[upgrader]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

Sarasota-- Gorgeous beaches, small town, but still plenty to do, pretty laid back

Um, I wonder how many locals cut their wrists when beach traffic ruins their lives. I visit my mom on Siesta Key. It's not just the traffic, but the poor traffic management that drives me crazy.

Then again, If I could find a desireable place near Payne Park, I'd believe in a higher power.

[Sugah Ray]

Originally Posted by Sunbiz1

Amazing, how did you nail all these?.
I have visited all but Brooksville and Pensacola, and many others that could easily be lumped in with your list. As a former building supplier, I can assure you Cape Coral is treeless due to it being the largest developmental failure in the state.

Cape Coral: America's Venice...I remember when they were aggressively selling lots there. They used to drive people from Miami in buses. I wonder what they could have done differently. Cape Coral had potential.

I've seen some of the nicer gated communities with trees but it's mostly treeless. It's ugly there but at least they are not Lehigh Acres.

[Sugah Ray]

Originally Posted by upgrader

Cool post. What would you (or anyone) say about Sarasota? Great place to retire but no place for a good local job?

That's what I hear a lot here in this forum. I think if you can get a job there it would be fine. I like the nicer communities there, they remind me of Miami/Tampa. I personally don't know the coastal areas, only the suburbs. I would imagine they are extremely expensive.

Originally Posted by upgrader

Then again, I don't know if I agree about sinkholes in the city of Tampa. I'd like to say Tampa has potential, but I think its been sitting there since the 1980's.

Tampa is fine. It's a large metro area where you can find more employment opportunities but when buying a home one should consider sinkholes, just like here in South Florida we need to consider hurricanes. I would choose Tampa over Sarasota if I needed to find a local job unless your occupation has a lot of demand.

[FLHfan]

Port Charlotte- empty wooded lots
North Port- empty wooded lots
Lehigh- empty wooded lots
Cape Coral- lots of empty lots (beaches? no Gulf beaches)
Englewood- all american small town w/ palm trees & a great beach
Placida- boats & more boats
Rotonda- circular
Pine Island- slow paced island life

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by Sugah Ray

Cape Coral: America's Venice...I remember when they were aggressively selling lots there. They used to drive people from Miami in buses. I wonder what they could have done differently. Cape Coral had potential.

I've seen some of the nicer gated communities with trees but it's mostly treeless. It's ugly there but at least they are not Lehigh Acres.

No trees....awful.

[StreetSmarts]

St Aug. historic, beaches, tourists
Sarasota. Beaches, old ppl, touristy, artsy.
Kissimmee. Hispanic, ghetto, touristy, cheesy.

[dgreen]

Jax - disappointing
Gainesville - football, liberal, laid back
Miami - latin america in FL
Orlando - hot, humid, Disney

[Rabflmom]

Space coast-cause it is sort of lumped together and we live in the whole county and not 1 town for the most part here.....

Technology and surfing

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Perhaps "redneck undertones" is a more politically correct way to call a town "redneck" without being offensive and blurting out the word "redneck", as if a redneck town is a bad thing and we know it's not a bad thing because I do not believe there is a straight white American male, rich or poor, college educated or 8th grade education, Yankee or Confederate, who would feel offended if somebody called him a "redneck"? (Sorry for the run-on sentence, by the way.)

Redneck is often a pejorative term. If I call somebody a redneck, yellow hammer, hillbilly, stump jumper or hay shaker I don't mean it as a compliment. Bad intentions.

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by Sugah Ray

Cape Coral: America's Venice...I remember when they were aggressively selling lots there. They used to drive people from Miami in buses. I wonder what they could have done differently. Cape Coral had potential.

I've seen some of the nicer gated communities with trees but it's mostly treeless. It's ugly there but at least they are not Lehigh Acres.

Cape Coral fell victim to promises developers could not keep way back in the 90's. Then they failed to lure retailers, so prospective residents wound up in Ft. Myers instead. There is not 1 beach on the Cape worth visiting, so those potential buyers opted for Sanibel etc.

And I think Lehigh was originally planned as a migrant worker community, what a dump.