Good Grief... (Orlando, Pine Hills, Altamonte Springs: environment, relocate, insurance)

[MorganMRE]

I read through all these messages on this board and it's SO discouraging! All I read is negative comments after negative comments. It's making me scared to relocate because the way y'all talk - Orlando is one of the worst cities in the world to live in. It's crime ridden and people and dropping like flies.

I lived in Cincinnati for a while - and it's pretty ghetto. HOWEVER, 95% of the violent crime that occured in Cincinnati was over drugs. So if you weren't into drugs, then you weren't involved in that. Also, Cincinnati crime is pretty concentrated to one specific area [Over the Rhine]. So you know the areas to avoid. But in reading this - it seems that all areas are bad. Pine Hills, Rosemont, Winter Garden, MetroWest, Hunter's Creek, Sanford, Altamonte, etc. I read nothing but bad things.

It makes me rethink my desire to move to Orlando

[Jammie]

Here ya go. The first link will take you to the crime in Cincinnati. Scroll well down the page to find the graph. The second link will show you the same stats for Orlando.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Cincinnati-Ohio.html

http://www.city-data.com/city/Orlando-Florida.html

[Akente]

Listen don't be afraid to move because you can live outside Orlando and it's not that bad You will be close to everything anyway 10-20 Minutes. Good Luck

[Hustla718]

Originally Posted by MorganMRE

I read through all these messages on this board and it's SO discouraging! All I read is negative comments after negative comments. It's making me scared to relocate because the way y'all talk - Orlando is one of the worst cities in the world to live in. It's crime ridden and people and dropping like flies.

I lived in Cincinnati for a while - and it's pretty ghetto. HOWEVER, 95% of the violent crime that occured in Cincinnati was over drugs. So if you weren't into drugs, then you weren't involved in that. Also, Cincinnati crime is pretty concentrated to one specific area [Over the Rhine]. So you know the areas to avoid. But in reading this - it seems that all areas are bad. Pine Hills, Rosemont, Winter Garden, MetroWest, Hunter's Creek, Sanford, Altamonte, etc. I read nothing but bad things.

It makes me rethink my desire to move to Orlando

It's the same old don't worry about it. Both city's have high crime areas where the bulk of the murders occur (and most are over disputes and drugs). Same goes for all cities. You have the good and bad neighborhoods. Just make sure you move into a decent area. When your cheap and move into the ghetto, expect the ghetto.

[msmandal]

orlando and it's surrounding areas aren't what they use to be, so that's why you are hearing what you are. i don't see it changing back anytime soon either. sad but true!

[browneyedbeauty]

Orlando isnt that bad. I wouldnt move in Orlando I would Move to Winter Park, Maitland, any where around ORlando. the thing about O-Town is that its in the center of the state so your pretty much close to everything. Dont be scared therea are much worse places to live. like over over seas.

[Annie31]

It is true about those areas you metioned. I lived here for 25 years, I grew up in Pine Hills, I went to Ridgewood Elem, Medowbrook Middle, Evans High. It is full of crime. Rosemont, Metrowest, Lockhart, Clarcona-Ocoee areas are all bad also. Altamonte Springs, Apopka aren't the best anymore. Crime is bad and if you have kids it wouldn't be a great place for them to be raised or to go to some of the public schools in most areas, to put them in private or a christian school gets to costly, home prices are crazy high and then you got taxes&insurance that are high. Then they wonder why there is so much crime down here, well bad schools= kids not getting a good education, lots of dropouts=no education=stealing,robbing people for money,selling drugs and tons of other crimes. SAD, SAD, SAD but all true!! So, that is why alot of people from Florida are complaining, these ads show all the great weather, sitting at the beaches, attractions and how Florida is the greatest place to be well alot of people that have lived here for years are not going to sugarcoat it anymore! I want me and my family to be safe and to be able to live around friendly people and live comfortable and not be all stressed out about cost of living and looking over my shoulder why were out and about shopping or at the park with the kids because I am worried something might happen, because of all the crime here. They all can have Mickey & Minnie and the hot sun, beaches and anything else they want, I just want to be safe and live happy with my family.

[fizzywater]

We're planning on moving to the area in the next few years, after selling our house in Lawrenceville GA, (suburb of Atlanta). Is Orlando really as bad as somewhere like Atlanta? We live 35 miles from my office in Atlanta,best case scenario, I can get into work in a hour, leaving at 5:30 a.m. At night, it can take me 2 hours on average to get home, as even taken 3 hours. And this is day after day. From reading some of the posts about crime and traffic etc in Orlando, could it really be as bad as somewhere like Atlanta? or Denver--when I lived in Denver 15 years ago, I knew people who had the seats stolen out of their truck in a mall parking lot. gangs were bad there, crime was bad there, but there were good areas and bad areas, and you tried to stay out of the bad areas.. Is it just that people expect Orlando to be more magical and untouched and have no crime/traffic at all--or is the crime/traffic out of proportion for the population. I'm starting to get scared about moving there reading all the postings, but then I keep thinking, Atlanta has got to be worse....Denver has got to be worse--some of the posts in some of the forums I've read make it sound like Orlando is becoming the land of Mad Max--like they expect to be shot walking to the mall or getting gas--but when I've visited Orlando, albeit as a tourist in Disneyfied areas, Orlando always seemed to nice and relaxed and safe to me--rather be there than downtown Atlanta, and the traffic was nothing compared to what I deal with every day here....maybe in places like Atlanta, we just get used to hearing about all the bad crimes and become desensitized to it--and the schools here--let me tell you compared to GA schools, FL ranks much higher on standardized test results etc. I don't know, I just can't believe that Orlando is any worse than anywhere else these days... In 1985 I graduated from a small school in Southern Colorado, 55 people in my graduating class. We didn't have crystal meth, or ecstasy, but I knew people who took acid, and mushrooms and most everyone I knew had smoked pot, drank way too much--our town had less than 2000 people. My mom, in this town of 2000 people, has had her house broken into 3 times....what am I trying to say? Maybe that it's not just Orlando, and am wondering if it 's not quite as bad as the posts are showing....in relation to what goes on elsewhere, in bigger cities...and smaller more poverty stricken cities??? Don't know...but to me, it's hard for me to fanthom that Orlando, and I guess when I think of Orlando, I'm thinking of all the surrounding areas, could be as bad as somewhere like Atlanta, or Denver, or Detroit...

[pianogal]

It is very bad in certain areas. I've lived here for 23 years, first in Winter Park and now in east Orlando, Lake Nona area. We have never had any problems with crime or known anyone who has except my mother in law before she moved in with us and out of the Parramore area which is a disaster. She couldn't even put potted plants out - people would steal them off her screened porch at night.

I currently live 12 miles from downtown and my commute into town is 25 -30 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evenings. We average 10 -15 minutes to the airport, 20 minutes to downtown, 20 minutes to the convention center/Universal or Sea World, 30 minutes to Disney and 30-40 minutes to the east coast beaches. We have excellent A rated schools. It is far enough from the city to get away from all the concrete and enjoy the woods (my home is adjacent to several hundred acres of conservation land), but within a few minutes from everything.

Lake Mary, Heathrow, some areas of Longwood and Winter Springs, Oviedo, some areas of Winter Park, Windermere and east Orlando (Waterford Lakes, Avalon Park, Lake Nona, Vista Lakes, Tivoli Woods) seem to be the among the best areas to live right now if you want to be fairly close to downtown.

[INeedAChange]

This person makes a very good point--people are so worried about where they raise their children but in my experience the rich suburbs (anywhere) with the great schools tend to have tons of teenage druggies. The parents try to put their kids in the safest, blandest environment possible and the kids turn to dope out of boredom.

Originally Posted by fizzywater

We're planning on moving to the area in the next few years, after selling our house in Lawrenceville GA, (suburb of Atlanta). Is Orlando really as bad as somewhere like Atlanta? We live 35 miles from my office in Atlanta,best case scenario, I can get into work in a hour, leaving at 5:30 a.m. At night, it can take me 2 hours on average to get home, as even taken 3 hours. And this is day after day. From reading some of the posts about crime and traffic etc in Orlando, could it really be as bad as somewhere like Atlanta? or Denver--when I lived in Denver 15 years ago, I knew people who had the seats stolen out of their truck in a mall parking lot. gangs were bad there, crime was bad there, but there were good areas and bad areas, and you tried to stay out of the bad areas.. Is it just that people expect Orlando to be more magical and untouched and have no crime/traffic at all--or is the crime/traffic out of proportion for the population. I'm starting to get scared about moving there reading all the postings, but then I keep thinking, Atlanta has got to be worse....Denver has got to be worse--some of the posts in some of the forums I've read make it sound like Orlando is becoming the land of Mad Max--like they expect to be shot walking to the mall or getting gas--but when I've visited Orlando, albeit as a tourist in Disneyfied areas, Orlando always seemed to nice and relaxed and safe to me--rather be there than downtown Atlanta, and the traffic was nothing compared to what I deal with every day here....maybe in places like Atlanta, we just get used to hearing about all the bad crimes and become desensitized to it--and the schools here--let me tell you compared to GA schools, FL ranks much higher on standardized test results etc. I don't know, I just can't believe that Orlando is any worse than anywhere else these days... In 1985 I graduated from a small school in Southern Colorado, 55 people in my graduating class. We didn't have crystal meth, or ecstasy, but I knew people who took acid, and mushrooms and most everyone I knew had smoked pot, drank way too much--our town had less than 2000 people. My mom, in this town of 2000 people, has had her house broken into 3 times....what am I trying to say? Maybe that it's not just Orlando, and am wondering if it 's not quite as bad as the posts are showing....in relation to what goes on elsewhere, in bigger cities...and smaller more poverty stricken cities??? Don't know...but to me, it's hard for me to fanthom that Orlando, and I guess when I think of Orlando, I'm thinking of all the surrounding areas, could be as bad as somewhere like Atlanta, or Denver, or Detroit...