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Old 04-05-2015, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Florida
4,893 posts, read 14,112,659 times
Reputation: 2329

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As we wind down tourist season this month, I'd love to hear how my local peeps dealt with tourist traffic in the past 30 days!! Did you find a parking spot at the beach, venture out to eat/see sunsets on Siesta Key, endure the Lido key traffic jam in St. Armand's etc ... I'm feeling that we are going to have a bigger summer crowd than last year along with more wishing to live the lifestyle they heard about & make SRQ their new home. I see many threads in the Florida CD section of people tired of winter & ready to relocate here but really clueless by the looks of the questions.

Jobs: ~ peeps arriving without jobs ~ come with lots of money or relatives with couch space. You'll get a good indication of wages on CL, JobsIndeed & Monster if surfing the internet.

UTC: Went yesterday to Dillard's for a new pair of shoes for a new job which I start tomorrow (did I say new job ~ yes, after 60 days of unemployment, I'm going back to work ~ I think...it's FL so you never know what can happen between a job offer and the actual day of starting a job) Anyhow, while sizing up the ladies shoe department, I was like shark bait for the saleswomen. I had at least three salespeople hit on me, try to sell me on what they thought I needed for work and tail me around the shoes like they were private investigators. Finally, I had enough & told them all at once to "back the Eff away from me". I don't know about you but I can't shop when salespeople tail me ~ I figured they were working on base plus commission and my shoe sale was definitely worth the catfight....

Housing/rentals: There's not a lot out there if you're in the market to move. 2/2's are in the $1,200 to $1,400 range ~ that's before any utilities. My bestie ended up in Briarwood off 70/33rd paying $1,600 in Bradenton because there were no 3/2s in Sarasota last month. True story ~ I'm not kidding ~ nor am I moving from where I've spent the last five years over in Southside Village area...

Traffic: If you drove 41 North past Main St. heading to Fruitville during 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. how'd ya like that cluster... It's not going to get any better as building increases in the downtown arena ~ I'm happy to see building, hopefully it will give our locals jobs once the hotels open...I'm not sure about the situation of parking & exiting onto any of the roads around the Ritz are going to get any better though...

Heat: Enjoy these awesome cool (66 degree) sunrises ~ it won't last much longer!!!

SRQ Film Fest: Starts Friday with opening film about homelessness staring Richard Gere ~ he might even show up

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Old 04-05-2015, 09:29 PM
 
2,076 posts, read 3,095,560 times
Reputation: 1021
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ladywithafan View Post
As we wind down tourist season this month, I'd love to hear how my local peeps dealt with tourist traffic in the past 30 days!!

Housing/rentals: There's not a lot out there if you're in the market to move.

Traffic: If you drove 41 North past Main St. heading to Fruitville during 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. how'd ya like that cluster... I

Heat: Enjoy these awesome cool (66 degree) sunrises ~ it won't last much longer!!!

SRQ Film Fest: Starts Friday with opening film about homelessness staring Richard Gere ~ he might even show up

Hubby and I are eagerly awaiting all of these people leaving. We are making a list of all the places we want to eat and the places we want to go. In a warped way, it will be like "when the cats is away the mouse will play". We get our town back and we are going to live it up. We will add the film festival to our list.

Like you, we live near Southside Village. About 3 weeks ago, the parking changed from absolutely impossible to merely bad. I thought people were starting to leave. A friend explained it to me. The weather had warmed and instead of hanging out in restaurants, everyone was going to the beach. Did you see that article about consideration of adding a residents only toll lane to the Stickney Point bridge? The toll would be $4.50 and residents would have a transponder that would give them admittance to that lane.

Someone tell me when the rain is going to start. I am ready. I want the rain again. Since this is my first year, I have been very surprised how little rain there has been since Christmas. The sky has been crystal clear with no clouds like it is in CA. Saw a big bank of clouds this evening with the awesome pink light. I am ready for the sky shows to come back.

I have another story about how tight the rental market is. So we listed a place on Thursday, rented it on Friday. A lady looked at it on Thursday but had other places she wanted to see before filling out an application. The next day she wanted it, but we had rented it to someone else. We have two other potential tenants who wanted this unit, but are willing to wait for the one opening up in May. Tonight one of our tenants told us they are moving to Georgia in July. While we were talking to that tenant, the lady from Thursday showed up to show her sons the complex. We asked the tenant who had just given notice 3 months in advance if we could show her kitchen. The new potential tenant wants it and is willing to wait 3 months to get it. If she passes the background check, we will take her. So we had a vacancy for a unit that won't be available for 3 months, and that vacancy lasted 5 minutes.

Congratulations on your new job. Given the lack of employment here, that is awesome. What will you be doing? And I am with you about hating sales people hovering over me. Since you had 3, does that mean things are slow at the new mall?
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Old 04-06-2015, 05:18 AM
 
Location: Englewood, FL
1,268 posts, read 2,992,288 times
Reputation: 1117
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardiff by the Sea View Post
Someone tell me when the rain is going to start. I am ready. I want the rain again. Since this is my first year, I have been very surprised how little rain there has been since Christmas. The sky has been crystal clear with no clouds like it is in CA. Saw a big bank of clouds this evening with the awesome pink light. I am ready for the sky shows to come back.
Cardiff- it starts raining in June....the next two months are hard for plants because of the combination of no rain + heat = scorched.
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Old 04-06-2015, 06:40 AM
 
2,076 posts, read 3,095,560 times
Reputation: 1021
Quote:
Originally Posted by coastal chic View Post
Cardiff- it starts raining in June....the next two months are hard for plants because of the combination of no rain + heat = scorched.
Thanks. There is a big areca palm on our building lot and it is starting to look pathetic. I water it once a week, but it probably needs more. I thought the rain started in May, but sounds like it will need help until June. Good to know.
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Old 04-06-2015, 07:11 AM
 
16,376 posts, read 22,427,722 times
Reputation: 14397
Typical rainy season is ~June 15-Sept 30.

Today (the day after Easter) is when there is usually a noticable drop in area traffic on all local roads.

Every year it's like this starting the Monday after Easter - no matter if Easter is early or late that year.

I hope all the snow birds had a great time in FL and have a safe trip back and enjoy a wonderful summer in their northern homes.
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Old 04-06-2015, 08:51 AM
 
17,504 posts, read 38,984,566 times
Reputation: 24196
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ladywithafan View Post
As we wind down tourist season this month, I'd love to hear how my local peeps dealt with tourist traffic in the past 30 days!! Did you find a parking spot at the beach, venture out to eat/see sunsets on Siesta Key, endure the Lido key traffic jam in St. Armand's etc ... I'm feeling that we are going to have a bigger summer crowd than last year along with more wishing to live the lifestyle they heard about & make SRQ their new home. I see many threads in the Florida CD section of people tired of winter & ready to relocate here but really clueless by the looks of the questions.

Jobs: ~ peeps arriving without jobs ~ come with lots of money or relatives with couch space. You'll get a good indication of wages on CL, JobsIndeed & Monster if surfing the internet.

UTC: Went yesterday to Dillard's for a new pair of shoes for a new job which I start tomorrow (did I say new job ~ yes, after 60 days of unemployment, I'm going back to work ~ I think...it's FL so you never know what can happen between a job offer and the actual day of starting a job) Anyhow, while sizing up the ladies shoe department, I was like shark bait for the saleswomen. I had at least three salespeople hit on me, try to sell me on what they thought I needed for work and tail me around the shoes like they were private investigators. Finally, I had enough & told them all at once to "back the Eff away from me". I don't know about you but I can't shop when salespeople tail me ~ I figured they were working on base plus commission and my shoe sale was definitely worth the catfight....

Housing/rentals: There's not a lot out there if you're in the market to move. 2/2's are in the $1,200 to $1,400 range ~ that's before any utilities. My bestie ended up in Briarwood off 70/33rd paying $1,600 in Bradenton because there were no 3/2s in Sarasota last month. True story ~ I'm not kidding ~ nor am I moving from where I've spent the last five years over in Southside Village area...

Traffic: If you drove 41 North past Main St. heading to Fruitville during 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. how'd ya like that cluster... It's not going to get any better as building increases in the downtown arena ~ I'm happy to see building, hopefully it will give our locals jobs once the hotels open...I'm not sure about the situation of parking & exiting onto any of the roads around the Ritz are going to get any better though...

Heat: Enjoy these awesome cool (66 degree) sunrises ~ it won't last much longer!!!

SRQ Film Fest: Starts Friday with opening film about homelessness staring Richard Gere ~ he might even show up

Yup, cluster is an understatement. It has gotten so that I just cut over before/after and use side roads and deal with the stoplights and signs..... (sigh) That is such a terrible intersection. Being the main junction to St.Armand's/Lido and downtown. As I said years ago they really should re-route the traffic off Fruitville onto 10th and make that the artery to the interstate. Such miserably poor planning here..... As a side note, in taking the side streets to miss that cluster I noticed they have added roundabouts everywhere plus done some landscaping on the medians/streets - looks nice.

I have avoided the beaches, UTC, and most restaurants on weekends. We eat out on Tues nights now, rather than weekends. That might change for the summer. Hoping I can start going back to Lido soon if traffic dies down.

Weather got hot early - at least we got a little rain last night - my yard/plants were getting fried!
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:08 AM
 
10 posts, read 7,613 times
Reputation: 16
How about Cooper Creek southbound to Univ ? The Starbooty's is moving just west on Univ past Tuttle next to the other "cluster" around Culver's (they are nasty and expensive ugh). That little strip getting in and out is going to be more of a pain.
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:14 AM
 
10 posts, read 7,613 times
Reputation: 16
Frankly, you will see more people hanging around, and new people relocating with families in tow during this summer.


The car carriers are however very visible in one of their fav loading spots on sr 70 in the large Home Dep parking lot. People actually drop their cars off and leave them right behind the Starbooty's.
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Old 04-06-2015, 09:30 AM
 
2,076 posts, read 3,095,560 times
Reputation: 1021
Quote:
Originally Posted by gypsychic View Post
YThat is such a terrible intersection. Being the main junction to St.Armand's/Lido and downtown. As I said years ago they really should re-route the traffic off Fruitville onto 10th and make that the artery to the interstate. Such miserably poor planning here
Instead of city planning, it seems to be either dreaming or meddling. In the dreaming department, there was an article in the Herald Tribune about building another bridge to Lido from 12th street. I think the price tag was $12 million.

In the meddling department, their is a group called Urban Studio that is making zoning recommendations to the city that will eventually incorporated into the city plan. Their agenda is more walking--less cars. Noble goal--stupid recommendations. To accomplish that goal, Urban Studio is recommending allowing building of apartment buildings on Osprey and the Trail in the Southside Village area and recommending allowing parking on both sides of the street on our street instead of just one side. They don't get that the car problem in our neighborhood is from snowbirds. Increasing the density is not a solution to the car problem in Southside Village.
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Old 04-06-2015, 10:50 AM
 
37 posts, read 59,569 times
Reputation: 19
and here's my .o2 . . .we took a shot today and went to Siesta Key - got there before 10 - found a parking spot fairly easily and were surprised at the number of the people on the beach - but really not too crowded. Ok - forum was correct about crowds departing after Easter. However, they kept coming and coming. Still some space on the beach but two separate very large groups of people (15+) plopped their stuff right down on either side of us and then proceeded to spread out until we were basically overtaken. We got up and left. Noticed in the parking lot on our way out many, many out-of-state plates and traffic very backed up going both ways on the bridge (this was now about 11:15 a.m.). 41 was a nightmare. This was the first time since Thanksgiving that we attempted to go out there. We'll wait another few weeks before we try again. The good part is we live here so can go whenever!
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