Orlando suburbs (Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Winter Springs: house prices, neighborhoods, elementary school)

[mcleod]

I have read several threads on this site re Florida and I seem to see a common theme; Complaints about "minorities" and "foreigners" who "don't speak English. In a veiled attempt to cover their tracks, these posts add the caveat "we are spaking of all nationalities" Let's be real. If you are talking about central or south Fla then you are referrng to hispanic people. Why would you post "not too many minorities" or whatever you said? How many is too many? I'm not sure, is this a site for the klan or what? Are you saying that only minorities commit crimes or make an area unliveable? Florida has a lot of sex offenders. That nut who killed that littl girl at the gas station a few years ago, for example. Was he a minority? Maybe you might have lived next to him? But that wouldn't have worried you because he was white. Why not just ask for low crime, good schools, affordable areas and avoid the race card? It's about socio-economic class, not race. Check out greatschoools.net
All of the top schools have low percentage of free lunch. You would come off alot better going at it that way.
I am also investigating a possible move to Fla. Where I live is too cold. Nice, affordable,, safe small town with good people, great school all on one campus (k-12) decent commute time (except in winter) but too much snow (except for this year so far) Looking for comparable things is my issue, not how the locals speak or what color they are or where they come from.

[Eastbank]

Originally Posted by yellowsmileyface

Someone said crime in Winter Park is bad. I live here and I don't think so at all. Stay out of Pine Hills and MetroWest. If you've heard about there being a lot of murders this year, the majority of them are in this area. I don't ever remember there being a murder in Winter Park.

Traffic is bad in all of Central Florida, but Winter Park has everything. I don't ever have to venture out to I-4, but if you live in Seminole (Lk Mary, Sanford, Altamonte Springs), how else would you get downtown? It is quite a commute.

I agree - Winter Park has absolutely everything I need and want, and rarely do I ever need to leave the city. When I do, downtown (taking back roads) is barely 10 minutes of easy driving (NO I4, no 436, no 17/92). Crime is the lowest of any city in Orange County (according to Federal crime statistics). Furthermore, IMO, narrow, winding brick roads and tree canopies, and canals and lakeviews/lake access lead to a more pedestrian friendly, village-scale, higher quality of life than large high speed multi-lane roads and strip malls far out in the suburbs.

Generally, most of the people complaining about traffic in WP don't actually live in WP, they merely try to commute THRU it during rush hour. In fact, amazingly, there are many, many people that don't know where Winter Park is (and isn't) and confuse their mailing address with actually living within the city(!). Geographic limits in FLA are often blurred, and transients often don't bother to learn the actual lay of the land.

[RedWingsFan]

Originally Posted by mcleod

Why not just ask for low crime, good schools, affordable areas and avoid the race card? It's about socio-economic class, not race. Check out greatschoools.net
All of the top schools have low percentage of free lunch. You would come off alot better going at it that way.

For me the race is an issue. I am white and prefer that the majority of my neighbors, kids in the schools around me be white, etc. It's human nature, most of us want to live around our own kind. Furthermore, I use that site a lot to check the race demographics in particular schools.

[HIF]

McLeod-

While there are many folks in Florida who are not racist or segregationist in their views, it is not unusual to hear white folks who not only ARE bigotted, but are not intelligent enough to know to hide it when in the general population. For them, their narrow views are the default and they don't know how to act in the bigger world that some of us know as America. They are called White Trash or Renecks. Many of them proudly display the confederate flag on the bumpers of their vehicles.

You will find that the more urban areas, with the exception of Jacksonville, are more open to cultural and ethnic diversity (and I keep hearing that Jax is getting better). And our state capitol, Tallahassee, seems more color-blind than many small Florida towns. Areas with higher levels of education tend to appreciate differences more than old south enclaves of rednecks.

[christa17]

Letsd be honest about what is happening in florida .many builders like Bowen family homes use large amounts of illegal migrante workers who have to live somewhere and they often settle in the area of the new homes being built and a high # of these workers have affilations with mexican gangs like ms 13 ,sur,14,14 and neta.Look in the lake alfred ,davenport area .before Bowen homes no i mean zero crime from mexican gangs after bowen there is a huge amount of mexican gang crime .Its a fact not an opinion .so when someone is talking about hispanics dont assume they are racist .but maybe they have seen the same happenings in their areas.Migrants bring gangs.Builders use migrants.new homes = gangs

[HIF]

I guess everyone has different experiences. I have worked in the wholesale produce business in three states- lots of Mexicans, many undocumented- no gangs. In Jax there is a huge amount of new home construction and many Latino workers- Mexican, Guatamalan, and others- no gangs.

I'm not saying that you are wrong about your experiences, but just that in my experience, the undocumented are the last ones to commit crime,as they face certain deportation. I even grabbed four tile guys in south Florida to load a moving truck for me when a family emergency caught me without any help- had to google a translation site to tell them to be careful with my antiques. But they couldn't read!!! So I had to get the translation,then try to read it... would have made a great comedy show- but they did a good job.

[Pigsty333]

Racism is alive. I am Puerto Rican (by the way in case you didn't know - we are American Citizens by birth), so we don't need a passport or a green card or visa or work papers. However, there are still many people that ask us for them. We are a commonwealth of the United States, we use US Dollars, etc., the only thing - We are not allowed to vote for the US President (funny).

I was born in NY with two great parents that did not know how to read or write (because they lived in farms in PR and had to help support their families). They came to the mainland and worked many of the fields to pick the fruits you enjoyed at your dinner table. Not one of them became a gang member. I went to schools in NY (worst projects and neighborhoods you could think of) and did well. I became a Police Officer and served for 25 yrs. until I was hit by a drunk driver and had to retire on a disability.

I married an Irishman whose family came over from Belfast. We have three kids, two in high school and one working as a physical therapist and working towards getting her PHD.

So, I guess I don't meet your standards. By the way I moved here in 2003 and had the unfortunate incident to get lost, stopped at a small store to ask directions and the racist that ran the store claimed that as a Puerto Rican I smelled and proceeded to spray me with Lysol. I remained composed and walked out, but that was one of the few times that I remember encountering racism so alive and well. That did not sour me on Florida. Yes, there are rednecks, the KozyKornerKafe ws up the street - see the letters in caps?

My family has served this country in many ways - as police officers, firemen, prisoners of war during Korea and dying during Vietnam, they served in Desert Storm, took park in the Grenada Invasion and we worked in NY during 9/11. Not once has any one of us hesitated to go to anyone's aid because of their color or ethnicity. When a call came in over my police radio, I didn't ask if they were Hispanics, White or Black. My concern was their safety. I have been spit on, slapped, kicked and assaulted because of the uniform I wore. But I wore it proud and I was more proud to be an AMERICAN!!!!!! regardless of where my ancestors came from. I cannot say the same for some people on these posts. You need a lot of soul searching and I feel sad that you have been deprived of learning about so many cultures and being able to speak more than one language.

[Double8]

I don't think anyone cares just enjoy life in Orlando have fun and get ****ed up

[Double8]

Btw, I would like to say Lake Buena Vista is a perfect place to live... you can go into main Orlando and back out using Palm Prkway... NO tourist traffic on Palm parkway... nice empy/easy stright away to Lake Buena Vista.

[Magnulus]

I don't haev a problem with black people, and it would be very boring if everybody were white and liked the same whitebread middle class BS (I have seen those kinds of places, and they are dull) but I don't like the thought of living in some future ghetto warzone. Unfortunately in Orlanod it doesn't matter where you think you live because crime is pretty much everywhere unless you live in the 'burbs, it doesn't matter how white your neighbors are. Even then you aren't 100 percent safe, as gangs do get into suburbs here sometimes, and slash tires and things like that.