Are you looking to move to Orlando? One word: Don't! (Jacksonville: colleges, to live)

[Granny Sue]

Originally Posted by SinDonor

I wish all you would say is "Wow", then we wouldn't have to read the rest of your dribble.

I would be very impressed if you've lived in or visited more place than I have. As it stands, I've lived on every continent except Africa and Antarctica. I've been to over 30 countries. Lived in much more "dangerous" cities than Orlando.

I like how you twist the things that i say to make your own points seem vaild. I never said going to a Magic game and etc are dangerous outings. What I said was that leaving your powderpuff neighborhood of Dr.Phillips will allow you to mingle with the criminal element. Have you been to the Florida Mall at night or on the weekends? It's not all tourists, buddy. Have you gone one block away from the Magic parking lot. Yeah, the "City Beautiful" indeed.

I felt much safer in Orlando once I had my concealed weapons permit and could keep my pistol on me. At least then I could shoot back.

I did open my eyes to Orlando and saw that in the last 5 years things have gotten progressively worse. Stats don't lie. You can love it as much as you want. I have a hockey buddy who swears up and down that Detroit is the best city in the world. Doesn't mean I don't think he's crazy too.

Thanks for the reply and keeping this thread alive though!

I think you just don't want to realize that not everybody agrees with you.

I live one block out of the dreaded Pine Hills. In Rosemont. I walk my dog every night and feel no fear of being a victim of crime. I also work for one of the local law enforcement agencies and STILL don't think it's as bad as you make out.
Is it the same Orlando it was when I moved here 25 years ago? No but I'm not going to make it seem that you have gangs walking up and down every street looking for victims.

You have your fears and I'm sure you've justified them, but there really is no need to keep kicking a dead horse.

[SinDonor]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

I think all SinDonor is trying to say is that Orlando is no longer the low crime Mickey Mouse land it once was and that crime is continuing to rise and most neighborhoods are no longer immune from the crime. Just look at the crime numbers from the mid 90's to now. I myself am not moving from Orlando because of the crime, I have always lived in large metro areas and that is just the way of life. But I do think SinDonor brings up some valid points for someone relocating from low crime areas. I dont think there is any need to make fun of SinDonor.

At least you get it. I started this thread specifically for people who were coming in here looking for people's opinions about Orlando. I gave mine. Sorry they're not sugar-coated. Sorry I can back up my opinions with some facts from the City-Data website

I'm definitely happy when these pro-Orlando ladies feel it's necessary to keep posting in this thread to say my opinions are BS and etc because it keeps this thread alive. This allows my post to live on top of the message board so the people, who this thread is intended for, can see it easily. Keep 'em coming, ladies!

Plus, there are a few people like the guy earlier, who doesn't care about opinions, yet still posts in this thread. If my message didn't get through to him, or he thinks it's crap, then great. It doesn't bother me one bit as long as he posts in here and keeps the word alive!

[SinDonor]

Originally Posted by Kali's Grandma

I think you just don't want to realize that not everybody agrees with you.

I live one block out of the dreaded Pine Hills. In Rosemont. I walk my dog every night and feel no fear of being a victim of crime. I also work for one of the local law enforcement agencies and STILL don't think it's as bad as you make out.
Is it the same Orlando it was when I moved here 25 years ago? No but I'm not going to make it seem that you have gangs walking up and down every street looking for victims.

You have your fears and I'm sure you've justified them, but there really is no need to keep kicking a dead horse.

I totally recognize that some people don't agree with me and that they like Orlando for its good qualities. I still have a hundred friends in Orlando, many whom actually enjoy it there. I just disagree with the people here who can't admit that Orlando's crime, traffic, and school systems are bad and getting worse. For a city of 800K, Orlando has 4 times the violent crime per capita than a city like Seattle with 4mil, for an example. For more examples, check out the info on this site.

Good luck to you and your dog walks though.

[SinDonor]

I happy to still see Orlando is getting national news coverage. First, with the Caylee Anthony scandal and just yesterday on CNN.com there was a frontpage article about how they still haven't found Jennifer Kesse or her kidnapper.

On a side note, here in Seattle, I just read a press release off of the Seattle.gov site that claims:

"Major Crimes are down at midyear in 2008 by 11% overall when compared with the same time period in 2007. A review of the preliminary data for July through October shows a continued downward trend. This decrease, when contrasted against 2007, is significant because crime in that year was at the lowest level in Seattle in forty years. "

But I digress...

[Wilshire81182]

People are not in the Orlando forum wanting to hear about Seattle or looking to move there though.
I find this post like most of yours irrelevant. You could not pay me to move back to the NW, so you may be talking to the wrong audience. I find Seattle dreadfully boring and the weather is horrible.

[SinDonor]

It's posters like you that attempt to take it off track by posting things like that.

My posts have been about the same thing: Orlando has bad crime, poor schools, and worsening traffic. I back up my statements with fact. I realize that the Orlando Fan Club would love to have this thread closed, but it won't happen because of my posts.

I just read this on the Orlando Sentinel site, I am sure City-Data will have this info up soon as well once they perform their yearly updates, but here ya go (to keep things "on track"):

In 2008, 123 people were slain in Orlando and unincorporated Orange County, a new record.

A new record? Congratulations!

When compared to Seattle's murder total of 28 in 2008, Orlando's statistics are eye-opening considering that O-town metro has less than 1/4th the pop of Sea-town metro. Ignore it, if it makes you feel safer.

[heather121]

Originally Posted by SinDonor

It's posters like you that attempt to take it off track by posting things like that.

My posts have been about the same thing: Orlando has bad crime, poor schools, and worsening traffic. I back up my statements with fact. I realize that the Orlando Fan Club would love to have this thread closed, but it won't happen because of my posts.

I just read this on the Orlando Sentinel site, I am sure City-Data will have this info up soon as well once they perform their yearly updates, but here ya go (to keep things "on track"):

In 2008, 123 people were slain in Orlando and unincorporated Orange County, a new record.

A new record? Congratulations!

When compared to Seattle's murder total of 28 in 2008, Orlando's statistics are eye-opening considering that O-town metro has less than 1/4th the pop of Sea-town metro. Ignore it, if it makes you feel safer.

I almost don't know why I'm going to bother posting here, but here are a few things I've noticed.

Currently, I live just outside of Hartford, Connecticut. The city has 125,000 residents and is approximately 17 square miles. The 2007 crime index for Hartford is 661.8 (according to city-data), it peaked in 2003 at 888. There were approx. 24.9 murders per 100,000 people.

In the city of Orlando, population ~227,000, crime index in 2007 was 960. There were 17.4 murders per 100,000 people in Orlando. The city of Orlando is 93 square miles.

If we want to use that data to compare the two cities, that would make Hartford, CT (a city that is 1/5 the area with 1/2 the population) MORE dangerous than Orlando. Plus, the indexes for robberies/assaults/burglaries/thefts are similar between the 2 cities.

Considering I currently live in a city that neighbors Hartford (it's a dump and no one would voluntarily move here) and I work in Hartford, I would be more than happy to move to Orlando for the DECREASE in crime.

Hartford crime is concentrated in two main areas, the north end and the south end. Downtown and the west end are nice, safe areas. It would make sense that crime in a similar city, such as Orlando, was also concentrated in specific areas.

There is a comparison of Orlando vs. a SMALLER city (since SinDoner is comparing it to larger cities already).

[Wilshire81182]

I am glad you posted, because several cities would have that same comparison and show Orlando does have crime, but it is comparable to and in instances like these lower than other cities by comparison.

Orlando is also not 1/4 the size of Seattle. It is about one and a half half given the entire metro area from Olympia to Everett, Seattle comes in just shy of 4 million which is the number you quote. This is using very generous boundries, so for Orlando the figure I would use would include Daytona and Lake county and this make Orlando about 2.5-2.6 million. This makes Seattle only 1.6 times larger than Orlando. Comparing Orlando to Seattle is ludicrous as a whole anyway. It is more relevant to compare per capita crime to the other cities in FL, the other cities in the South, or the other cities on the east coast. This to me is a lot more applicable.

[DailyJournalist]

Since we are doing comparisons, here is a good comparison of Florida with California
Florida lost nearly as many jobs as much-bigger California in 2008 - St. Petersburg Times

[Wilshire81182]

That is horrible, but I love the last line that despite that our unemployment percentage is still lower.