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Old 02-12-2010, 05:26 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtneer View Post
I thought that was Hope Mills that lost the police force.
No it was Spring Lake. But I would move to Hope Mills in a heartbeat.
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Old 02-12-2010, 05:31 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtneer View Post
I really don't understand why everyone says an undersirable place but then they don't ever explain why exactly. Is it racial tensions, crime or what? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to go into detail here.
Some things are just hard to explain. I am from Fayetteville and spent alot of time in Hope Mills and even lived outside of Spring Lake closer to Lillington for about a year. If you live a boring lifestyle and don't need anything more than a waffle house and Wal-Mart then by all means you can make it. You could probably even get a good deal on a house since no one wants to move there, however I doubt the average house sold there would be higher than $80,000. (of course this is a figure out of my a** b/c I didn't look it up)

Quote:
Oh and how's the fishing there?
There are lakes and rivers that you can go to for fishing but I have never heard of anyone in my 15 or so years at Fayetteville ever going to Spring Lake to fish.
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Old 02-12-2010, 07:03 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike052082 View Post
No it was Spring Lake. But I would move to Hope Mills in a heartbeat.
Really what's so hot about Hope Mills? I thought it was worse than SL? What about Olivia?
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Old 02-12-2010, 08:04 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtneer View Post
Really what's so hot about Hope Mills? I thought it was worse than SL? What about Olivia?
I don't know anything about Olivia. I don't even remember the last time someone talked about Olivia.

Quick comparison of SL and HM.

HM has more affluent areas around it (some really aren't in the HL city/town limits though and more out.
HM has all the amenities of day to day life you will need.
HM being that I lived there from 2001-2005 is growing fast and I have witnessed it.
Much more quiet community where you actually see the police officers and the firemen on a day to day basis.
It is the kind of place that you will see the police hanging out at the gas station on their "donut break".
Very, very quick commute to Fayetteville especially when Camden Rd was extended.

SL as I didn't exactly live there but on the outskirts for about a year, I can only tell you alittle bit.
It is just a dirtier town.
More (I would guess much much more crime than HM)
The kind of place where there are rent a centers and pawn shops everywhere.
Where HM has a community that it can maintain it seems to me that if you ain't in the military in SL you are below the poverty level.
All in all, it just seems dirtier and not wel maintained.
Commute to Fayetteville down Bragg Blvd. isn't all that fun when you share it with all the soilders at Ft. Bragg.

Now that is just some things I could come up on a whim, but I am trying really hard to say something good about SL but I honestly can't.
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Old 02-12-2010, 08:11 PM
 
Location: Central North Carolina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtneer View Post
Really what's so hot about Hope Mills? I thought it was worse than SL? What about Olivia?
Olivia is just outside of Sanford. I live just outside of Sanford (in the middle of nowhere, in another direction) and love where I live, but don't really care for Sanford that much.

At the end of the day, it's all about personal preference, and what YOU like. I think that the reason people are bagging on Spring Lake and other places (including Sanford) is that they are "places to live", but don't have much to offer that many people may want.

Most of these areas DO have:
Close proximity to shopping
close proximity to good medical
Not too far from Raleigh if you need a big city.
good access to highways and near interstates if you travel


The things that some may find less desireable about a place like Spring Lake is that it's got plenty of things that military bases bring, such as "adult entertainment lounges", plenty of "adult newstands", plenty of pawn shops, and that kind of stuff. (this does not describe Sanford)

The places lack cultural diversity. Wether this is good or bad is up to you, some people like a lot of "different" and others like a lot of "familiar". The populations are diverse, but you're not going to find a lot of fine dining, theater, art exhibits, or poetry readings in these places.


I've done my best to describe what people may be trying to get at, without (hopefully) offending anyone. I'm not saying any of these things are "bad", just not for everyone. I hope I've given some perspective.

BTW, I think your reasoning is totally justifyable (not that my opinion should really matter). But if these things don't sound appealing, there are a lot of other choices within 30-60 minutes drive, including Olivia (as you mentioned), Sanford, probably Southern Pines and other places....
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Old 02-12-2010, 09:06 PM
 
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Spring Lake just really has nothing going for it any more, IMO. I grew up in Fayetteville and I go back frequently to visit my parents, so I drive through Spring Lake all the time and the area I go through is dingy, dirty, etc. I would much rather live in Hope Mills or Sanford or Olivia (although pretty much all there is to Olivia is a gas station or two).

I think Fort Bragg probably sucked all the life out of Spring Lake. Pretty much all the bad stuff that goes along with the military, as a PP mentioned, is all that is left of Spring Lake. I don't see much in the way of a typical Southern small town, depressing or otherwise. There may be some charm there somewhere, but mostly it's just all the yucky stuff with very little of the typical small southern town charm, and it's really not a pretty town anymore. There are a few churches, but lots of low-end shops and chains.

If the dojo is really important to you I think it would be worth going to visit the area. It's not violent like drive-bys in broad daylight kind of thing, but there are probably a lot of drug problems and prostitution. City Data has a pretty thorough statistical break down if you wanna check that out. You can see the lower income and the type of crime, etc. I mean, it's not the worst place on earth, but the main thing it has going for it is being next to Fort Bragg. It's essentially a bedroom community for young soldiers (most of the older married ones live elsewhere) and you might imagine what the bedroom of a young unmarried soldier looks like...

hth
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Old 02-12-2010, 09:26 PM
 
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Just wanted to add, you might want to check out just the NC forum as there are several threads there about the Fayetteville/Fort Bragg/Spring Lake area.

hth
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Old 02-12-2010, 11:21 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by panchodog View Post
It's essentially a bedroom community for young soldiers (most of the older married ones live elsewhere) and you might imagine what the bedroom of a young unmarried soldier looks like...

hth
Does that mean there are a lot of rapes? And men outnumbering the women?

Oh and thanks for the statistics page link. Spring Lake seems to have less crimes than where I live now http://www.city-data.com/city/Flagstaff-Arizona.html

Last edited by mtneer; 02-12-2010 at 11:47 PM..
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Old 02-12-2010, 11:22 PM
 
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Ok what are towns 30 mins or less from Spring Lake that are safe for women to live in and not so many military?
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Old 02-13-2010, 09:44 AM
 
305 posts, read 765,731 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtneer View Post
Does that mean there are a lot of rapes? And men outnumbering the women?

Oh and thanks for the statistics page link. Spring Lake seems to have less crimes than where I live now http://www.city-data.com/city/Flagstaff-Arizona.html
Well, no, I never said anything about military = rape. I was referring to a young military guy's bedroom, meaning there would be lots of businesses that would cater to him, not crimes he would commit!!

I don't know if men outnumber the women or not, but I wouldn't be surprised either way. As another poster pointed out there is a lot of poverty in Spring Lake and the stats page indicates that the greatest percentage of the people living in poverty are single moms and kids.

I'm not sure you're reading the crime stats right as Spring Lake does seem to have greater crime per 100,000 than Flagstaff. You can also look at the aggregate score at the bottom and compare them.

Anyway, worth coming to visit and seeing what you think.
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