Please compare South Florida cities to San Diego (Orland: environment, transplants)

[urbandeco]

Still looking for info. Can you anyone who is familiar with the South Florida region compare/contrast this with San Diego. They almost seem to be alike. Both have beach towns and cities, both have a warm sunny climate..although S. Florida is humid in summer. What are the general differences between the 2 places. thanks

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by urbandeco

Still looking for info. Can you anyone who is familiar with the South Florida region compare/contrast this with San Diego. They almost seem to be alike. Both have beach towns and cities, both have a warm sunny climate..although S. Florida is humid in summer. What are the general differences between the 2 places. thanks

San Diego has more obvious wealth. It is a complete city with a downtown rather than a jumble of cities and resort towns. SD is not dominated by retirees like South Florida. SD has stricter zoning than Florida so you don't get so much of the old "Junkyard next to a church next to a porn shop next to a school" thing.

[urbandeco]

thanks! Any more comments or replies appreciated.

[Moondogger]

Well having lived in South Florida for pretty much all my life and having been here in SD for about 2 months now I guess I can provide some contrasting feedback but I think my best comparison will be after at least 6 months to a year of living here.

In any case I agree with a couple of the things Sassberto touched on. I believe his reference to being able to see the wealth of the city is accurate. In other words San Diego seems like a city that actually gives back to it's citizens, in the form of public beaches, bays, parks which by the way have free parking, the museums, the shops, restaurants, bars, clubs etc. It also has a modest but yet mostly adequate transportation system which in contrast to South Florida again which really has no transportation system to speak of. In short in South Florida, heck in Miami you need a car. It is a must. In San Diego as long as you're in the greater San Diego metro area you really don't need it. The bus and trolley pretty much take you everywhere. The buses are clean and run on clean natural gas and some even have small TV monitors. Miami's buses look like they're from a third world country.

It also seems to have a very vibrant and safe downtown which as opposed to Miami is full of crack heads although downtown Ft. Lauderdale isn't too bad either. There are also many more of what I would like to call safe and family type activities like the zoo, sea world, water and theme parks. In contrast South Florida has none of this, you'd have to go to Orlando for that which is 4 hrs away.

San Diego seems much more laid back as well, people here don't seem as stressed out and for the most part are a lot more friendlier and helpful as well as more outgoing. I've had so many conversations with all different types of people from different types of the country since I've been here which again has only been 2 months now. People in South Florida on the other hand are very withdrawn and a lot ruder. South Florida is the Road Rage capital of the country. It's true look it up if you don't believe me.

San Diego also seems to be more of an active city and people seem to be very health conscious as evidenced by the number of organic health food stores. There are so many outdoor activities to do here and with the nice daytime weather it's almost a crime to be sitting indoors. And yes it is for the most part a younger city with not as much retirees present.

The only misconception that someone might have about San Diego is the fact that since it's close to Mexico and it has the beaches that it is a somewhat tropical environment. This is definitely not the case at all. The weather is very cool down here almost like San Fran. not tropical at all and the beach water is a lot colder than South Florida. A lot colder! I met a girl from Switzerland the other day who told me that it was warmer over there this time of year than it is in San Diego right now. Wow! I almost couldn't believe it. Plus side of that though is the lack of humidity which in South Florida borders on disgusting. Also no mosquitoes and no hurricanes. It also hardly rains here and thunderstorms are un heard of but some days it does get foggy and gloomy. It's either completely sunny without a single cloud in the sky or completely cloudy with no sun at all. South Florida on the other hand is almost always partly cloudy with the threat of rain at any time.

Another thing that I will miss is the seafood and sport fishing that Florida has. The seafood here just doesn't compare to Florida. Mahi is very rare to find here and Marlin is non existent. In fact it's been outlawed. It's illegal to commercially fish and sell Marlin in California, something that I obviously wasn't aware of prior to moving here. I will definitely miss that. It's that good of a fish.

The nightlife is also better in Miami but that's only if you go to South Beach and with a lot of money to throw away, err..I mean spend

Hope this helps.

[urbandeco]

Moondogger-thanks. Just had some more questions for you if you dont mind. How long did you live in South Florida? I have been here 10 years. I am over living here and SD looks like a great alternative. WHy did you pick SD? Are you liking it? Any other info you can provide would be great? I live in Northern Broward/Southern Palm Beach County..Deerfield Beach area. Does SD seem safer? From all the comments I have read, it seems like its not such a safe place.

[Moondogger]

Like I said I pretty much lived in South Florida all my life. I grew up in North Miami and later moved on to all different parts of South Florida, Hollywood, Pembroke pines, Hialeah, ft. Lauderdale, Hallandale beach..etc.

The part you speak of is even quieter and more full of retirees so I think you would like the change because to me this city seems like a much younger vibrant city.

As far as the city being safe, again I grew up in North Miami, so it's a pretty relevant term depending on your experiences. I too saw all the negative feedback on this site prior to moving and yes it did concern me but from what I've seen so far being here it really doesn't compare with the random crime in Miami. Again though it all depends where you live, just like in Miami there are neighborhoods that you should avoid. Look at one of Sassberto's previous post he pretty much gives you a detailed map of what areas to avoid and the feedback that I've gotten from most people is pretty much the same.

What drew me out here was the beach. I always hated South Florida but if I was going to trade it in for another place it would have to be similar weather wise. It's definitely not as warm here as it is in SFL so be forewarned about that. The only place I would probably trade it for is the OC. If I were you I would look at the OC 1st and see if you like it but if not SD is a nice alternative.

As I said before the people here also seem to be much friendlier. A lot of them are transplants so they're willing to help out. The difference here being they're mostly transplants from other states like the west or Midwest area and some east coast too like me, as opposed to South Florida where they are mostly transplants from other countries or from New York. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

In any case, so far I like it here much better but again only time will tell and the OC or the Bay area may end up being a possibility for me in the future, who knows. Work might end up being a big factor with that.

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by Moondogger

South Florida is the Road Rage capital of the country. It's true look it up if you don't believe me.

Not exactly the capital... but Miami is up there.

http://www.monkeymeter.com/topten.php

Only time Miami was #1 for road rage was in 2005. Of course we don't know how it was ranked prior, but 2005 is as far back as the stats go for this site.

[Moondogger]

This is what's great about the Internet. For every one site that you use, I can site 4-5 other sources that will prove my point. Ahh...gotta luv it

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...16/006847.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195694,00.html

http://www.apbnews.com/story/987/ (broken link)

http://www.edmunds.com/news/regularn...1/article.html

There's more but I think that's enough you get the point.

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by Moondogger

This is what's great about the Internet. For every one site that you use, I can site 4-5 other sources that will prove my point. Ahh...gotta luv it

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...16/006847.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195694,00.html

http://www.apbnews.com/story/987/ (broken link)

http://www.edmunds.com/news/regularn...1/article.html

There's more but I think that's enough you get the point.

I just took the first link the search engine gave me...

[moveraj]

So I have to job offers.. which would you rather do and why, make $40,000/yr in Ft. Lauderdale, FL or about $50,000/yr in San Diego?