Compare Sarasota, Ft Myers and Venice (Cape Coral, Bradenton: low crime, credit, hotels)

[usernamenottaken]

Looking to relocate to SW FL and need some advice. Married, in early 40's with 2 children, ages 4 and 1. Formerly living in Thousand Oaks, CA and now Raleigh, NC for past year. Would like a place with 1) good schools 2) cultural activities/farmers market/artist area/international markets 3) easy access to airports for international travel 4) "green" mentality 5) close to beaches 6) good shopping 7) Good place for corporate HQ for cosmetics co less than 25 employees. 8) family activities for young ones 9) low crime 10) pretty architecture/scenery - real FL (not too run down or hodgepodge or not too cookie cutter either)

Also have mom with us and she needs to be able to easily drive to where we live from her place. She would like to live in town center to walk to everything she needs.

Sarasota, Ft Myers and Venice are at the top of the list in FL. Any other insight or suggestions is welcome!

Thanks - love this site!

[gypsychic]

I recommend Sarasota - it completely fills the bill for what you are looking for. Downtown is beautiful and has absolutely everything one needs for daily living, including Whole Foods Grocery, and a great Saturday farmer's market. There are also many unique cafes, bakeries and restaurants as well as a gorgeous library, to name just a few of the amenities. Sarasota has good schools, and a great small international airport. Not to mention museums and a wealth of cultural options.

Venice is a cute charming town that your mother may like - very walkable, but not nearly as much there as Sarasota.

I don't have first-hand knowledge of Ft. Myers, there is a lot of negative stuff posted about it on this forum, and most people seem to recommend against it. I will say that from what little I know, it is not nearly as artsy, eco-friendly, etc. etc. as Sarasota.

Have you visited all of these? I think for the most part you will find Sarasota to be to your liking. Good luck!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by usernamenottaken

Looking to relocate to SW FL and need some advice. Married, in early 40's with 2 children, ages 4 and 1. Formerly living in Thousand Oaks, CA and now Raleigh, NC for past year. Would like a place with 1) good schools 2) cultural activities/farmers market/artist area/international markets 3) easy access to airports for international travel 4) "green" mentality 5) close to beaches 6) good shopping 7) Good place for corporate HQ for cosmetics co less than 25 employees. 8) family activities for young ones 9) low crime 10) pretty architecture/scenery - real FL (not too run down or hodgepodge or not too cookie cutter either)

Also have mom with us and she needs to be able to easily drive to where we live from her place. She would like to live in town center to walk to everything she needs.

Sarasota, Ft Myers and Venice are at the top of the list in FL. Any other insight or suggestions is welcome!

Thanks - love this site!

Your post just screams Southside village to me. The elementary school would be Southside Elementary School, which is the highest rated school in the district (if you're not counting Pine View School, which would also be an option).

The downtown/Southside area has the Towles Court Artist Colony. Like Gypsy pointed out, the Saturday morning farmers market and Whole Foods. It has The Children's Garden, which is a magical place for the little ones. You could walk to Marina Jacks and play in the fountains. Selby Library has a terrific kids section. You have to walk through a gigantic fish tank to get in. It's within walking/biking distance. Then you would have GWIZ, a children science museum within walking/biking distance. Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall has children's plays on a regular basis. We just watched "Stellaluna" there, based on the book by Jannell Cannon. Mote Marine, Selby Botanical Gardens, and Sarasota Jungle Gardens are all right there as well. Then just over the bridge is St. Armand's Circle, which is great to spend the day shopping, grabbing a bite to eat and of course getting some ice cream at Kilwin's.

The Sarasota/Bradenton Airport is about 10 minutes away. The world famous Siesta Key Beach is about 10 minutes away.

The downtown Sarasota area has the most beautiful architecture, in my opinion. Each house is different and many are older and have very interesting lines and finishes. Just a really cool section. Can you tell I'm fond of the area?

Sarasota is very "green" wise and eco friendly and even has an EcoFest once a year: Florida's Green Living Music and Arts Festival :: Efest 2008: November 15-16, 2008 at Polo Grounds at Lakewood Ranch :: Sarasota, FL :: Sarasota Green Community, Green Festival and Sustainable Living

You really need to check it out!

Oh by the way, love the user name

[Col.W.Deering]

Originally Posted by usernamenottaken

7) Good place for corporate HQ for cosmetics co less than 25 employees.

Coastal Scents Cosmetics is headquartered in Fort Myers...just fyi.

[FauxPas]

You might be interested in the overall crime statistics for the 3 areas, especially with children and elderly parents.

These are straight off CD for 2008, the latest year they show.

Sarasota 660.5
Ft Myers 599.6
Venice 199.8
National Average 320.9

Originally Posted by usernamenottaken

Looking to relocate to SW FL and need some advice. Married, in early 40's with 2 children, ages 4 and 1. Formerly living in Thousand Oaks, CA and now Raleigh, NC for past year. Would like a place with 1) good schools 2) cultural activities/farmers market/artist area/international markets 3) easy access to airports for international travel 4) "green" mentality 5) close to beaches 6) good shopping 7) Good place for corporate HQ for cosmetics co less than 25 employees. 8) family activities for young ones 9) low crime 10) pretty architecture/scenery - real FL (not too run down or hodgepodge or not too cookie cutter either)

Also have mom with us and she needs to be able to easily drive to where we live from her place. She would like to live in town center to walk to everything she needs.

Sarasota, Ft Myers and Venice are at the top of the list in FL. Any other insight or suggestions is welcome!

Thanks - love this site!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by FauxPas

You might be interested in the overall crime statistics for the 3 areas, especially with children and elderly parents.

These are straight off CD for 2008, the latest year they show.

Sarasota 660.5
Ft Myers 599.6
Venice 199.8
National Average 320.9

I think it has a lot to do with certain areas and most of Sarasota's "crime" is within a specific area. For instance, Longboat Key is in Sarasota county and has very low crime statics: Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Also, how are the crimes being reported. There may be a difference there as well.

And comparing the specific crimes. For instance, if you look at many of the crime reporting websites Ft Myers has a much higher violent crime rate than Sarasota. Sarasota's has a higher rate of property crimes than violent crime-when compared to Ft. Myers. So, what specific crimes are being reported are important to look at as well. And different websites post different stats. Here's one that shows a comparison: Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Venice would have your lowest crime rate but also your highest age group. Often these stats run and and hand as well. Here's some stats for Venice and it's in Sarasota county and just a few miles south of Sarasota. Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Like I said with Sarasota, I think the majority of Sarasota's crime is a very specific area. Some other ways to investigate this are to talk to neighbors, check out the Police Beat in the newspaper and look at the addresses that show up over and over, go to the neighborhood after 6pm and see how it looks in the evening and call the police dept and see how many calls they get to that area.

Incidentally, North Port (in southern Sarasota county) scores well below the national average in crime rate in almost every thing but it doesn't have a lot of interesting architecture and it's 30 minutes from the beach. Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowedThe average age is 38, which is younger than the average of most other neighboring cities/counties. Most of the homes were built in 2000 or newer and look like model homes. Quite different than the Southside neighborhood of Sarasota. But then again, the prices are much better in North Port.

Seems every website you pull stats on they are wildly different from the last. I guess it goes back to reporting. Doesn't give a lot of creditability to the stats on any site.

[usernamenottaken]

Thank you all for the great info. This is why it is so hard to search for the next place to call home by using the internet, too much info. Tips from locals is the way to go, that's why I love this site. Obviously we need to get down there and do some looking around and see what feels right! But where to start? Any suggestions for a 3 or 4 day scouting trip? Good route to see most points of interest?

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by usernamenottaken

Thank you all for the great info. This is why it is so hard to search for the next place to call home by using the internet, too much info. Tips from locals is the way to go, that's why I love this site. Obviously we need to get down there and do some looking around and see what feels right! But where to start? Any suggestions for a 3 or 4 day scouting trip? Good route to see most points of interest?

Yeah there's a lot of information to sift through. As for the trip, you might want to get a place on Siesta and use it for a home base for two days. You could explore Sarasota and Venice from that area. You wouldn't be able to see a whole lot in only two days though.

Then you could head farther south and maybe stay on Sanibel Island. You could get a feel for the Fort Myers/Cape Coral area from there.

If you want to research hotels you can ask here or go to tripadvisor.com. Every vacation I plan I always refer to City-Data or Tripadvisor. Both are great websites.

Good luck with it!

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Like I said with Sarasota, I think the majority of Sarasota's crime is a very specific area. Some other ways to investigate this are to talk to neighbors, check out the Police Beat in the newspaper and look at the addresses that show up over and over, go to the neighborhood after 6pm and see how it looks in the evening and call the police dept and see how many calls they get to that area.

I've already found out what areas of Bradenton to avoid from my friend who's lived there many years.

Since people like myself, still out of state, can't be calling the Sarasota police or speaking to neighbors (and who would admit their neighborhood was dangerous?) can you tell us what areas/neighborhoods in Sarasota to avoid? This sure would save us time when we get there, by avoiding even looking at properties in the bad areas. Thank you.

[davery5872]

Can't the police run crime stats on a particular zip code? I know when I was looking for a place in Pinellas County that is what we did.