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It's nice to have family to be able to be with. In my case all of mine have passed on as well as husband. I'm blessed with 5 boys and want all the boys to achieve their goals as what my husband and I did in some areas. It was fun and exciting.I have 2 boys in Ohio and 1 in Pacific Palasades Calif. 1 in Kansas City Mo. and the youngest Las Cruces N. M. One of the boys from Ohio is thinking of moving to Silverhill Ala. which is in between Robertsdale and Foley. The other boy from Ohio has a job offer in Washington DC. Plus 6 grandkids. I don't care as well who is moving in or out of here but keep track of the Naples news, because I'm at a crossroads and know in time our street will be bought out for either condos or something. As I've posted so many times which is getting stale, I don't like it here and ready for a move out of Florida and Naples.
About.....Is Florida over? Ten observations I made during my time in Florida:
Here is what I learned from living in JAX, FL from 2000 - 2005:
1. When the Bosnian War occurred in the 90's, Clinton allowed 70,000 Bosnians/Russians to migrate to JAX, FL. In JAX, there are complete neighborhoods of Bosnians and many do not speak English.
2. Unless you work in upper management, own your business or are a doctor/lawyer, the pay scale in Florida is not enticing. Many people, men and women, work two jobs to pay rent and utilities.
3. A lot of people are moving from South Florida to North Florida and South Georgia to get away from the huge foreign population (Cubans, Jamaicans and Haitians), and to get away from the crime and bad traffic. South Florida is like another country. People who moved to N. Florida say that many of the islanders who come to S. Florida do not get along with each other and that makes for a stressful situation.
4. The real estate and apartment rent is skyrocketing - everywhere. From what I was told, when the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars moved into JAX in 1996, the price of real estate soared just because a new NFL team was in town.
5. When we lived in JAX, we lived in a nice apartment on the Southside of town - where all of the new business and residential areas were moving in. We had two young men who moved in above our apartment and they began "doing drugs". The "odor" began to come through our vents and it was absolutely terrible. We talked with apartment management, a state trooper on property and the local police. We were asked to get license plate numbers and to help them with the investigation - the police wanted to use our apartment as a "stake out". (A crystal meth lab was suspected) Long story short - we were told that we would have to move out if we were unhappy because they couldn't legally evict the "drug users" above us. BTW, their apartment was investigated and drug paraphenalia was found. Still, we had to move out.....Now, how is that for safety, security and enforcement of the law?
6. North and West Jacksonville were the main subjects of news on the local news stations - crime, shootings and "break-ins". (It was useless to watch the local news unless you enjoyed listening to crime stories)
7. We lived about 30 minutes from St. Augustine and it is a very nice place to visit, go to restaurants and just "hang out", but it is also becoming very crowded for its size. The housing market is also becoming VERY expensive.
8. Once you get to Titusville, FL, or Orlando you are practically in "another country". My husband is originally from Texas and we went to Florida for two weeks during last Christmas. I took him to Kennedy Space Center and we felt as though we had flown to Europe or Russia. Including us, we maybe ran into 10 Americans or American-speaking people. Check out Disney World......for a truly "out of this country" experience.
9. People that I talked to in Florida are gradually becoming more and more disgruntled with the situation. South Florida has now ventured into Central Florida - it's just a matter of time before North Florida is "taken over".
10. I remember Florida in the 70's when I was a child and teenager. We would go to Winter Haven and Cocoa Beach to visit family and friends. It was absolutely picturesque and beautiful. I loved going to Florida and always wanted to live there. The Mexican population has moved into Winter Haven and things have really gone downhill. No offense, but they are not taking care of their property.
So I guess I could honestly say that Florida is not the same and it is so sad. What was once a beautiful and fun state has become a state that is over-crowded and over-priced and saddest of all, over-run with crime. If there is an "untouched" part of Florida, it would probably be the Panhandle area, with the exception of Panama City Beach, which is now "condo Heaven". However, in the Panhandle, it is more like South Georgia and it seems to be more like "old Florida". Tallahassee is a nice town, but it doesn't feel like Florida at all. Lake City is okay and has a more "small town" feel to it.
However, as long as our government takes their time on building a fence, refuses to shut down the borders to illegals and continues to invite people to come in and take advantage of our social security and medicare system and give them tax breaks that ordinary Americans can't get, things will only continue to get worse.
About.....Is Florida over? Ten observations I made during my time in Florida:
Here is what I learned from living in JAX, FL from 2000 - 2005:
1. When the Bosnian War occurred in the 90's, Clinton allowed 70,000 Bosnians/Russians to migrate to JAX, FL. In JAX, there are complete neighborhoods of Bosnians and many do not speak English.
2. Unless you work in upper management, own your business or are a doctor/lawyer, the pay scale in Florida is not enticing. Many people, men and women, work two jobs to pay rent and utilities.
3. A lot of people are moving from South Florida to North Florida and South Georgia to get away from the huge foreign population (Cubans, Jamaicans and Haitians), and to get away from the crime and bad traffic. South Florida is like another country. People who moved to N. Florida say that many of the islanders who come to S. Florida do not get along with each other and that makes for a stressful situation.
4. The real estate and apartment rent is skyrocketing - everywhere. From what I was told, when the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars moved into JAX in 1996, the price of real estate soared just because a new NFL team was in town.
5. When we lived in JAX, we lived in a nice apartment on the Southside of town - where all of the new business and residential areas were moving in. We had two young men who moved in above our apartment and they began "doing drugs". The "odor" began to come through our vents and it was absolutely terrible. We talked with apartment management, a state trooper on property and the local police. We were asked to get license plate numbers and to help them with the investigation - the police wanted to use our apartment as a "stake out". (A crystal meth lab was suspected) Long story short - we were told that we would have to move out if we were unhappy because they couldn't legally evict the "drug users" above us. BTW, their apartment was investigated and drug paraphenalia was found. Still, we had to move out.....Now, how is that for safety, security and enforcement of the law?
6. North and West Jacksonville were the main subjects of news on the local news stations - crime, shootings and "break-ins". (It was useless to watch the local news unless you enjoyed listening to crime stories)
7. We lived about 30 minutes from St. Augustine and it is a very nice place to visit, go to restaurants and just "hang out", but it is also becoming very crowded for its size. The housing market is also becoming VERY expensive.
8. Once you get to Titusville, FL, or Orlando you are practically in "another country". My husband is originally from Texas and we went to Florida for two weeks during last Christmas. I took him to Kennedy Space Center and we felt as though we had flown to Europe or Russia. Including us, we maybe ran into 10 Americans or American-speaking people. Check out Disney World......for a truly "out of this country" experience.
9. People that I talked to in Florida are gradually becoming more and more disgruntled with the situation. South Florida has now ventured into Central Florida - it's just a matter of time before North Florida is "taken over".
10. I remember Florida in the 70's when I was a child and teenager. We would go to Winter Haven and Cocoa Beach to visit family and friends. It was absolutely picturesque and beautiful. I loved going to Florida and always wanted to live there. The Mexican population has moved into Winter Haven and things have really gone downhill. No offense, but they are not taking care of their property.
So I guess I could honestly say that Florida is not the same and it is so sad. What was once a beautiful and fun state has become a state that is over-crowded and over-priced and saddest of all, over-run with crime. If there is an "untouched" part of Florida, it would probably be the Panhandle area, with the exception of Panama City Beach, which is now "condo Heaven". However, in the Panhandle, it is more like South Georgia and it seems to be more like "old Florida". Tallahassee is a nice town, but it doesn't feel like Florida at all. Lake City is okay and has a more "small town" feel to it.
However, as long as our government takes their time on building a fence, refuses to shut down the borders to illegals and continues to invite people to come in and take advantage of our social security and medicare system and give them tax breaks that ordinary Americans can't get, things will only continue to get worse.
We lost our country in the 90's and I do not think we will ever get it back, the open borders to anyone and everyone that happened in the 90's has lead us to where we are today, in deep trouble. Its not longer America, its a multi forced culture forced on Americans now.
You hit allot of good points and Floirda and Texas just the starting point for our issues.
If we allow this to continue and allow the illegals to keep making their own laws our southern borders will look like Cuba and Mexico on a matter of time.
Its sad to see this happening but I know Florida and many other states have screwed over its own people to make room for and comfort those who do not belong here.
We had better wake up before its too late if it isnt all ready.
We have become corrupt within and now that we have to read through the spanish on our own menus to find English, it will take a solid tough President to force it to change back to what it is suppose to be, our land, our laws and our language, no questions asked. To bad we don't have anyone like that to run our country.
We need someone with the balls of Roosevelt and the go to guy like Reagan combined to win back our country.
Unfortunetly Florida happens to be the open arm state that allowed this to happen and thus you will see it fall apart at the seems in the southern areas if something isnt done quickly.
We lost our country in the 90's and I do not think we will ever get it back, the open borders to anyone and everyone that happened in the 90's has lead us to where we are today, in deep trouble. Its not longer America, its a multi forced culture forced on Americans now.
You hit allot of good points and Floirda and Texas just the starting point for our issues.
If we allow this to continue and allow the illegals to keep making their own laws our southern borders will look like Cuba and Mexico on a matter of time.
Its sad to see this happening but I know Florida and many other states have screwed over its own people to make room for and comfort those who do not belong here.
We had better wake up before its too late if it isnt all ready.
We have become corrupt within and now that we have to read through the spanish on our own menus to find English, it will take a solid tough President to force it to change back to what it is suppose to be, our land, our laws and our language, no questions asked. To bad we don't have anyone like that to run our country.
We need someone with the balls of Roosevelt and the go to guy like Reagan combined to win back our country.
Unfortunetly Florida happens to be the open arm state that allowed this to happen and thus you will see it fall apart at the seems in the southern areas if something isnt done quickly.
Nice post, I enjoyed reading it.
Just curious, is Florida the only place on your radar? Depending where you are planing on living, it really is as bad as many say. If you will just be starting out your life in Florida it will just get worse by the year and you will be looking to move on yourself. What is your next choice and is it at all posable you would drop the idea of Florida and just go there instead?
"When the Bosnian War occurred in the 90's, Clinton allowed 70,000 Bosnians/Russians to migrate to JAX, FL. In JAX, there are complete neighborhoods of Bosnians and many do not speak English."
that's just great. cant fla (north, south, east or west) just be left alone? and have americans and not all these foreigners? why do they always have to come to fla?
Okay, fine and good, but my question was, what will will you do when your son/daughter moves to another part of the country? Will you follow? Will you retire to a Winnebago so you can follow your kids all around the country or will you find your own paradise and make a life for yourself?
I don't like it here. I didn't like it here back 30 years ago when I lived here. Add the the family factor to the mix. Why would I want to stay here?
As I said in my previous post, my daughter is a teacher and has TENURE. So does here future husband. Do you understand tenure? They stay with the same school district until retirement to keep their tenure and pension. If their job is eliminated (rare), the school district places them in another school over any other teacher trying to get a job there. Give it 99.9% probably that they will not be moving.
And again, my other daughter has a disability where she cannot be in a confined space for long periods. How the hell would she even be able to move far away? She won't even be coming here to see us here in Florida. EVER. We will have to go see her. Understand?
Bottom line - I don't WANT to be here. It isn't just one factor (family). As soon as we can, I want to move. I am giving it about 7 years.
About.....Is Florida over? Ten observations I made during my time in Florida:
Here is what I learned from living in JAX, FL from 2000 - 2005:
1. When the Bosnian War occurred in the 90's, Clinton allowed 70,000 Bosnians/Russians to migrate to JAX, FL. In JAX, there are complete neighborhoods of Bosnians and many do not speak English.
Do you have a citation for this?
I wonder if it might be a slight exaggeration.
According to this site (dated March 2007) from the Brookings Institution, 168, 000 refugees came in to the United States from the former Yugoslavia between 1983 and 2004.
The countries from the broken up Yugoslavia include:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo), Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia.
The Bosnian population in Jacksonville is listed, as of March 2000, at 11, 156.
I don't doubt that there are entire neighborhoods of people who speak their own language. In central-east Denver, there are pockets of Russian enclaves, with little Russian shops, but there are also people who assist them in assimilating.
Believe me, Florida is not the only stop for refugees and/or immigrants.
Wow, total wrong information in several posts on this thread. My guess is Dixie Dawg has a problem with pretty much everything and everybody who doesn't have a Rebel Flag on their T-shirt.
I love the dig at President Clinton. Geez, nothing wrong happened to America and Florida under Ford, Reagan, Bush 1 and 2? Or Jeb Bush? Yeah, they really sealed up those borders!!
Who do you think wants all the illegals here?? Rich corporations who benefit from cheap labor! Hmmm, wonder which political party they like the best?
Just curious, is Florida the only place on your radar? Depending where you are planing on living, it really is as bad as many say. If you will just be starting out your life in Florida it will just get worse by the year and you will be looking to move on yourself. What is your next choice and is it at all posable you would drop the idea of Florida and just go there instead?
Will be retiring at age 49 with a nice retirement and will move to Florida, don't have the location down just yet, have a list but also have less then 2 years to wait it out as well.
We have traveled to Florida since we were in our late teens, DW grew up in Florida and we spent 4-5 weeks per year and I travel on business there every month.
My opinion is this, all states have issues, Florida is NOT worse then any other state in many areas and Florida DOES have more to offer ( other then weather ) for myself and my family.
We have traveled all over the country and had the pleasure of traveling into almost each state other then a couple, and the only other place I even looked at in 25 years was Myrtle Beach. We own a condo there right now and have for years and it does not offer what the majority of cities in Florida has to offer us.
To sum it up, no, Florida is the place for us, just waiting out the mass confusion and of course retirement, so we are not making any choices until then or unless something comes along we cannot pass up ( We look everyday ).
I know everyone has there own likes and dislikes, but you have to look at you as a family or person likes and needs are. For use, no other state offeres what Florida has and after listening and talking Florida to hundreds of other people over the years and knowing more then 100 people personally that have retired to Florida, I have yet to run across a single person I know personally who dislikes Florida. Add that to the 19 people on this board and a couple other boards I post on, it is not heaven but it is better then all other states by a large margin.
Unless something happens to Florida between now and then, we are everyday counting down the days to move.
As far as the illegals, Clinton was the mastermind of opening our borders and getting us out of control, he dropped 30k of them on Columbus Ohio in the mid 90's and tried to cover it up of course.
Corps do not hire the illegals, it the small to large businesses that do all this.
You have been brainswashed to think that corps are reason for everything when they are not even close.
Wow, total wrong information in several posts on this thread. My guess is Dixie Dawg has a problem with pretty much everything and everybody who doesn't have a Rebel Flag on their T-shirt.
I love the dig at President Clinton. Geez, nothing wrong happened to America and Florida under Ford, Reagan, Bush 1 and 2? Or Jeb Bush? Yeah, they really sealed up those borders!!
Who do you think wants all the illegals here?? Rich corporations who benefit from cheap labor! Hmmm, wonder which political party they like the best?
Yet another blindly partisan talking point.
On the right you have blah-blah-blah illegals and on the left you have blah-blah-blah "the corporations". (which has always kind of amused me about the left- the very same people who are the first to rise up and complain about job loss or unemployment are the same people who spend half their time vilifying "the corporations" and doing everything in their power to make it impossible for them to operate)
The correct answer to this question is that Hispanics are caught in an odd socio-political netherworld. They tend to be family oriented, religious and hard working, which are causes that the right owns lock, stock and barrel. Of minorities, Hispanics have always been the Republican ace in the hole, as they tend to show a willingness to vote (R) in any given election.
So, the right is afraid to anger them.
They're also "non white" and a "minority", which is like catnip to a cat to those on the left, so the left is afraid to do anything that might lose those votes.
Basically, neither political party has the collective will to do what the American people want done because they're too afraid of losing Hispanic votes.
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This isn't my paradise.
