Lakeland/Arlington/Oakland (Memphis: environment, housing, invest)

[defiepilex]

It's "Crips", not Krypts. And no, there is not a Crip, Blood, or any other gang presence in Lakeland.

[Pearlbob]

I'm sorry, but anyone who tries to make a rebuttal saying, "Gah, that is a dumb remark...." then yes, I do consider that childish and don't put much validity into your remarks. Sorry. To say you are a business woman, but then use childish speech like that?

You're the one who said you'll be 40 minutes from Orlando.

And I would love to hear some statistics on these huge gangs that are part of Lakeland High School. We all understand the Memphis public schools are bad, and that extends over into the county schools as well. But to run people away from Lakeland because of some sort of overwhelming gang problem is far fetched. If you had said Westside, Booker T, something like that, I'd hear you out. But Lakeland? Where do these gang families live, in a 4 bedroom ranch style home on the lake? Sorry to sound rude, but to go to that school you have to live around the school, it's not like they are busing in loads of kids from North Memphis.

[strumpeace]

I am a career woman with a wonderful job, who feels like this town is hold me back. Which is why my company is moving their headquarters. I guess my traveling throughout my youth has broadened my horizons and shown me that there is much better out there than whats in Memphis. And there is no comparison between Walt Disney World and the zoo. Gah, thats a dumb remark to say that Walt Disney World is childish.

I am not creating hysteria, I am telling the facts, Memphis is a crime ridden city that extends out into the suburbs, and the school system is terrible. And if you work for a small technology based company, people laugh at you when you're trying to get clients just because of where you're from.

Interesting. Nearly every day, I meet with companies that meet your description that can't wait to move here.. I recently had the privilege of working with a small business incubator downtown. They presently have 23 tenant small tech companies, and are expanding to add 14 more due to very high demand.

And of course, there's better out there than Memphis. There's better out there than Central Florida, too. No matter where you are, there's some place that's better.

Frankly, with your attitude, you are exactly the kind of person our city needs fewer of. Enjoy your move. Take the hostility with you.

[plumeria313]

For those bashing Orlando, even if I did move to Orlando it would be safer than here:

According to City Data
Memphis 2005 137 Murders or 20.2 per 100,000
Orlando 2005 22 Murders or 10.5 per 100,000

So yes, there are murders in Orlando, but not near as many as Memphis. I would have no problem moving near Orlando, plus the schools there are excellent.

And as for the gang activity in Lakeland what you don't understand is that the housing market has gone down very quickly making the houses very cheap, so that enables lower income families to move out there, increasing gang activity. I'm not going to argue with you people about gang activity, because I experienced it first hand.

And EXCUSE ME Pearlbob for my UNPROFESSIONAL speach on a freaking message board. I didn't know that message boards now required proper speach.

Strumpeace, my mother opened her office in Memphis 15 years ago. Memphis has offered her nothing to be able to advance. I know that there are better places out there, but for a woman owned technology company, Memphis is not a good location to be. We have an office in Holland, we will keep our office in Memphis, and we will have our headquarters in FL.

[Pearlbob]

Lower income families do not equate to gangs, just FYI for anyone. Just because you are poor does not mean you are a criminal. And generally speaking, the real poverty striken families who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods and have kids in gangs are not the type of people who have the means to pick up and move out to a new home in the burbs. People who can afford $150k+ for a home in Memphis tend to not have kids in gangs, just as a generalization.

I think in Memphis you see a lot of surburban kids who "act tough", wear blue or red bandanas, and try to look cool by scaring other kids and adults. Those aren't gang members. Just because you put spinners on the Range Rover that your parents bought you, doesn't mean you're a gang member All joking aside though, the "gang members" at Lakeland HS probably wouldn't last a day in a real "gang" school in north or south Memphis.

[Pearlbob]

Plumeria, you have to understand....you bash Memphis, saying you are a professional working adult female, which is respectable. Then you use teenager-like grammar when making fun of something as being dumb and childish, and then say the reason you are moving is because your family is giving you a job with their company in Florida. If Memphis is so horrible, then why did your parents choose to raise you here, and not in Florida at their other office?

[strumpeace]

And as for the gang activity in Lakeland what you don't understand is that the housing market has gone down very quickly making the houses very cheap, so that enables lower income families to move out there, increasing gang activity.

None of that is true. Home values in Lakeland are among the highest in the entire Memphis MSA. The median home value in Lakeland is nearly $150,000, almost twice that of Memphis proper. The median mortgage in Lakeland is only $100 less than that of Orlando.

[plumeria313]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

Plumeria, you have to understand....you bash Memphis, saying you are a professional working adult female, which is respectable. Then you use teenager-like grammar when making fun of something as being dumb and childish, and then say the reason you are moving is because your family is giving you a job with their company in Florida. If Memphis is so horrible, then why did your parents choose to raise you here, and not in Florida at their other office?

I didn't know that once we got a certain age we couldn't use certain grammatical expressions. You're just nitpicking to make yourself look better than me. We haven't had an office in Florida. They are opening an office in Florida. Part of our office in Memphis is moving down to man the new office. I was raised in Memphis because family was here. My mother had enough when several large companies in Memphis chose to go out of state to find a company that did what we do without even giving us a chance. I understand if someone underbids us, but to not even give us a chance, it's ridiculous.

[Pearlbob]

I'm not trying to make myself look better, I'm trying to get across the point that you are calling the zoo "childish" and that only people in 4th grade or lower can enjoy it, yet you yourself at least seem to speak and argue in a child-like way. Calling something dumb, or saying someone's opinion is dumb, is not going to get you much respect or many believers on here. Just a simple concept of debate.

I'm all for hearing people's opinions, but once someone says that my opinion is dumb, or that something that 99% of the people in Memphis enjoy (the zoo) is dumb, then I don't have much patience to listen to anything else.

However to say that Lakeland HS is such a horrible school and there is too much gang activity there...well, that's no longer an opinion, that's just plain incorrect. You might want to take a trip to an actual Memphis city school, one of the ones in an actual rough neighborhood, and then see what a real "gang" type school looks like. Despite my age, there are a bunch of Memphis city high schools that I would feel pretty uneasy to hang out around...Lakeland HS is not one of them.

[defiepilex]

plumeria, PM me and we can meet up, so I can take you to my alma mater, Melrose, just so you can catch a glimpse of reality. Gang members don't grow up in $150,000 suburban houses. Heck, most don't grow up in $80,000 inner city houses. I think it's safe to say that most of any cities gang members are from single bedroom shotgun style houses, run-down, crime ridden apartments, and just poor, depressed areas of town in general. That doesn't sound like that Lakeland, TN I know.

If you would re-read my post about Orlando, you would see that I'm not talking about stats from 2005. I speak of statistics that the FBI has gathered, so far, for the year 2007.