So I'm not alone--Florida really is as bad as I think it is!!! (Miami: insurance)

[TKramar]

On the whole immigration thing.

If I lived in Chinatown, I'd learn Chinese. If I lived in New Orleans, I'd learn French. I live in Florida...so I've learned Spanish.

[mojow]

dittos all over the place

Originally Posted by amax41

Maybe we need to get emotion back into this. even if it is in a law. Perhaps if more emotion come out more changes would happen. Not sure but it's well worth a try.


and I don't mean Hillary crying on TV

lol. that's funny...

I do know what you mean about people needing to get fired up. Not fired up is useless, but I think TOO fired up is useless too.... especially if the people who are fired up are 2 separate groups in disagreement fired up against each other.

I remember some of the blogs (back when the words were changed of our national anthem to promote support for illegal immigration).... tempers ran so hot, that no one could separate out one issue at a time and come to any kind of agreement. It would have been a killing spree if some of those people had been face to face.

I really believe that it's good to pick out non emotional things first to fix, and then get around to the hot topics later. One culprit for our lowered standard of living is gov and big capitalists. People would be really upset if they knew some of the things being done behind our backs. So that'd be a good fight to fight first, and come back to immigration later.

Originally Posted by amax41

it's a challenge of character. (I'm about to rant a bit) Our country's character is flawed. We have become American Land of the Free Home of the Socialists. Since we have to stick our nose into everyone's business, be the world's "savior", advance money to other countries and allow them to not have to pay us back.... oh I could go on! If one of our citizen's (natural...so we don't get confused) is in dire need (i.e. homeless) then it is NOT ok to go help XYZ country or those people until OUR people are taken care of. Also I don't mean support them - help them. Give them the ability (guiding hands if your will) to stand on their own two feet and become a complete fully functional citizen again.

Originally Posted by amax41

We have congressmen giving themselves raises, illegals taking jobs and ripping off this country, we have non-conforming people (as we have been talking about) doing all of it.

Did someone in Washington D.C. completely forget about the homeless??????

Since you took me to your outer spaces, I'll take you to my paranoid distrust and suspicion... (yes, your world is better, but we're sharing...)

So yep, we look like big caring brother coming in to save the day in some of these crumbling countries, right? But I just can't believe the gov helps out other countries out of altruism. I think the gov cares as little for human lives as I do for any bugs I accidently step on. Or purposely sometimes.

I think they have a hidden agenda for being involved with destitute countries. We don't get the news from the other side of the world telling us what we're REALLY doing there. They have resources we want or something. There's trickery afoot.... It's a cover... It's a scam.... Our gov is not warm and fuzzy.

[Keeper]

This topic has become more about immigration in general than about Orlando. I realize it is pertinent in many ways but a general discussion about immigration should be done in the Immigration forum.
If there is nothing more to add about Orlando then I will close this post.

[bdpop]

Originally Posted by TKramar

On the whole immigration thing.

If I lived in Chinatown, I'd learn Chinese. If I lived in New Orleans, I'd learn French. I live in Florida...so I've learned Spanish.

We live in America. We speak English here!

[iloveBBQ]

Originally Posted by bdpop

We live in America. We speak English here!

but we live in central fla! so how true is what you stated above? or perhaps it was a question? or a wish?


i love BBQ, and i mean i love BBQ!!!

sincerely,

iloveBBQ

[HockeyMom72]

Originally Posted by bdpop

We live in America. We speak English here!

M O N E Y. You can speak anything you want if you have enough of the aforementioned.

[amax41]

Originally Posted by HockeyMom72

M O N E Y. You can speak anything you want if you have enough of the aforementioned.

in some cases just look like you have it

[sylina2100]

We are only here until June. i am counting down the days until I can say byebye florida.

[**NoodLes**]

Originally Posted by sylina2100

We are only here until June. i am counting down the days until I can say byebye florida.

Same here, I can't wait to leave, good luck wherever you go.

[WinterberryFarm]

I grew up coming to Florida every spring with my family...to see sunshine, white sandy beaches and palm trees in the dead of an Illinois winter was a heavenly paradise! Then, throw a brand new Magic Kingdom in...and that was it...there was no place better in the world to be.

In my 20's I moved to Florida and left 2X because of low wages compared to Illinois. Waited 15 years and decided to give it a try again. Moved here in 2001 from south central PA with 4 children--all of whom were very good students in Pennsylvania public schools. We made 3 trips down here at different times of the year before we dicided to try Florida again.

For the posters who want specifics and not generalities on why people want to leave Florida...Quality of education would easily be my number 1 reason to leave..or not come at all. My kids all went to public schools in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. They ranged from 1st grade to 8th grade when we moved here...2 in elementary school and 2 in middle school with the oldest ready to enter high school. I am very blessed and fortunate, as my kids are all A students. I am not kidding or exaggerating one bit when I say that all 4 of my kids were 1 full year ahead of where their classmates were when we came down here...and yes, that means even my 1st and 3rd grader. My daughter learned to write cursive in 2nd grade up north. She had to go back to printing until the end of 3rd grade because the rest of the class had not been taught cursive yet. My son entering high school used the same math book as a Freshman that he had just had in 8th grade. These are 2 specifics that I distictly remember...but unfortunately for my kids, they were not challenged during the first year here and eventually fell in line with what the schools here were teaching. I try to not live with regrets, but that pill is a hard one to swallow.
2nd Reality--you come down to Florida expecting the cost of living to be less expensive..after all, you live close to the water so one would think the cost of fresh fish would be cheaper....NOT! We have a year round climate for growing fruits and vegetables..so fresh produce will be cheaper...NOT! I could buy all of this for less money at Giant Foods than I can at Publix. True, we have no state income tax here in Florida..while in PA you feel taxed to death. The $$$ that we thought we might have extra get quickly absorbed into higher food costs,higher utilities, water & sewer bills that are far higher than up north, higher auto and home insurance. Generally, the only thing one might conceivably save $$$ on is clothing because you don't need a 4 season wardrobe...however, coming here from Pennsylvania which does not or did not tax clothing, we adjusted to sales tax on all clothing. In 2001, housing in Florida was less expensive than where we came from in PA...but not anymore. Cost of medical and dental exceeds what we paid up north also. For all of the people working in the service industry in Orlando, I do not see how they can afford housing which far exceeded 200,000 and 300,000 for an average 3br home. Fortunately, the market has had to make some corrections and perhaps that issue will even out a bit better.

Bottom line..I don't think you should come to Florida thinking the cost of living will be less than where you are without doing some serious investigation into this. For our family, everything in the necessity category cost us more in Orlando than in PA.

3rd Reality--Coming to Florida because you love the water? Watch out...obviously, you already know about the gators, snakes, etc. But do you know about all of the beaches and lakes that are not safe to swim or fish in because of high fecal content and other nasty little microbial creatures in them?

4th reality--Yes, Florida is the sunshine state...and yes, we have plenty of that. We also have rain or a high probability of rain daily during several months of the year...these are the months that are already oppressively hot and humid--without a daily dose of rain. Summers can be very hot and very humid. Just standing outside will cause sweat to run whether you are moving or not.

5th Reality--You must be willing to accept a demographic population that can be far different that what you are used to. If you come from a predominantly white, English speaking area...and that is what you are looking for...you will be disappointed. I personally don't have trouble accepting other nationalities and races....but I do not like to feel as if I am a minority in my country. There will be no escaping this issue just about anywhere in Florida that you go..some areas will have higher influxes of non-whites than others and in some areas people speaking English will be almost non-existant. I just finished a year of school in Miami and people in Miami would routinely start talking to me in Spanish--expecting me to understand every word they said. The sad thing to me was that neither one of us could understand the other. I didn't understand them and they didn't understand me.

6th Reality--Driving on Florida roads is extremely hazardous to one's health. Many factors contribute to this, but it is a fact and it is verifiable by checking out for yourself the deadliest cities in the US to drive in. Out of the top 10, I believe Florida has 5. I know USA Today published survery results on this. I'm sure this data would be easy to find. I have also had the unfortunate experience of learning this first hand and having never been in an accident in my life until moving here.

There are many, many other things that I could cite, but many of those things are more my own perspective of things and why I choose to no longer deal with them. In reality, all of the above things are from my perspective and you might not find them true for you...depending on where you are coming from and what your life experiences have been.

I am leaving Florida within the next 30 days after being here for 7 years. I am not leaving hating it, but I am leaving because it just isn't for me anymore. There is good and bad everywhere so when one throws in all of the variables in life, true utopia will be hard to come by...life is not supposed to be perfect.