-2007, 04:49 AM

orlando we moved up to green cove actually Lake Asbury in july and I love it its nice and quiet at night and not too far from anything my girls can actually go outside to play with out me watching every second and they all have already made some friends something they did not have in orlando. They are the reason we moved if it were jsut me and my husband we could've stayed and lived with it. But we wanted something better for our kids.