[expatCA]

My wife and I considered Lake City, Like the rural kind of laid back lifestyle and cost. Decided against it as my Doctor wanted me to be closer to the ocean and sea air. As to drug issues remember that those crimes do not normally involve the normal residents at all, just those involved in trafficking of drugs, growing them and the idiots using them.


To check a neighborhood put an address, scroll down a bit and you can see where most occur in relation to where you are looking and also see what type of crimes they are.

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Yes. So true. I was in Trenton about two or three years ago for work, and was shocked at how wildly different the area is compared to where I live, some 2.5 hours or so away. Your description is spot on.

Trenton and area was real nice to visit, and I liked the old charm it had, but it certainly was a huge culture shock for me.

When I visited my sister took me to all the attractions....

1. A "cracker shack" (old house)...which everyone looks at and takes pictures of.
2. The "mall" where she rented a studio once - it's 4 double-wides all moved tightly together and then opened up in between. You can get your hair done, etc. there.
3. Down the Swanee river - which, when things flood, gets to be about 10X as large (don't buy real estate on the banks!).
4. The Supermarket (it's a gas station).
5. The Coffee Shop (it's a gas station).
6. The BBQ eatery (the only eatery in her town).
7. One restaurant 25 minutes away that had some food.

She's been up there a long time. Back before the Recession it sorta looked like civilization (development of some sorts) was going to reach there - but the Great Recession stopped 100% of it.

Gainesville, tho, is booming...as are other areas near the Interstate (Ocala, etc.). It's likely to eventually be all one big Megalopolis from Orlando to the Villages to Ocala and Gainesville.When you look at google sat. view you can sorta see how it is all spreading.

[SanyBelle]

Originally Posted by craigiri

When I visited my sister took me to all the attractions....


7. One restaurant 25 minutes away that had some food.

There is also the Fu King Restaurant... don't miss it!

[mph101]

Remember when moving to nice rural areas to check what internet services, if any outside of data or pitiful satellite providers are available. It does matter to the majority of people involved in the modern world and most consider a utility now. Remember the internet is not handled currently as a utility and the choices are few in more populated areas. In rural areas or small towns its even worse. You will have more
outages than with electricity.

[craigiri]

Crime index
Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

In the bottom 1% of US Cities. That takes some doing.

A friend told me a story last night. His friends were on the way to Central Florida and stayed at a motel...in Lake City. They were walking nearby and and a duo pulled a gun on them and made them go back to their rooms and hand over all their possessions.

Please be careful if you are going to move to Lake City. I mean - if your city is in the middle (50%), it's one thing...but being in the bottom 1%...would definitely scare me.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by craigiri

Crime index
Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

In the bottom 1% of US Cities. That takes some doing.

A friend told me a story last night. His friends were on the way to Central Florida and stayed at a motel...in Lake City. They were walking nearby and and a duo pulled a gun on them and made them go back to their rooms and hand over all their possessions.

Please be careful if you are going to move to Lake City. I mean - if your city is in the middle (50%), it's one thing...but being in the bottom 1%...would definitely scare me.

Holy hell thats bad.

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Holy hell thats bad.

Understatement.......it takes some real work to make the bottom 1%. Wow.

A town near where my family lives (near Trenton, etc.) had 8 violent deaths that I know of...and many some I don't, in a very short time period (maybe 2-3 years). This is a town of 400 souls.

My old town in the mid-atlantic had 22,000 souls and in the 26 years I lived there I think there were less than 5. We used to joke because the Police had a SWAT bus and all...for what? They bought it because something happened with a crazy vietnam vet in the county seat ONCE.

1 in 69 chance of being a victim in Lake City. So if you have 4 in the family, that makes it 1 in 16. I wonder if that is per year? Stats like that usually are.

Putting things in perspective, Sanford (a bigger place) is in the bottom 4%, with almost 60 violent crimes per 100K residents.

The entire state of MA is about 5 per 100K residents, so Sanford is 10X or more as dangerous.

The town fathers in lake city claim that the numbers are thrown off by the people driving through and staying at motels, etc. - but one wonders if they are the perp or the targets? In the case of my friend, they were the targets.

There was a long history of tourists on the way to FL being taken in various ways...most much less violent, but criminal or fraud just the same. A captive audience, so to speak.

Getting off the beaten "though city" path is usually a good idea. Most crooks aren't too bright and they tend to stay on the beaten paths.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by craigiri

Putting things in perspective, Sanford (a bigger place) is in the bottom 4%, with almost 60 violent crimes per 100K residents.

The entire state of MA is about 5 per 100K residents, so Sanford is 10X or more as dangerous.

Which is why crime stats should be taken with a grain of salt, versus good ol' common sense. I have lived in Sanford on/off for the past the forty years as it's where my parents chose to semi-retire from South Florida, and owned/operated a small business in town for 10 years. I have been back in town the past ten years and have also been an entrepreneur before going back to a traditional job this past year. Sanford's population is just shy of 60K scattered over 26 square miles, or 2500 people approximately per square mile in density....which isn't very dense. The crime pockets in town are about equivalent in size to that density, and almost exclusively areas where one living in the better parts of town as the saying goes, "wouldn't be caught dead in". My parents lived in the city nearly 40 years before passing away, I have lived in the city about 25 years give or take, and in that time no one we know of was ever the victim of a violent crime. So if searching for some real perspective, take that over some numbers generated by a computer. The good people of Lake City would probably appreciate it as well.

[wasel]

Lake City has a great locally owned coffee shop called Ellianos. Started in Lake City and now have a few of them in the immediate region. If time permits I like to stop there on my Florida trips.

[logybogy]

Something to consider is the large number of state correctional facilities and also stare psychiatric hospitals in the area. When these people get released, they have to go somewhere..