Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Coconut grove was where the poor immigrants/blacks had to live while they built the Coral Gables neighborhood..what's your point?
South Beach was a sleepy retirement town
Orlando was mostly cows & pastures before Disney
We can go on and on and on.
Towns can't stay in the 1970s & 80s forever.
Sir, no one is saying to keep it like the 70's and 80's but what should have happened is there should have been a cap on how many homes could be deemed as only second homes for out of state snowbirds and they should have capped how many 50+ communities and HOA's could go in. The number of new builds and unregulated communities being built is what ruined that town. Just strip mall after strip mall. Its just a free for all and seemingly very few see an issue with that. Undoubtably typical boomer mindset of more more more from the "Me" generation. I don't know if you're a boomer but youre operating as one with opinions on this matter.
Seeing as how they run the county and make nearly 70%+ of the population one can deduce its certainly not working class families wanting all this extra crap they just keep bringing in. Nothing says family friendly like hundreds of youtube videos of these old people yelling and screaming at kids playing in condo parking lots or drawing with chalk. So the solution is 50+ community where all young families are locked out. The boomers then buy up all the affordable housing and rent it out for triple what the mortgage is and call it a day. Lived it for over 30 years with several family members as realtors there. I know EXACTLY how that town operates. Went to many town meetings where the voices of young people didn't matter ONE BIT about any issue.
I know EXACTLY how that town operates. Went to many town meetings where the voices of young people didn't matter ONE BIT about any issue.
Naples is no different than any other town. Cities like Miami are rampant with corruption. Places in California are putting on too many burdens on building. No town listens to 'the young people'. They listen to money and people who build/develop. The rest of the population goes on about their life.
no I'm not a boomer, I'm in my late 30s. Nothing nefarious is going on in Naples. There was tons and tons of open land and its being developed. The prices were grossly under valued pre-covid compared to other beach area towns. The crime is one of the lowest in the state.
And who's watching youTube videos of seniors screaming at young kids? I've never seen that once, live in a snowbird community and see plenty of chalk on the sidewalks. You're a negative person and have been for many years on this forum. You moved away and can't let go like others, so you keep coming back to make yourself feel better as to why you left. I moved out of Orlando many years ago, I don't sit on the Orlando forums and yell about Toll roads, I-4, or Disney world traffic.
Sir, no one is saying to keep it like the 70's and 80's but what should have happened is there should have been a cap on how many homes could be deemed as only second homes for out of state snowbirds and they should have capped how many 50+ communities and HOA's could go in. The number of new builds and unregulated communities being built is what ruined that town. Just strip mall after strip mall. Its just a free for all and seemingly very few see an issue with that. Undoubtably typical boomer mindset of more more more from the "Me" generation. I don't know if you're a boomer but youre operating as one with opinions on this matter.
Lol. What kind of socialist communist nonsense is this? Restrictions on who lives where and when?
Why are YOU entitled to live in a beautiful, warm city lined with beaches and palm trees and nobody else is? Because you happen to be born there?
Go find your utopia where its low cost of living, no traffic, no "cancer causing water," nice weather, well maintained, etc.
Or- choose to be miserable and negative regardless of where you happen to be living.
Well after spending the past 5 days visiting I was shocked at the amount of congestion in certain key areas as far as beach access. I always would brag about the Naples area being very beach friendly as far as easy access compared to other gulf beaches in the state, but maybe no more.
Bonita Beach Road, Bluebill/111th Ave (getting to Wiggins state Park) and Vanderbilt Beach Road were a complete disaster heading west towards the beach after about 9-10 am well through early afternoon. There’s no sugar coating how bad the traffic has gotten even in my short time living in Naples since 2014 till last year.
Luckily I was staying in Naples Park, but unless you are planning on getting to the beach early in the morning and later in the afternoon don’t even try, or ride your bike but trying to drive is a mistake. The worst I saw Bonita Beach road heading west it was backed up all the way to almost freakin 41!!
Avoid peaks time if you don’t get to the beaches earlier then 9. Don’t know how beaches further south in town were, but the roads become more grid like which helps from traffic getting bottled up (think Olde Naples by the pier).
I can’t even imagine how much congestion Vanderbilt will get once that stock tower goes up.
Granite it is peak season and the weather was almost perfect, but that’s the point. Unless it’s a cloudy day or too hot or cold out, plan on getting to any of the North Naples beaches before 9am unless you are okay with spending at least a half an hour just getting to a spot. No joke.
I’ve never in my 10 plus years living and visiting Naples seen the Conner’s Park parking lot completely filled to the end until just this last trip a few days ago.
This isn’t complaining or being negative, these really are objective observations. I’m sure the summer it will ease of course when snowbirds go back and visitors go elsewhere but the change in just over a year is pretty drastic. It’s very obvious, at least to me now, people aren’t just buying homes and vacationing in town anymore but actually living there.
Last edited by JPrzybylski07; 02-21-2022 at 05:42 AM..
Well after spending the past 5 days visiting I was shocked at the amount of congestion in certain key areas as far as beach access. I always would brag about the Naples area being very beach friendly as far as easy access compared to other gulf beaches in the state, but maybe no more.
Bonita Beach Road, Bluebill/111th Ave (getting to Wiggins state Park) and Vanderbilt Beach Road were a complete disaster heading west towards the beach after about 9-10 am well through early afternoon. There’s no sugar coating how bad the traffic has gotten even in my short time living in Naples since 2014 till last year.
Luckily I was staying in Naples Park, but unless you are planning on getting to the beach early in the morning and later in the afternoon don’t even try, or ride your bike but trying to drive is a mistake. The worst I saw Bonita Beach road heading west it was backed up all the way to almost freakin 41!!
Avoid peaks time if you don’t get to the beaches earlier then 9. Don’t know how beaches further south in town were, but the roads become more grid like which helps from traffic getting bottled up (think Olde Naples by the pier).
I can’t even imagine how much congestion Vanderbilt will get once that stock tower goes up.
Granite it is peak season and the weather was almost perfect, but that’s the point. Unless it’s a cloudy day or too hot or cold out, plan on getting to any of the North Naples beaches before 9am unless you are okay with spending at least a half an hour just getting to a spot. No joke.
I’ve never in my 10 plus years living and visiting Naples seen the Conner’s Park parking lot completely filled to the end until just this last trip a few days ago.
This isn’t complaining or being negative, these really are objective observations. I’m sure the summer it will ease of course when snowbirds go back and visitors go elsewhere but the change in just over a year is pretty drastic. It’s very obvious, at least to me now, people aren’t just buying homes and vacationing in town anymore but actually living there.
We were down there last year after New Years, and I could not believe how bad the traffic was, even compared to a year or 2 earlier. Took us over 30 minutes to get from in front of Master Bait and Tackle to Doc's on Bonita Beach. In all the years we lived there, it never took more than 5 minutes. No accident or construction, just volume. We used to spend a lot of time on Bonita Beach, Lover's Key etc., and never once saw it that bad prior to that.
And it's not just the beach areas. We lived a few miles east of I-75, and as they started filling in every square inch of land with high density housing/retail, it got bad out there.
It's not going to get better any time soon, because the county refuses to adequately address road infrastructure.
The biggest issue is that there are no viable routes into Lee County, east of I-75. The Logan extension was a drop in the bucket, and is really only of use to those living on BBR, east of I-75, to get into North Naples, or if the daily I-75 crash is between Immokalee Rd and BBR, which is typically not the case. Most of them occur at Dead Man's curve, just north of BBR.
951 (and now Everglades or DeSoto) should push well into Lee County, but they, apparently, never will. Heck, 951 should've been extended decades ago.
Lack of access to the Estates is beyond criminal, because that funnels ALL of the traffic in and out of there onto a few major intersections/roads. It wasn't too bad when GGE was less than 50% built out, and there weren't 10k high density houses built on every square inch of the periphery, but it's become a huge issue since then.
A healthy percentage of that traffic would not affect the northern 951/Pine Ridge/Livingston/Immokalee Rds etc. if there was access to I-75 in the southeastern part of the Estates.
We were down there last year after New Years, and I could not believe how bad the traffic was, even compared to a year or 2 earlier. Took us over 30 minutes to get from in front of Master Bait and Tackle to Doc's on Bonita Beach. In all the years we lived there, it never took more than 5 minutes. No accident or construction, just volume. We used to spend a lot of time on Bonita Beach, Lover's Key etc., and never once saw it that bad prior to that.
And it's not just the beach areas. We lived a few miles east of I-75, and as they started filling in every square inch of land with high density housing/retail, it got bad out there.
It's not going to get better any time soon, because the county refuses to adequately address road infrastructure.
The biggest issue is that there are no viable routes into Lee County, east of I-75. The Logan extension was a drop in the bucket, and is really only of use to those living on BBR, east of I-75, to get into North Naples, or if the daily I-75 crash is between Immokalee Rd and BBR, which is typically not the case. Most of them occur at Dead Man's curve, just north of BBR.
951 (and now Everglades or DeSoto) should push well into Lee County, but they, apparently, never will. Heck, 951 should've been extended decades ago.
Lack of access to the Estates is beyond criminal, because that funnels ALL of the traffic in and out of there onto a few major intersections/roads. It wasn't too bad when GGE was less than 50% built out, and there weren't 10k high density houses built on every square inch of the periphery, but it's become a huge issue since then.
A healthy percentage of that traffic would not affect the northern 951/Pine Ridge/Livingston/Immokalee Rds etc. if there was access to I-75 in the southeastern part of the Estates.
Collier and Lee is facing some serious problems. Probably better for a new thread to discuss the insane rental prices and lack of service. More people who are retired or working remote are moving down full time driving up sale and rental prices and consuming more of the strained services in restaurants, etc.
The quality of life in Naples, while still great compared to many places, is going to take a hit for everyone if the course continues. Like I said before not everyone is entitled to live in “paradise” but a lot of young people like myself are losing motivation to work hard to enjoy what the area does have to offer. If I have to work 3 jobs to afford rent and have no time to actually enjoy the perks of the area, then what’s the point of living there? Sure one could increase their “skillset” or sell 50 houses a week like Marc man, but I can see why so many places are desperate for help and blue collar people leaving. Even at $25 an hour you are barely making ends meet in Naples. Wholefoods in North Naples can’t even operate their morning coffee bar in the morning because lack of labor.
I saw what is happening to Naples in Sedona Arizona first hand last year after spending a prolonged period of time there, another very premier place to be by the way. The WF there at least half the week couldn’t even open their daily hot food bar because lack of labor and rents being too high from the prior 5 years of the explosion of Airbnb rentals pricing them out to cheaper places like Cottonwood or Phoenix! Hec, a small but somewhat sizable portion of Sedona's seasonal workforce literally lives in their RV or camper vans just outside city limits in the National Forest Lands or BLM lands. It’s very interesting, cool and a little crazy but the reality. At least there you don’t have to contend with the humidity so it’s much more practical then here in Florida.
Maybe there is opportunity but I just don’t see it yet.
Last edited by JPrzybylski07; 02-21-2022 at 12:15 PM..
Lol. What kind of socialist communist nonsense is this? Restrictions on who lives where and when?
Why are YOU entitled to live in a beautiful, warm city lined with beaches and palm trees and nobody else is? Because you happen to be born there?
Go find your utopia where its low cost of living, no traffic, no "cancer causing water," nice weather, well maintained, etc.
Or- choose to be miserable and negative regardless of where you happen to be living.
I sympathize with sweetbottoms although I wasn't born here but it's been this way since Edison turned up the river and built. I also grew up in a place where we had a love/hate relationship with the city people. They start as weekenders then retire at their weekend place. It must happen all over the world. I can give a couple examples. New York city to the Catskills and the Adirondacks and Western Ct. And Vt. In their day all of these places were used as second home spots to retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life. To this day the "locals" service these "New York miserable city slickers" landscaping, carpentry, restaurants and such. Only the most fortunate who sold land or built their big homes could afford to stay in town, so they moved just next town over.
New Hampshire was invaded by Boston city slickers and even eventually turned its politics which ruined the state. You could go on and on. That's just the way it is. You could call it "jealousy of the more fortunate " but it would be nice of people stayed where they grew up. They always end up back there anyways, either to be closer to kids or in a box.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
