Concerned about crime and schools

[IAMSCIENCE]

No, i had job offers there and we settled on Tampa for a series of reasons, mainly my wife wants to be able to get back to Virginia without having to get a plane ticket...and the cost of living (surprisingly) is far more affordable in Tampa than in the other 2 (we lived in Hawaii before, have a daughter that was born there actually)

Great answers above, especially from suemccartin, very helpful, very un-baised, i like that - maybe we'll try our second spot on the list, New Port Ritchie, which i assume isnt considered Tampa - man, we are running out of time!
CrazyMover, i may be able to help you, lol - you don't happen to have a security clearance do you!?

KBlue - can you give me some examples of what you mean by New Tampa, google gives me stuff (seemingly) in all south tampa? I have been recommended Valrico, but we really REALLY want to be near the water, which is why New Port Ritchie is next on our list, but that looks like a 50min ride one way....which is about what i was making from my home in central Virginia to D.C.....wanna talk about nightmare, soul crushing traffic?

I really appreciate all the answers, i can't give up the faith.....

[bentlebee]

New Tampa is North east of Tampa and is the area east of I-75 at the Bruce B. Downs which is a growing area with many nice communities. Than you have Wesley Chapel which is sometimes considered part of New Tampa. There is the new mall that opened last year and they are still building new shopping and the area is growing and the property taxes are lower in Pasco County.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by TampaOrNotTampa

No offense, but all this bashing backed by: "that's a know fact" is getting a little old and tiresome.
Schools vary a lot, but many Florida schools are excellent. Please read the following article:
America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com
You will find that Florida has 23/100 top schools in that ranking. This is first in the US by far (Texas is 2nd with 13 schools and California/NY tied 3rd with 9 schools each).
What I would like to suggest is that not everything is bad about education in Florida and in the Tampa metro area.

America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com (Link to TONT's article)
Yeah. St Petersburg's listed in there with Lakewood High's CAT program. The CAT program is great-- it deserves the accolades. Only problem is that the CAT kids take a number of classes that are not, strictly speaking, part of the program (any English or non-math/sci/technology classes). And the part that list does not mention is that Lakewood High itself is a "D" school.
Which is still better than Gibbs's "F", but that's not saying much.

Pinellas County used to have decent schools. As they stand now...not so much. Clayton Wilcox left the place a mess, and I don't see Julie Janssen (or the current board) doing much to fix it. If you live in Pinellas County and have to send your kids to public school, you'll want to look at fundamental and charter schools. You still won't be giving them anything equivalent to Chapel Hill- Carrboro (NC) or Newton (MA) public schools, but they probably will manage to get by without ending up dead or functionally illiterate.
OTOH, if you have a kid who's either in Special Ed or Gifted, beware. If your child's in both....just run, now, and save yourself the headache.

That "send them anywhere in the county" thing ended a couple of years ago, by the way. Pinellas plays "musical zoning" every couple of years, part of the reason the schools are a mess. Why spend money on the kids if you can spend it on administration?

In any case, if you're at MacDill, you won't want to commute from Pinellas. Your best bet would be to find somewhere zoned for Gorrie Elementary School (and the associated middle and high schools). Beyond that, somebody more in touch with Hillsborough Schools would have to help.

If anyone's interested, this area is insanely homeschool-friendly. There are probably a dozen co-ops, the Aquarium and Zoo and Parks Departments offer classes geared directly for hs kids, and the oversight by the districts is not onerous.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by CrazyMover

I don't think we're going to get better than 50% good and 50% bad, as far as opinions.

But, there's lots to think about. I wouldn't have even considered high parking fees to go to the beach, without someone who lives there and knows telling me that!


So you're considering Nebraska, Hawaii, and Florida. Quite a range!

We're still strongly considering Austin. It's all about employment opportunities at this point (although not enough to consider North Dakota, where they claim there are jobs).

Maybe you can get me in at MacDill.

My daughter was at Offutt (NB) a few years ago. Aside from absolutely insane winters, she actually liked it far more than she expected.

[Kblue]

yes, New Tampa is in the North east quandrant and because there was so many new homes, real estate is VERY inexpensive and there are a ton of home rentals (2000 SF for under $150 K for example) and I live in LIve Oak Preserve which is the mecca for foreclosures, but we have noticed in the last 6 months that things are settling, in my smaller cul de sac we don't have any more homes for sale or in foreclosure, I have lived here for 4 years and have had the same neighbors for all 4 and I don't think you could imagine how many kids live here, Halloween is insane and that's why my husband does the longer commute. We are right on the border with Pasco county, neighborhoods like Seven Oaks have a lot of kids and their own elementary school which is supposed to be great as well.

There are a lot of great schools, I am in walking distance to a elementary and a middle school and that was one of the draws for me. My daughter went a morning preschool program that was 5 minutes away and I walk my son to school in the mornings. I just really love it up here and like I said, we get a bad rap, but most people I meet here have the same feelings about it being such a family oriented part of Tampa.

We also like that we are less than an hour and a half from disney and 20 minutes to Busch Gardens.

Oh and we head to a beach area in Pasco county, have to ask my hubby the name, but its only about 30 minutes to get there and a really great quiet beach.

[Keeper]

New Port Richey to MacDill would be a LONNGG commute.

IAMSCIENCE.. I suggest you start your own thread so you can get the answers you need.

[StingyDiva]

Crime Subject
Crime happens everywhere and anywhere. But you can generally separate it into 2 categories - opportunity crime and planned crime. All of the Tampa Bay Area has some sort of crime going on- whether it's a car break-in or drug sale. But, so does every other major metro area in the US. Most of the crime that occurs here is opportunity crime - meaning a juvenile sees a GPS unit in a Honda, breaks the window and steals it. There is some gang activity here but that tends to be focused in challenged areas that are not the places you mentioned you would live in.

Places I would recommend living in:
South Tampa
Some parts of Seminole Heights
Central Lutz
New Tampa
Some parts of Temple Terrace / Carrollwood - look for the streets where houses are well kept, etc.
Citrus Park
WestChase
Some parts of Brandon - be careful of the sub-prime foreclosures there - lots of abandoned homes
Wesley Chapel has a high rate of foreclosure right now as well

Generally, I would avoid living in the following places:

northern USF Area (aka "Suitcase city")
northern YBor / port of tampa area
South of Gandy in South Tampa
At least 1/2 of Seminole Heights (sorry guys!)
Some parts of Temple Terrace and Carrollwood (near Busch Gardens, etc.)

South St. Petersburg
Downtown St. Pete (unless you are in one of those nice condos with a big security guy in front)
Kenneth City
inner part of Clearwater
Most of the areas along US19

All that being said, a lot of crimes often happen in perfect suburbs and gated communities because people let their guard down. They tend to think that just because their neighborhood looks nice and there's a big gate with a pin pad in front that the big bad boogeyman can't get to them. (sorry for being snarky but it's true!). There are a lot of people here who lead very relaxed lives and leave their cars unlocked, iPod in the front seat of the car, house door unlocked, etc. And then they are surprised when the stuff is stolen. Or you have the female who goes jogging half naked every day at the same time and she is surprised when there is a perv. waiting for her at home.

In Florida you cannot leave anything unlocked- period.
In Florida you cannot leave anything of interest in plain view in your car - period.
In Florida - as a female - you cannot go around 1/2 naked and not expect to have a pervert checking you out.

I rarely worry about crime because I stay aware of my surroundings at all times. I don't leave anything of value anywhere. I don't wear high end jewelry or clothes if I am going to a suspect area. In other words, I don't make myself into a target. Some people feel that they should be able to live however they want but that is just not reality here.

Tampa's crime is just like DC, Atlanta, NY, etc. Same type of issues.

But even with all of that, I still think the Tampa Bay Area is the best place to live in Florida, IMHO.


Schools
I grew up in Florida so I am well aware of the education issues. It is very sad but it's just the way that it is- this state starves it's children of an education. But there are a lot of good teachers- what ends up happening here is that the teacher does not have time to address children with a specific issues. So if your child has trouble reading for example, the teacher may not have time to do one on one help and so your child will just fall behind. And before you know it, they failed the FCAT and have to repeat a grade. At the same time, the super smart kids are not challenged because the teacher does not have time to challenge them unless it is a super duper exclusive magnet program.


I would recommend either moving to a neighborhood with an A rated public school with an active PTA and then get your child supplemental tutoring. Or enroll them in private school and still stay on top of their education. If you have the unfortunate luck of ending up in a B school or lower, your kids still have a chance but it jut means that you will have to work that much harder getting them into extracurriculars, etc. In this state, if you want your kid to go to college, you have to be very involved during their whole educational process. You can't just hand your kid over to the state school system and expect them to be ready for college- the public schools here just aren't capable of doing that. Unfortunately.

GOOD LUCK

[tampaguy03]

Originally Posted by StingyDiva

Crime Subject
Crime happens everywhere and anywhere. But you can generally separate it into 2 categories - opportunity crime and planned crime. All of the Tampa Bay Area has some sort of crime going on- whether it's a car break-in or drug sale. But, so does every other major metro area in the US. Most of the crime that occurs here is opportunity crime - meaning a juvenile sees a GPS unit in a Honda, breaks the window and steals it. There is some gang activity here but that tends to be focused in challenged areas that are not the places you mentioned you would live in.

Places I would recommend living in:
South Tampa
Some parts of Seminole Heights
Central Lutz
New Tampa
Some parts of Temple Terrace / Carrollwood - look for the streets where houses are well kept, etc.
Citrus Park
WestChase
Some parts of Brandon - be careful of the sub-prime foreclosures there - lots of abandoned homes
Wesley Chapel has a high rate of foreclosure right now as well

Generally, I would avoid living in the following places:

northern USF Area (aka "Suitcase city")
northern YBor / port of tampa area
South of Gandy in South Tampa
At least 1/2 of Seminole Heights (sorry guys!)
Some parts of Temple Terrace and Carrollwood (near Busch Gardens, etc.)

South St. Petersburg
Downtown St. Pete (unless you are in one of those nice condos with a big security guy in front)
Kenneth City
inner part of Clearwater
Most of the areas along US19

All that being said, a lot of crimes often happen in perfect suburbs and gated communities because people let their guard down. They tend to think that just because their neighborhood looks nice and there's a big gate with a pin pad in front that the big bad boogeyman can't get to them. (sorry for being snarky but it's true!). There are a lot of people here who lead very relaxed lives and leave their cars unlocked, iPod in the front seat of the car, house door unlocked, etc. And then they are surprised when the stuff is stolen. Or you have the female who goes jogging half naked every day at the same time and she is surprised when there is a perv. waiting for her at home.

In Florida you cannot leave anything unlocked- period.
In Florida you cannot leave anything of interest in plain view in your car - period.
In Florida - as a female - you cannot go around 1/2 naked and not expect to have a pervert checking you out.

I rarely worry about crime because I stay aware of my surroundings at all times. I don't leave anything of value anywhere. I don't wear high end jewelry or clothes if I am going to a suspect area. In other words, I don't make myself into a target. Some people feel that they should be able to live however they want but that is just not reality here.

Tampa's crime is just like DC, Atlanta, NY, etc. Same type of issues.

But even with all of that, I still think the Tampa Bay Area is the best place to live in Florida, IMHO.


Schools
I grew up in Florida so I am well aware of the education issues. It is very sad but it's just the way that it is- this state starves it's children of an education. But there are a lot of good teachers- what ends up happening here is that the teacher does not have time to address children with a specific issues. So if your child has trouble reading for example, the teacher may not have time to do one on one help and so your child will just fall behind. And before you know it, they failed the FCAT and have to repeat a grade. At the same time, the super smart kids are not challenged because the teacher does not have time to challenge them unless it is a super duper exclusive magnet program.


I would recommend either moving to a neighborhood with an A rated public school with an active PTA and then get your child supplemental tutoring. Or enroll them in private school and still stay on top of their education. If you have the unfortunate luck of ending up in a B school or lower, your kids still have a chance but it jut means that you will have to work that much harder getting them into extracurriculars, etc. In this state, if you want your kid to go to college, you have to be very involved during their whole educational process. You can't just hand your kid over to the state school system and expect them to be ready for college- the public schools here just aren't capable of doing that. Unfortunately.

GOOD LUCK

this is an awesome post!!!!!!

[CollegeProf]

I recommend Northeast St. Pete as an easy commute to MacDill. The Gandy Bridge does not have the traffic that 275 has and the northern part of St. Pete has good house prices. As far as schools, the public schools are poor in most of Florida. I'd recommend private ones in St. Pete (e.g. St. Pete Christian) or if public schools are the only option (cost wise) then South Tampa (33606 or 33609) is your best bet to be close to MacDill. Brandon schools are not any better than South Tampa and the commute to Brandon can be bad. It takes 30-45 minutes (non-rush) to get from South Tampa to the far end of Brandon (Valrico). It's NOT a fun drive. Hope this helps!