Jacksonville or Tampa?? (St. Augustine, Orange Park, Callahan: insurance, crime, job openings)

[Floridian]

You might try Jacksonville. We have lived here for the past 7 years and loved it here. You should see our new St johns town center (take the new 9A). When finding a home, choose Mandarin area, St Johns, Ponte Vedra. There are new constructions on Bartram area.. really nice place to live. I commute to downtown for only 15 min (I 95).. Side streets are accomodating too. Our beautiful business areas are in Butler Blvd., Ponte Vedra and downtown area. We love the climate here.. living in North Florida, you can still enjoy your fire place. Summer is humid. But Spring and Fall, verfy much California

[daedalo]

Last move is correct. Fernandina Beach is probably the best mix of climate-culture and liveability. A real real nice little town. See my comments on it elsewhere on this board... It is a totally self-sufficient area with a lot of commuters to Jacksonville which, judging from my posts is not my favorite urban area on the planet.

[Fl_SUNSHNE78]

Well Hello I am a Floridian Born and raised but i been here in Jax for 2 years now and i like it alot but moving from the southside of town Mandrin to the northside of town big mistake and i have kids. it is pretty rough on the northside of town. but jacksonville is not a bad place how people are making it seem. i know they have plenty of jobs if you dont get any thing else it's alot to do here. and they have a great school system in st Johns co and in mandrin, and the beaches is a great area too. but tampa i never lived there and never ever want too. i have family there on my moms side and dad side that has been beging me too move there. never in life. Tampa is Very Ghetto it puts the G" in Ghetto. it's nothing but a party place like Ybor City and bars That's not a life And the crime is very High and i advice you if you have kids not to move there that's all they have is sex Offenders there. look what hAppen to that little Girl The Amber Alert case. but to each is on. me personally i would not recommend a dog to live there.

[Floridian]

Click the link
http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/05/real...rket/index.htm

[buythegulf]

Hello everyone,
I don't know if your minds are completely set on Jacksonville or Tampa. I have lived in Dunedin, St Pete Beach, Tampa, Panama City, Los Angeles and have now found myself back in Northwest Florida ... more specifically Santa Rosa Beach. If you have never been to this area of Florida, perhaps you may want to check it out before making any decisions. Out of all the places I have lived, I can honestly say that this place is my favorite. It has changed alot over the years but with the growth comes more job opportunities and cultural diversity. If you love the beach, we do have amazing beaches - white sand dunes and emerald blue-green waters. There are many state parks around to take in the natural beauty and endless recreational adventures. We have a bike path that runs along what is called the Scenic Hwy 30A - which is a stretch of beautiful beach communities. The weather at this time is dreamy and if you enjoy the change of seasons, we do definitely experience all of them. Crime has never been an issue in my area and as far as I know it is very low in the surrounding areas as well. I really can't say enough good things about it. Please feel free to email if you have any questions or if I can help you with anything.
REMOVED

[dharme]

We are in our early thirties and thinking of moving to Tampa area. We are particularly interested in a young neighborhood. I know that Tampa is known to be a large retirement community but any thing close by is good. We are concerned about the hurricanes and want to locate to a safe area even if it means we are about 20-30 minutes away from the coast/beach other activities. Looking to buy a land and build a home. Please recommend any cool neighborhoods and areas to live in that has a vibrant setting with a lot of restaurants, bars and other fun activities. We own a boat and easy access to get on the ocean along a river is good enough. I hope to find employment in downtown Tampa area. Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[ind2fla]

Here's some info that can help you out if you're heart is truly set to relocate in Tampa. removed

This is a great website to check out what areas have crime etc. Look toward the upper portion of the site for crime tracker.
You might be in for quite a surprise as I was when I was about to relocate to St. Pete for a new job. Long story short, I had to pass on the job since my brother had a critical accident and needed to see that he would be okay.

It took me days to try and find an apt that fit my needs, safety, garage, and as I have been told, a gated community. It ended up being outside of Tampa/St Pete.
Now, just because it's gated doesn't really mean it's better, but at least in my mind, I've done everything possible to be safe and to ensure that I have a vehicle to drive when I woke in the morning.

Tampa has really nice beaches, very sweet citrus and awesome temperatures.
But, for me, it just didn't feel right as compared to Jax. Maybe it's because I'm originally from the East coast. I've heard many midwest people like the West Coast of Florida.
Also, I found it really amusing that one bar in Tampa was the place where those cheerleaders made national attention due to their antics back last Nov.
I can't recall if that bar was in Ybor city, so the city is pretty wild at times.

I wish you luck, as I too, go through the process of doing more research about Jax and planning my escape. Any and all help about Jax would be appreciated by anyone.

Thanks


T

[Floridian]

Jacksonville is a diversified city with business areas not concentrated in Downtown alone... I guess this is the reason our traffic is more manageable.

If you want to research this area, here are the places you would like to see here:
- The new St John's Towne center. Location is in Butler Blvd & new 9A.
This is a 1.1 mil square foot of upscale shopping. This towne center
has another phase 2 opening soon.
- The San Marco on the riverside downtown. If you've been to
Glendale,CA, this is pretty similar except smaller.
- Visit Jacksonville beach along atlantic blvd or beach blvd.
- Visit the World Golf Village and the historic ST. Augustine (take I 95
south - about 30 min drive from Jacksonville). There are good seafood
restaurants here,as being close to the beach area.
- Along the Southside blvd across Butler blvd. there are nice upscale
restaurants, nice apartments and new condo developments.

From the time we moved here 7 years ago , there have been so many developments.. new highways.. just to name a few.

[ind2fla]

Thanks Floridian for the added info.
Its been sometime that I've been to Jax so I imagine a lot of things have changed. More than likely I'll be going down to scout out an apt within the next few months.

I had my heart set on living in Ponte Vedra but if my future employer is located downtown is this going to be a long commute?
I've been to Ponte a few times but rarely been to downtown for some reason.
Would it be wiser to try and situate perhaps on the Southside or Mandarin?

Reading other peoples post on other forums, I have the impression that one would want to stay away from the North side as well as West.
Also, I had heard that there was a stretch of highway or road called
"Murder Alley" which of course, I would want to stay away from day or night.

Thanks for your help


T

[Floridian]

ind2fla:

I live in Mandarin and work in downtown. It takes me only 15 minutes drive to work. Consider also that I work 7:30 to 4:30, so I leave the house around 6:50 AM. I take the I-95 or the side streets Philips Hwy or San Jose Blvd. The San Jose Blvd from Mandarin takes you all the way Downtown. Choose to live somewhere 15 miles away from your job. That way, when traffic is heavy, you can always take the side streets. You will be comfortable and feel safe in Mandarin area. Also, further 5 miles south of mandarin is Bartram area. They have new housing developments and condo. Other nice, upscale apts. are around southside blvd towards Butler.

Yes, stay away from Northside & Westside part of Jacksonville.