Anyone Read Sarasota Herald Article About Northport (Largo, Port Charlotte: real estate, new home)

[fl1025]

It was in yesterdays' paper--and is online at Sarasota Herald.com
Was kinda negative--
"North Port could certainly use some more influence. Hundreds of miles of roads need of repair. Schools are crowded. Parks are few. Much of the city lacks sewers and city water. Nort Port does not have a hospital, YMCA or movie theaters."

[JohnVosilla]

North Port is all new homes and growing fast. Unfortunately the area was layed out in the 1960's, there is little retail and the infrastructure difficult to maintain all these years as the growth was very slow until this decade.. Housing bust after incredible speculation doomed many people but this will make it one of the best bargains in the state considering you are in Sarasota County.. I'm sure it will look much nicer in another 10-15 years as the tax base grows and nice shopping and retail come

[bchgrl]

The Herald Tribune does not like North Port. Maybe it is because their paper took a nose dive in circulation? They seem to write bad things about our city all the time. Our city is growing and with growth comes growing pains. Our streets are getting paved (slowly but surely) new development in the past has destroyed alot of roads with the heavy trucks.
No YMCA? Hmmm I didn't know that, I belong to the Y here in North Port. A hospital. Isn't Sarasota Memorial planning one and isn't another company interested in putting one on Toledo Blade? Movie theater? Isn't one going in t the new shopping plaza on Toledo Blade? Schools over crowded? They are building a new elementary and new middle school as we speak. A new high school was promised but the board reneged on that one. Yes to all those questions. North Port is growing, slower now than before. Housing is priced about right. Water is fine, even with city water you need an ro system. We do need business to help offset the taxes, but I think with new blood in the commissioners office we will suceed in that too. I have lived here for a long time and am very happy to be here!

[SoFLGal]

bchgrl--I always wondered the same the about The Tribune...Not many people realize that North Port is the second largest city in the state, in land area. It is nearly 812 square miles, much of it is still vacant land with no electric. The city of North Port is doing a tremendous job of repaving the roads that are not out in "the boonies". I would say that they have much of the city already repaved.

That story was actually a little comical because they ran a story just a few weeks ago stating that due to the lack of construction jobs the schools weren't experiencing the over crowding that had during the real estate boom. Like bchgrl said they are building a new middle school, new elementary school and they are also building a new charter school. All will open next year.

North Port YMCA--here is is (http://www.charlottecountyymca.com/branches.cfm?branchid=8 - broken link) They are also building a second YMCA in North Port behind Largo Preserve on the corner of Price and Toledo Blade.

Let's move on to parks--again The Tribune must be asleep. We have a skate board park for the kids, we have The Garden of Five Senses, Myakka State Forest, which encompasses 8,593 acres. Then there's Myakkahatchee Park where you can ride horses or walk the trails along the creek. I have about seven parks within a five miles radius of my house. How many parks do you need?

Here's a story about the possibility of a hospital (http://www.sun-herald.com/CHNewsstory.cfm?pubdate=050308&story=ch10.htm&fold er=NewsArchive2 - broken link) coming from the "other newspaper", which usually reports news more accurately.

I have heard talk of a movie theater coming in on the corner of Toledo Blade and Price.

Yes, most of North Port is on well and septic, unless you are in a deed restricted community. I have well and septic and I prefer it to city water. If I need to water my plants or wash my car I don't get a big bill from the city for doing so. You just have to do it on the designated days, just like you do with city water. I think that when people think of well water they think that it turns your clothes yellow and smells really bad. If you have the proper filters on your well this is not the case. My clothes don't come out dingy nor does my water smell bad. We actually drink the well water but then again we also have filters on the water. Most new homes come with adequate filters. I pay for salt for the well when it needs it and then scrub the tank out and change the filters every six months. I'd take that any day instead of a hefty water bill each month.

In my opinion, they can keep it all. I like the small town feel and don't mind driving 10-15 minutes to go to Port Charlotte or 30-40 minutes to go to Sarasota or Venice.

[mikey2]

Is it a written rule somewhere that EVERY community has to have a hospital or it's a bad thing???

Where I come from there is one hospital which serves several surrounding communities. No one ever questions it... it works just fine.

Maybe someday North Port will have a hospital but until then I'll just use one of the ones nearby if I should need to.

As far as schools, I've never seen any community anywhere with as many new schools as North Port. The new middle school (which will open in August) is the biggest middle school I've ever seen in my life! It's bigger than some community colleges! The high school was built about 7 years ago and cost 52 million. There are several brand new elementary schools.

As far as roads go, North Port has already repaved hundreds of miles of roads in this town. On the Port Charlotte side of town, you can tell where North Port ends because all the new roads end there.

The Toledo Blade road widening project is moving ahead in North Port but ends at the Port Charlotte town line.

Take a ride up Sumpter Blvd. It's beautiful! Granted there are other sections yet to be completed, but what they've done is really nice.

North Port's future is ahead of it. I think we who live here will continue to be proud of how this community will evolve in years to come.

Mikey

[loves2read]

the point to have local hospital is for ambulance time--getting people to hospital as quick as they can--
and for drs to have facilities at hand

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by loves2read

the point to have local hospital is for ambulance time--getting people to hospital as quick as they can--
and for drs to have facilities at hand

The Port Charlotte hospital is about 10 minutes away and Venice is about 20 minutes away. I think that that is not an unreasonable travel time or distance from a hospital.

[hdzup3]

where i live in CT there isnt a hospital in my town. its the next one over. how long does it take to get to the hospitals from areas of northport?
talk about bad roads? live here. my car is always out of alignment. thats our life. cant wait for the new flat smooth(er) roads, lol.
we live away from everything and drive everyday about 15-20 mins to work and shopping, and sometimes 30 to 45 min to better places to shop and eat. lots of hills and winding roads here too. im sure things are going to seem very different to us in alot of ways, for the better.

[Edvard]

Take anything you read in there with a big grain of salt. They have trouble getting facts straight and more often than not are just regurgitating opinions of the editors and advertisers

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Edvard

Take anything you read in there with a big grain of salt. They have trouble getting facts straight and more often than not are just regurgitating opinions of the editors and advertisers

You got that right!