Looking for "crunchy", family-friendly and safe neighborhood

[Herb of Grace]

Wow. Such great info! Thanks especially, cparker, for the very informative post! College Park sounds wonderful We're looking hard there for something in our price range.

Thank you all so much for your help!

[cparker73]

Where are you moving from? Orlando is really conservative city compared to other cities with crunchy reps like Austin or Berkley. I've also lived in Atlanta, Chapel Hill, N.C., New York, and D.C. Orlando leaves a lot to be desired, but you can make it work for you.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by cparker73

Where are you moving from? Orlando is really conservative city compared to other cities with crunchy reps like Austin or Berkley. I've also lived in Atlanta, Chapel Hill, N.C., New York, and D.C. Orlando leaves a lot to be desired, but you can make it work for you.

I'm glad I moved from Atlanta. The traffic is completely out of control there and it is as sprawling as any city in Florida. I was just up there this week, and the burbs are so far apart if you want to visit someone it can take an hour to get there. Atlanta is definitely more crunchy and offers much more in terms of interesting dining, though, I will give it that. You are comparing some 5 million+ cities to a 2 million city so obviously they will have more in terms of culture. However, for a city that is only a few decades old in terms of urban development, Orlando has come a long way and should still have a bright future. Personally, I really like the downtown here even though it is small.

[cparker73]

Orlando's downtown is about the best you can get in Florida because even with the interstate cutting through, the historic neighborhoods were preserved. The physical footprint of downtown is actually kinda large. It's just not built out with a lot of high rises (if only they would lift the unofficial height limit). It kinda reminds me of Midtown Atlanta with Orange Avenue serving as the spine like Peachtree Street in Atlanta.

I'd hate to compare Orlando to Atlanta, but I usually tell people who barely know anything beyond International Drive that Orlando is at the point Atlanta was in the 70's and 80's when the city had to decide that it wanted to grow up and play with the big boys. Of course, that would require us to put away the toys in the tourist corridor and lure some Fortune 500 companies with good jobs here.

[Herb of Grace]

I'm moving from Harrisonburg, in the Shenandoah Valley. Very small town, pretty conservative, but very green and "hippy" So basically, College Park sounds great so far. It's turning out to be a little hard to find something in our price range, but we're still looking and have a few leads...

Thank you all for your advice!

[anjaandluis]

I'm moving from Atlanta and love the crunch thanks to the op for this thread. I do find some of the Atlanta comments interesting. I agree with most, but i only like east Atlanta and grant park mostly. Don't think that will happen in Orlando. ill adapt...