Turning Tennessee into Florida? (Knoxville, Murfreesboro: purchase, movie theaters, school)

[FLORIDA TO NIOTA 2010]

Exactly,thank You. Amen.

[TnHilltopper]

Originally Posted by sloopy7p

I am from old Flolrida. Hillsborough County Home of Tampa, Brandon, Plant City, Turkey Creek and the likes. In 1962 everything was beautiful-we even fished and shot squirrels where USF is located. Moved to Treasure Island, Fl (Pinellas County) 1981 could still enjoy the waterways and beaches. It is now 2007 and I just bought a cabin home (cheap) just outside of Signal Mountain Why-to get away from Florida. I would never wish the development of Florida to enfringe upon Tennessee. My friends ask why Tn and not N. Ga, SC or NC-my resonse is they are rapidly becoming like Florida. I love the outdoors and if I can lookout side and see trees I don't care if I have to drive twenty or thirty minutes to get "stuff", because in Fl. it takes me 40minutes to go 5 miles. and the view is concrete, and tail lights , need I say more regarding Taxes, housing , loss of Doctors due to Medicare reimbursement costs and malpractice.? Should I mention the main artieries having shops which don't even speak english. I was a service brat, and when I went to any other country, I learned the language and enjoyed the people for who they wer. It never entered my mind to form gangs, steal, and only speak my language and form oly little enclaves of people just like me. So Tn people I don't think all transplants are coming to rob the spoils of your hardwork, but to enjoy the beauty of the state.

Tennessee transplants come for a great many reasons, scenic beauty, afford-ability, change of seasons, etc...and I suspect they all come with the best of intentions and I for one welcome them one and all. As I have said before, it is the beauty of Tennessee that is leading it down the path of sprawl and unregulated growth. No matter how good ones intentions are, when each mountain top has half the trees cut down so that a resident can see out over the valley, what beauty is left? One can not fault people for wanting to share in what Tennessee has to offer, but I have to keep in mind that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I know of the Tampa, Florida in which you speak. I remember when the Hillsboro river could be canoed around the 56th street bridge and one would still think they were in the middle of the Paleozoic era. I remember when Dale Mabry was two lanes and Linebaugh was gravel out west. I remember when, and it wasn't that long ago. With such speed will this kind of growth come to Tennessee, and I suspect folks will then look for the next wild place to call home. Such is progress.

[somewheresouth]

Originally Posted by gemthornton

Somewheresouth, it doesn't seem to me that the population growth of the US is causing the calamity of the rural town over- development.

According to the US Census Bureau the US population growth rate is slowing. You can read the paragraph below from their website:


"The U.S. population growth rate is slowing. Despite these large increases in the number of persons in the population, the rate of population growth, referred to as the average annual percent change,1 is projected to decrease during the next six decades by about 50 percent, from 1.10 between 1990 and 1995 to 0.54 between 2040 and 2050. The decrease in the rate of growth is predominantly due to the aging of the population and, consequently, a dramatic increase in the number of deaths. From 2030 to 2050, the United States would grow more slowly than ever before in its history."

Developers are drawn to areas where the cost of living is relatively low, land is cheap, the local environment is attractive to people-from-somewhere-not-so-pretty, and away from the congestion, foul air, and crime of already populated areas.

They pick these rural little towns because their local politicians and state political beings are receptive to all of the $$$ that developers promise, both on a personal level and on a constituency level. They know that the lure of living in a less congested, crime-ridden, expensive and unpleasant area will make them millions!

The numbers of people whether increasing or standing still has little effect of this development. This is a huge country and if you took a few weeks to drive across the US you would see mile after mile with not a soul in sight. There are millions of acres of land that are available for new towns to spring up and existing ones to grow.

But, the promise of the quiet country life is what developers are looking for. And, if that area has bountiful lakes, natural beauty, relative close proximity to schools, airports, and large cities, so much the better. They have found "ground zero" - the next place to put a hit on.

LauraC is correct in suggesting that the growth will come, but must be controlled through honest, careful scrutiny of local, county and state officials. Each individual can assist this process by making their wishes known to these planning committees.

You can be assured that some politicians, aides, or government employees are privy to what is going on in this forum. They may be members or just visitors, but they can see that we are not willing to be duped when it comes to "development for the good of Small Town."

Hold these bureaucrats and greedy developers accountable and we may slowly see some regulation of this uncontrolled over-development of our nation's beautiful countryside.

(God gave those instructions to Noah and his sons to fill the earth; not overload it!)

Sorry,

I haven't visited the forum in a while. Great news though, I have my home on the market, had a few showings, and had great feedback. God willing we will be moving to the Cookeville area very soon.

Gem,

I'm sorry, but your post is very unconvincing. First of all you are quoting predictions that are over 30 years in the future. Even if these Nostradamus league prophecies are correct we are “currently” still seeing an estimated net gain of population in the neighborhood of a person every 11 seconds. That is about 2.8 million net pop gain each year. Not compounding the numbers we will see about 91 million in pop gain before 2040 when the pop is guessed to decrease. I see a tremendous demand for new housing with a 1/3 pop increase (again no compounding), and yes you are correct that there are miles and miles of nothing all across our great country, and yes developers look for desirable places to create new housing near established places of commerce, and yes the growth should be smart and well planned. I find no surprise, nor any weakness in my argument of population gains fueling the new developments considering that the pop will increase by a 1/3 before is begins to decline (assuming all the predictions are correct).

As for Noah. You yourself pointed out that there are miles and miles of nothing. On a worldwide scale there is plenty of land to be developed for modern housing. I see no indication of overpopulating, especially in the U.S. Again, I blame no one because the developers start new developments in areas where people desire to live. Isn't that what any businessperson would do???

I do love the dialogue that is started in these forums. I hope no one takes any of my posts as a personal attack. I, like all others, am merely stating my opinion. I am happy to see since last time I read this thread that several have piped in to say they are looking to TN for similar reasons as I.

May God bless all of you abundantly this year. To Him all the glory!!

Check out this link for the article that says as of 2008 our pop is over 300million!!! People power: U.S. to top 300 million - CNN.com

[Wordy]

Everytime I read stuff that sounds sorta territorial to me it makes me chuckle to myself. I don't recall anyone specifically being territorial in this thread but even just someone's fear of it makes me scratch my head. With the exception of people here on visas or illegal immigrants, aren't we all pretty much Americans?

Go where you please, do what you want, as long as you're abiding the law and not making a donkey of yourself (maybe even if you are making a donkey of yourself--you have to live with those social consequences, right). That's my take on all of this state v. state stuff.

[Tennesseestorm]

If I had my way, I would move from here in Tennessee to Florida.... especially on days like today, but then I see its cold in Florida today as well, with freeze warnings almost statewide!

I guess its where I have lived here in TN all of my life and sometimes wonder if I am sick of it, since I never get to go anywhere, even on vacation, but I am sure I would get homesick. We have not been to the beach since 1994 and the only "real" trip we had was when I went to visit my family in Raleigh in 1997, when I stayed for 3 weeks and we went to Charlotte for a few days in September of 2006. With ill grandparents, work and things to take care of here, its out of the question. I have never even been to Florida to visit my family in Jacksonville, Brooksville, Gainesville and W. Palm.... maybe someday I will.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

You are not missing much unless you just like rude people, cars booming with music so loud it rattles your own car, traffic, naked people at the beach , obnoxious teenagers, grouchy snow birds, etc.

Sit down with a hot cup of cocoa, enjoy a nice fire and thank the good Lord above that you get to be in a place where sooooo many of us want to be.

[galena]

I'm one person who is trying her darndest to not make a negative impact on TN--if I'm lucky enough to move there. I've only had one new house in my life, and it was built after the old one, which I had lived in for several years, was demolished. I built the new one because I wanted to provide a place for my mom--who has Alzheimer's--to have her own apartment, but be in my house so I could make sure she was safe.

I look for houses that already exist. After watching the new developments being built in Edgewater (causing the population to increase by 15% in 6 years), I don't want to buy in a new development. I understand Laura C's frustration about newcomers changing small towns. I also understand everyone's frustration about housing prices going way up because outsiders, especially retirees like me, pay way too much. I usually buy houses that are fairly old even though I end up doing work on them. I also like already established neighborhoods; they have developed a personality, and the neighbors watch out for each other.

I drive a Prius in my attempt to be green. I recycle. I'm trying to do my bit to keep the world from deteriorating any further. I'm also not planning to impact TN any more than the person who previously lived in the house I will buy.

[gemkeeper]

Originally Posted by somewheresouth

Sorry,

I haven't visited the forum in a while. Great news though, I have my home on the market, had a few showings, and had great feedback. God willing we will be moving to the Cookeville area very soon.

Gem,

I'm sorry, but your post is very unconvincing. First of all you are quoting predictions that are over 30 years in the future. Even if these Nostradamus league prophecies are correct we are “currently” still seeing an estimated net gain of population in the neighborhood of a person every 11 seconds. That is about 2.8 million net pop gain each year. Not compounding the numbers we will see about 91 million in pop gain before 2040 when the pop is guessed to decrease. I see a tremendous demand for new housing with a 1/3 pop increase (again no compounding), and yes you are correct that there are miles and miles of nothing all across our great country, and yes developers look for desirable places to create new housing near established places of commerce, and yes the growth should be smart and well planned. I find no surprise, nor any weakness in my argument of population gains fueling the new developments considering that the pop will increase by a 1/3 before is begins to decline (assuming all the predictions are correct).

As for Noah. You yourself pointed out that there are miles and miles of nothing. On a worldwide scale there is plenty of land to be developed for modern housing. I see no indication of overpopulating, especially in the U.S. Again, I blame no one because the developers start new developments in areas where people desire to live. Isn't that what any businessperson would do???

I do love the dialogue that is started in these forums. I hope no one takes any of my posts as a personal attack. I, like all others, am merely stating my opinion. I am happy to see since last time I read this thread that several have piped in to say they are looking to TN for similar reasons as I.

May God bless all of you abundantly this year. To Him all the glory!!

Check out this link for the article that says as of 2008 our pop is over 300million!!! People power: U.S. to top 300 million - CNN.com

First of all, somewheresouth, congratulations on listing and favorably showing your house. You are well on your way! Hope we hear some good news soon.

We have to look not just at the next 5 or 10 years of population growth and growth trends, somewheresouth. It is so important to look at the big picture and consider what the impact of our presence anywhere will have in 40 or 50 years and beyond. I won't be around, but others that I care about will.

I think that many times folks don't know or even think about where they want to live until all of the fancy, entising advertising starts when a developer finds a nice location that can be bought up for a song with few local governmental restrictions on him - maybe even perks offered to him to start his development.

Suddenly, old George says to Maybelle, "looks like a nice place to retire and kick back and fish all day." Yep. It starts.

Did you ever yearn for pantyhose before you started to see all of those glossy magazine advertisements for new-fangles garterless nylons. (I think you are too young, somewhere, to remember this, but I sure do.) I never even knew that we didn't like garter belts and stockings!! Someone who had something to sell had to tell me.

Did you ever wish you could talk to someone on a phone that you didn't have to pull over to the side of the road (on just about every corner) to use the pay phone? I didn't. I was just told by my folks to never leave the house without phone change. I sure didn't think about putting Ma Belle in my purse. Somebody who had conjured up the slave machines told me I just had to have one.

Same concept when it comes to new development. Somebody has something to sell (new houses on land he bought cheap) and lots of somebodies think that those new homes are just what they need to be happy ever after.

There are no fairy tale endings here for anyone. The small nearby town gets swallowed up, natural habitats and native beauty get changed, if not destroyed, the native inhabitants are frustrated, angry, and rightly so, sad to see their place of beauty and peace change. Newcomers are the piranha that become distrusted, unwanted, and malignant intruders who ruined everything.

Sorry, I stick to my original premise that it is greed of developers, lack of interest and concern for family property by sellers and hope of political gain for local politicians that triggers these developments.

Stand up and be counted and put lots of restrictions on where, when and how much development is going to be tolerated in any given area. Preserve the natural habitats and environment to the very end.

[creeksitter]

Well it may be too late for y'all furriners:

Knoxpatch.com

New immigration laws to keep out Californians, others

November 15th, 2007 by Bjorn Knoxley

Governor Bredesen is expected to sign legislation this week that will drastically cut down on the number of people moving to Tennessee from out-of-state, especially those from California. This bill is hailed as a triumph for anti-inter-state-immigration lobbyists who have been pushing for tighter control of Tennessee borders.

“This is truly a great day for Tennessee, ” exclaimed Marcy Gregory, spokesperson for Tennesseans Against Damn Out-of-Staters (TADOS). Moderator cut: cut rest of article for copy write issues, see link

[gemkeeper]

Well, I declare, creeksitter! I wonder where that Bjorn fella is from! He does indeed sound like a furriner to me. How bout y'all?