Ugly Florida Town Contest? I nominate Ocala... (Miami, Tampa: neighborhood, quality of life)

[gumbyfly]

Originally Posted by daedalo

Is there an uglier city in Florida?

Try Panama City Beach from October through March...
The town just closes down after the tourists stop coming. It starts looking like a run-down ghost town from some kind of wierd horror movie.

[ChrisA70]

I nominate Fort Pierce or "PIT PIERCE"... What a DUMP... Runner up is Cocoa, NOT Cocoa Beach, but Cocoa is a ghetto!!!!

[FRANKLIN]

Originally Posted by BacktoFLigo

I nominate Fort Pierce or "PIT PIERCE"... What a DUMP... Runner up is Cocoa, NOT Cocoa Beach, but Cocoa is a ghetto!!!!

There is nowhere better than Fort Pierce. All you need to know is stay out of the seedy area after dark.

I wouldn't live anywhere else.

[ChrisA70]

The seedy area??? Where is that, I went through there when I lived in Vero, and I didn't see any good areas, it was all seedy.

[FRANKLIN]

Originally Posted by BacktoFLigo

The seedy area??? Where is that, I went through there when I lived in Vero, and I didn't see any good areas, it was all seedy.

Good areas, North and South Hutcheson Island, Anywhere along the Indian River Lagoon, Downtown, neighborhoods north of Orange Ave like Glidden Park, all along Sunrise Blvd, Oleander, down in White City, out west there are ranches, nurseries, groves, lots more I am not thinking of right now + there is no traffic, good restaurants, every kind of convenience you need, the only bad parts are in the alphabet number streets and along Route 1 which is not even that bad. I repeat, no traffic...I own some property here so I only half mean it when I say that I hope no one discovers Fort Pierce because I can get to the beach from my house near Midway Road in less tha 15 minutes. If I had to travel to the beach from 10 miles away in Vero, Stuart, etc it would take 30 minutes plus.

[Dlee03]

I like Ocala, They gave a Driver license back the 80's with only 6 hours of resident time before I move back to the Carolina's. Had some great bars there.

[Gatornation]

I'd take Ocala before Hudson, Port Richey, Spring Hill

[NSX1990]

PALATKA

This little town is the antithesis of quaint. Wake up to the smell of sulfur from the local paper factory! See the majestic smokestacks peer through the morning haze. Visit the center of culture at the local Wal-Mart- just watch that the teens who hang out there don't pelt you with empty beer cans out of boredom.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Dlee03

I like Ocala, They gave a Driver license back the 80's with only 6 hours of resident time before I move back to the Carolina's. Had some great bars there.

well, theres a reason to like a town. Ocala is without a doubt, just plain fugly, no, thats not a typo. Everything the OP said is true. I have been here 18 years, and the mindset of the folks that run this place is just horrifying.

[LisaFla]

Originally Posted by NSX1990

PALATKA

Wake up to the smell of sulfur from the local paper factory! See the majestic smokestacks peer through the morning haze.

Palatka, Florida, isn't one of the prettiest towns in Florida, nor is it an entertainment mecca. Very few jobs here, either.

But....

Since the late 1980s when Research-Cottrell installed the air pollution control devices at Georgia-Pacific, the only time the odor of the mill's pulp processing is detectable is when there is a "low ceiling" of clouds for more than 6-8 hours. This occurs so infrequently that when it does occur, my children [life-long residents] want to know what in the world that smell is.

Other sources of foul smells in the Palatka/Putnam County area have been cleaned or removed as well:
- Cabbage rotting in the fields of East Palatka and Hastings. Few farmers are growing cabbage anymore due to lack of demand.
- Rice Creek. I don't know why this waterway stunk so bad when I was growing up unless it was just run-off from the pulp mill. But it's clean and stink-free now.
- Adhesives and finishes used at Florida Furniture. [Gaack! I never noticed this odor until the mill quit stinking.] Florida Furniture went bankrupt a few years back and the site was bought by a condo developer. The developer got the historic site about half-way demolished before the economy tanked on him and he just quit. [This is an eyesore, Mr. Developer.]
- Slaughter ponds at Florida Packing & Provision. Florida Packing closed down about 10 years ago when it was determined that the cost of bringing the facility up to ISO standards was prohibitive.