Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't believe Orlando is such a good city to live in. It used to be, but not anymore.
I have lived in Orlando 12 years. I lived near Tampa in my childhood for 3 years. My dad was in the military, I lived all over the world, including in Europe. I've lived most of my life in Florida, though.
One of the worst things about Orlando that has gotten bad is the traffic. Traffic used to be decent here around 1996. It started getting bad after 2000, and has gotten worse in the last 3-4 years. This city is also unfriendly if you don't want to drive a car. Very poor bus service. Not many walkable communities, very few sidewalks in many places. We have year round motorcycle/bicycle riding weather (I ride sometimes, I put on about 3,000 miles a year on a Rebel 250 and Honda Metropolitan, and ride a bike in the winter sometimes), but unless you like Harleys, you are going to have a harder time finding a mechanic- lots of sportbikes on the road, a few scooters, but long rides to get them to a mechanic that will work on anything Japanese or Italian. There are plenty of not-so-young-anymore-yuppies (the viagra set) with less brains than money, and they seem to gravitate towards a Harley and believe in screwing everybody else over. There are bicyclists as I've said, but most roads are not conducive to bicycling. Only in places like Winter Park, Mt. Dora, or some parts of Orlando proper would I consider a bicycle practical transportation- and you'ld better be prepared to sweat alot in our summers.
Pay and jobs are pretty poor, unless you have a certain skillset in the information technology type fields, graphics work, or engineering. The jobs at Disney are largely low-paying. Why, why would anybody come down here to take one of those jobs is beyond me. Cost of living is relatively high, too. Especially housing, and doesn't really track wages at all. Our state government is run buy a bunch of plutocratic sychophants that enact policies largely favoring people who own large tracts of land, large houses... jacking up prices for everybody who just wants a 1,000 square foot house with a garage or townhouse. That sort of thing. Shaquiel O'Neil and Rosie O'Donnels of the world can price working class people out of land. In fact the tax codes in Florida are set up to benefit those kinds of people- retirees and celebrities. Eventually, though, Shaq and Rosie are going to have to flip their own burgers and iron their own clothes.
I myself am currently unemployed. I admit I haven't been looking too, too hard, but I have put out a few job applications and a few interviews. My requirements are for a job that doesn't require a 20 mile commute- something about 12 miles at most, because I don't want to have to spend an hour getting to work every day. I live in Seminole county, and I can't find a job, even a low end job working at fast food, retail, or the numerous drugstoer around here. Because college students pretty much suck them all up. There are about 60,000 college students just at the state school, and a few thousand more at Rollins College... and every one of them gets one of these ****-ant jobs just so they can buy an XBox or whatever. These are jobs that should be filled by competent adults, but instead they take them all, and often have a certain unprofessionalism about them that really is pathetic (and they don't hold them long, because hey, it's spring break or they get the summer off- so expect to have your order screwed up routinely, or have somebody overcharge you at the register). Bottom line is if you don't have some serious academic credentials, you will have a tough time living comfortably in Orlando. I'm thinking of self-employment in some kind of business I create, or leaving the state. It's ugly, there really is a shortage of good quality jobs that don't require a masters degree, and the governments at the city, county, and state level are asleep at the wheel on this issue.
So, if you are thinking of moving down here and raising a family, I'll ask what the heck kind of world you want your kids to inherit. Sure, Orlando is great, if all your kids go to college and get an MBA or become engineers or computer techs. But in reality it will suck for average people. Your kids will have to leave the area to find a job and an affordable place to live.
I think most people looking for a place to move would be far better served looking for a place with a diverse economy, like maybe certain parts of the Midwest. IMO, Tulsa, Oklahoma is a highly underrated city. They have mild winters, a low cost of living, a diverse job market (more diverse than Orlando, even if not quite as many tech jobs). Somewhere like that is a better place to live than a place like Orlando, which is overbuilt and really has nothing but a service-based economy full of people "in transition" from one place to another, not willing to put down real roots and actually create a community.
I was talking to someone who works for the highway department...he confirmed that the road ways are WAY under developed to handle the amount of people and traffic we have in Florida.
I am a pretty confident driver but I'4 makes me nervous, I don't think I would have the nerve to even get on it if I didn't drive an Expedition...
Maybe Texas just has alot more space but I have NEVER seen so many memorials left along side the road to mark where someone has been killed in an auto accident.
The main problem with traffic is not necessarily the lack of road width, but the design and planning, or rather lack of it, for the metro area. There are no real city centers, no coherent plan anywhere. Orlando isn't really a city, not like even the cities in the midwest or northeast that are layed out on a grid pattern. Orlando is layed out like a bunch of octopuses mating. Employment is also far away from affordable housing. Baldwin Park/Celebration look like a step in the right direction, but they are too few, too far between, and is part of a movement called "New Urbanism" which seeks to recreate some of the urban designs of earlier cities. The whole area needs to be transformed like that, otherwise traffic will only get worse. For every Baldwin Park there are 3-4 new traditional developements built all the expressway or highway - which is part of the problem in the first place. Developement along the arterial roads doesn't create a real sense of community, doesn't support local growth, etc. It just leads to traffic on the highways. Highways should mostly exist for people leaving a city, not for people going through parts of a city, that's where it has gone wrong.
The city is also just flat out too big, or getting very close to that. Way too big. I guess we should be grateful it is not metro Atlanta, which is about 125 miles long. But it is still getting too big. Asking people to drive 25-30 miles to get to work is silly, and is part of the traffic problem, and will be untenable in the future with 4 dollars per gallon not too far off. A better bus service would help. It would help get some of the crap off the road, and some of the bad drivers off, too. The bus service, though, is overpriced and underfunded by the government (they use commercials on the TV's in the bus to partially fund it).
Me? I don't shop any more than I have to, and I pitty the families with kids that have to drive everywhere. I order most of my stuff online, and screw the state the sales tax and all the misery of being out on the roads here- if I can't get it within 5-7 miles I'll usually just order it rather than waste gas or risk my life. I would love to live in a place like Winter Park/Baldwin Park, though (but housing prices there are ridiculous). There is more traffic but there are plenty of streets to ride a bicycle or small motorcycle on where traffic isn't so heavy as riding on an arterial in rush hour. There's nothing quite as unnerving as being tailgated by a car on a bike and hearing the wheels squeal behind you- you wonder if his tires are bald, or is he just slamming on the brakes... either way you worry about becomming road kill. I try and stay out of rush hour traffic, since I'm unemployed anyways why do I need to be out then? Amazing how bad drivers can be here, or how they refuse to mantain their cards (I've heard alot of near-bald tires lately... what's up with that? You'll see cars with expensive wheels and bald tires.... really sad).
There are also way to many people from low-wage countries here. It'll sound politically incorrect, but why in the hell is the US government letting in so many Haitians, Salvadorians, Jamaicans? (not to mention illegal aliens working as maids). They live 3-4 FAMILIES to an apartment, work for nothing... it all seems rather unfair to me. Many of these people speak very poor English and perform poorly at the jobs they do as a result- unless you happen to speak their native language. It's degrading the entire job market when they can find plenty of people willing to work for nothing, live in 3rd world living conditions, send the money home (instead of feed the local economy, BTW). It's silly. I don't favor racial based stuff, and I'm not oppossed to Spanish being spoken here per se, at all but ordinary Americans who really are Americans (and not here on visas/green cards), need to turn off the taps on this stuff. We have no shortage of workers in this country, but we do have an excess of corportations wanting low waged workers.
Tarffic is bad, wages are depressed, crime is high, cost of living through the roof.
what more can you ask for? It is orlando - florida! Take it or leave it.
The smarter ones leave it. I think that is the type of intelligence that allowed species to develop... you know the dumb ones die and the smart ones live, that kinda jazz.
it is called a 'survival instinct'... people need to get a calculator out and add the #s and calculate the expenses. if living in orlando will be a financial disaster or you do NOT have a job before you move to orlando, then dont come, unless you like to suffer.
what more can i say. i am talking from experience here.
i dont suffer financially at all, but i would like to move to northern fla eventually. the thing i dislike most about orlando is the crime, the ppl (or rather the huge # of ppl from pr and ny). they can be so rude. and the snobby women that think they are so great b/c they dont have to work at all. they move here from ny or california and have lots of money, so they just act all high and mighty like they are too good for everyone.
i. if living in orlando will be a financial disaster or you do NOT have a job before you move to orlando, then dont come, unless you like to suffer.
what more can i say. i am talking from experience here.
I've lived here far longer than some people have, and I did not come to Orlando by choice initially. Florida really has gotten to be home in many ways, and I am not in a position to just up-and-leave. I don't have the money or job experience. So I'm in a double-bind.
I can still see the deteriotation in the quality of life here, even if I consider it home. I'm just issuing a warning to people considering moving here; it's not all sun and fun, and certainly the city isn't run like a theme park. We have our share of problems and growing pains, in fact I'd say we have alot of them. If you are moving from another part of the country because housing is cheaper her, or weather is nicer, , etc., etc., just consider that in Florida workers are disposable and have no real rights, and there are hundreds of other job applicants looking for the same low-end jobs you are. If you've got a job in another part of the country, even if you are paying alot for rent or housing, I'd hold onto that rather than pack up and come to Florida.
i dont suffer financially at all, but i would like to move to northern fla eventually. the thing i dislike most about orlando is the crime, the ppl (or rather the huge # of ppl from pr and ny). they can be so rude. and the snobby women that think they are so great b/c they dont have to work at all. they move here from ny or california and have lots of money, so they just act all high and mighty like they are too good for everyone.
you just spoke a lot of truth. some of the locals... or should i say some of the recent transplants to orlando are rather undesirable people. they are very rude. i have noticed an increased level of aggressivity in the local drivers, i also saw a lot of "the bird" flying off people's windows during driving. this is a sign of how the internal migration of people from So.Cal. and New England states are changing the face of orlando.
the crime is horrible in orlando, but i tell you what: Kiss/Poinciana is a milliont imes worse. i never felt so uncomfortable or so many people sleeved out in gang tattoos (ie. #13, 'Gangsta', 'perdon madre', 'street life', 'ms-13', '27s' and such - all symbols of violent gangs) on quite a few people in that area. I am serious Poinciana went from a small town to a full-blown city inner city ghetto. amazing, this happened in about 2 years time!!
oh another thing... whatever happened to Metro-West... that area was my fav side of town now i only hear horrible things about the area. did pine hills finally invate metro-west and declared it gangland? i heard from several old acquaintances that people just get abducted while jogging, shot while getting into their apts, robbed and beaten at that filthy wal-mart on Kirkman.
Honestly, orlando, my lovely City Beautiful has become the city disgusting... i am horrified. no wonder people want these illegal migrants out and a moratorium.
"i never felt so uncomfortable or so many people sleeved out in gang tattoos (ie. #13, 'Gangsta', 'perdon madre', 'street life', 'ms-13', '27s' and such - all symbols of violent gangs) on quite a few people in that area. I am serious Poinciana went from a small town to a full-blown city inner city ghetto. amazing, this happened in about 2 years time!!"
ppl get mad at me when i talk about WHO (nationality, where they are from, etc...) is doing most of this crap, but it's true. i wonder what ppl are putting these gang-type tatoos on their body? hmm.
Orlando is just expanding by leaps and bounds. Kissimmee used to be a little cow ranch town and look at it now. Interstate 4 is outta control during rush hour. They really are trying to make the road system better for Orlando. It was just too many people all at once is all. They have a lot of planned projects for Interstate 4 since it pretty much is the main artery through central florida and it literally brushes by the downtown Orlando sky scrapers for how close it is. It was just poor planning is all. They didnt expect so much growth so they are trying to fix it.
I agree. Orlando is a town that has lot its charm.... it is still pretty in many ways, lots of Oleander flowers off I-4... very lovely, but the traffic, gang graffiti, violent crime.... not good signs....
orlando is not a good city to live in anymore. it is a 'has been'. Hard to say it, but true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magnulus
I don't believe Orlando is such a good city to live in. It used to be, but not anymore.
I One of the worst things about Orlando that has gotten bad is the traffic. Traffic used to be decent here around 1996. It started getting bad after 2000, and has gotten worse in the last 3-4 years. This city is also unfriendly if you don't want to drive a car. Very poor bus service. Not many walkable communities, very few sidewalks in many places. We have year round motorcycle/bicycle riding weather (I ride sometimes, I put on about 3,000 miles a year on a Rebel 250 and Honda Metropolitan, and ride a bike in the winter sometimes), but unless you like Harleys, you are going to have a harder time finding a mechanic- lots of sportbikes on the road, a few scooters, but long rides to get them to a mechanic that will work on anything Japanese or Italian. There are plenty of not-so-young-anymore-yuppies (the viagra set) with less brains than money, and they seem to gravitate towards a Harley and believe in screwing everybody else over. There are bicyclists as I've said, but most roads are not conducive to bicycling. Only in places like Winter Park, Mt. Dora, or some parts of Orlando proper would I consider a bicycle practical transportation- and you'ld better be prepared to sweat alot in our summers.
Pay and jobs are pretty poor, unless you have a certain skillset in the information technology type fields, graphics work, or engineering. The jobs at Disney are largely low-paying. Why, why would anybody come down here to take one of those jobs is beyond me. Cost of living is relatively high, too. Especially housing, and doesn't really track wages at all. Our state government is run buy a bunch of plutocratic sychophants that enact policies largely favoring people who own large tracts of land, large houses... jacking up prices for everybody who just wants a 1,000 square foot house with a garage or townhouse. That sort of thing. Shaquiel O'Neil and Rosie O'Donnels of the world can price working class people out of land. In fact the tax codes in Florida are set up to benefit those kinds of people- retirees and celebrities. Eventually, though, Shaq and Rosie are going to have to flip their own burgers and iron their own clothes.
I myself am currently unemployed. I admit I haven't been looking too, too hard, but I have put out a few job applications and a few interviews. My requirements are for a job that doesn't require a 20 mile commute- something about 12 miles at most, because I don't want to have to spend an hour getting to work every day. I live in Seminole county, and I can't find a job, even a low end job working at fast food, retail, or the numerous drugstoer around here. Because college students pretty much suck them all up. There are about 60,000 college students just at the state school, and a few thousand more at Rollins College... and every one of them gets one of these ****-ant jobs just so they can buy an XBox or whatever. These are jobs that should be filled by competent adults, but instead they take them all, and often have a certain unprofessionalism about them that really is pathetic (and they don't hold them long, because hey, it's spring break or they get the summer off- so expect to have your order screwed up routinely, or have somebody overcharge you at the register). Bottom line is if you don't have some serious academic credentials, you will have a tough time living comfortably in Orlando. I'm thinking of self-employment in some kind of business I create, or leaving the state. It's ugly, there really is a shortage of good quality jobs that don't require a masters degree, and the governments at the city, county, and state level are asleep at the wheel on this issue.
So, if you are thinking of moving down here and raising a family, I'll ask what the heck kind of world you want your kids to inherit. Sure, Orlando is great, if all your kids go to college and get an MBA or become engineers or computer techs. But in reality it will suck for average people. Your kids will have to leave the area to find a job and an affordable place to live.
I think most people looking for a place to move would be far better served looking for a place with a diverse economy, like maybe certain parts of the Midwest. IMO, Tulsa, Oklahoma is a highly underrated city. They have mild winters, a low cost of living, a diverse job market (more diverse than Orlando, even if not quite as many tech jobs). Somewhere like that is a better place to live than a place like Orlando, which is overbuilt and really has nothing but a service-based economy full of people "in transition" from one place to another, not willing to put down real roots and actually create a community.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
