Bradenton -Sarasota - Jewish (Miami, Tampa: transplants, rentals, houses)

[FloydTech]

Looking to get a feel for the Jewish community in Bradenton - Sarasota. My company may transfer me and I am curious regarding the area. We havent visited yet, my wife and I hope to do so in the next month..and we might be moving after Pesach. I am sure like most places prices of homes to buy or rent vary quite a bit is Bradenton less expensive then Sarasota? Any info would be appreciated.

[macyny]

I don't know why you haven't gotten responses.
We are Jewish and live in the Palm Area which is Manatee Cty on the Sarasota/ Manatee line.
Houses are affordable. Great communities, we are close to Lakewood Ranch. Lots of golf courses, great shopping. We moved here from NYC five years ago.
Our area has many families with kids and retired folks. If I had young kids I'd put them in private schools.
Costs are much lower than NY.
We are comfortable and find so much to do.

[gypsychic]

I have a number of Jewish friends and acquaintnces here in the Sarasota/Bradenton area. As someone else mentioned, most people here do not care if you are Jewish, or anything else. There is a nice live-and-let-live mentality here for the most part. People are settling here from all parts of the country and world, so it has become a lot more cosmopolitan than it was in decades past.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by -Zoeli-

Agreed, but having Jews (alone) living in any city doesn't make it cosmopolitan...lol

You are very correct in noting transitions over the decades however. You would probably acknowledge that people actually MOVED to Manatee Sarasota because of the lack of New Yorkers traditionally. At least that's what I've heard from friends and associates of mine over the decades here in this region from Tampa/Pinellas all the way south to Naples - but especially Sarasota. For whatever reason folks from the midwest and of course Canada (e.g. Toronto area) didn't want to deal with or live around the east coasters (who were heretofore enamored with Miami, Boca, Jupiter, FtL, PB). This has always been a mecca for midwesterners for sure.

I would agree totally about Bradenton (midwesterners), but Sarasota not nearly so much. I have lived here a total of 30 years now, and there has always been people from all over. I wasn't speaking about just Jewish population making it more cosmopolitan. But we do have people from all over, with many different backgrounds. I am a Florida native and am used to diverse populations (I am from Tampa). I myself am Spanish, have friends and acquaintances from many different backgrounds. I have never cared about anyone's ethnic or religious background, I only care what kind of human being you are.

[beach43ofus]

There's a Jewish food festival down in Venice today on East Venice Ave. Maybe you should be lookng a bit further South.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by -Zoeli-

Well, I go back to the days of The Sheraton Sandcastle, The Lime Tree, Crown House and Tail of the Pup, and The Broadway....I'll let you do the math. LOL


Yes, The City of Bradenton has always been mostly truly 'midwestern', and not a Jew in sight. I would somewhat disagree that Sarasota County (historically) has been something tremendously more than transplants from Chicago, Wisconsin, MN, OHIO, Michigan (especially), and IN (to a lesser extent)....and lots of transplants from Ontario CA. The City of Sarasota began to attract transplants from upstate NY and Maine....but not until very recently NYC and very rarely from anyone from NJ or CT.


The City of Tampa (proper) has always been totally different from a transplant and NATIVE makeup. There were tons of non-transplant natives that were Cuban, Italian, Greek, Black, and native southern Anglos.
The City of Sarasota, Sarasota County and Manatee County never had the volume of Cuban or other Spanish-speaking groups (especially City of Sarasota) as Tampa and Hillsborough. Even the rather large gypsy community that was in Sarasota County seemed to have disappeared from eastern Sarasota County and northern SRQ county.


One of the largest concentrations of Jews can be found up and down Longboat Key, and presently in and around built up City (DT) Sarasota. (You won't find many at all in built up DT City of Bradenton, or for that matter NW Bradenton either). This 2 county area is not, nor has been a Magnet for Jews (especially the NY ilk).


This area also has really NEVER intentionally marketed itself to east-coasters either, as with you would certainly agree. That sentiment still exists today in many many quarters....governmental leaders and even developers.

Ok,well the OP wanted to know about Jews here. There are Jews here. I know many, am friends with many, as I previously stated, for the most part no one cares what you are. I hope they explore for themselves.

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by -Zoeli-

This area also has really NEVER intentionally marketed itself to east-coasters either, as with you would certainly agree. That sentiment still exists today in many many quarters....governmental leaders and even developers.

Not true any longer.
We have a cottage in Rhode Island and there are quite a few decent sized ads regularly in major newspapers and magazines.

I'd agree with many of the posts that most people here are non-judgemental about religion - but, of course, some of the "heart of the south" Christian vibe is evident. Those are probably "locals" - full time residents. This is no different than many other "bible belt" areas, except it's a much smaller %%.

I have Jewish friends down here - but there are zero things they do that have anything to do with their religion...I mean NOTHING. In my years here (as a snowbird), I don't think I have seen a single Hasidic Jew and rarely (if ever) even an orthodox type of family as you see by the thousands on the east coast. I'm not saying they don't exist - just that they are not evident.

Plenty of Amish tho. If you miss beards you can take a ride to Pinecraft...

I suspect the vast majority of the Jewish people in this are are like us and my friends...what might be called "Jews by ethnicity", "reform jews", secular jews or assimilated jews. Probably a lot of partial jewish families also...

It is likely that the % of Jews in the Sarasota area exceeds the national percentage.....but compared to where most of us come from (Philly, NYC, etc.) it is non-existent.

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by -Zoeli-

Few developers and administrators and business people wanted this area to look, sound, and feel like the east coast of Florida, OR the NE part of the US. That sentiment is very much alive and well, particularly among natives and very long time residents that moved here from all over the Midwest. I see and here that sentiment almost daily.

Well, you should inform the "Christian" planning and zoning boards about that.

Have you seen the Vue building downtown? Do you know they are going to build a bunch more behind it and then have ALL the traffic from 41 and Fruitville and all those buildings use a "traffic circle". Heck, that is worse than the east coast which was smart enough not to install traffic circles in any volume.

As far as the swamp-draining developments going in which are building houses by the 10's of thousands - they look and feel identical to similar development in Davie (right outside Ft. Lauderdale) and elsewhere.

Traffic? Just imagine when another 100,000 homes bring 250,000 additional people - with little or no public transportation or parkways or direct routes to get to the city, bayfront and barrier islands.

We can surely say that "Jewish folks didn't do that".

Now - I'm with you that no particular religion should take over vast tracts or cities on the Gulf Coast. The Amish and Mennonites and even "regular" Christians have some of their own developments here, but they are of fixed size and usually do no impinge upon their neighbors.

BTW, how do we measure the %'s of snowbirds of one religion or another....that make up a vast percentage of the winter residents down here? Just interested....no one ever surveyed anyone I know.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the % in Sarasota City is higher than 1.4%. But it's a moving target due to so many rentals and so many that come and go.

[craigiri]

I checked how they gather the stats and it seems they go to "religious bodies" (churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.) and ask them how large their membership is.

The same stats show a VAST population in Sarasota professing no religion or no religious affiliation.

Back to the OP - I guess the most accurate answer was something like my first.....the "organized" Jewish communities (services) are probably quite small. But the number of those who have Jewish families or backgrounds is probably bigger than many think.

I know it's anecdotal, but often when I meet people arbitrarily I find many are from the Philly area (for example) and many have Jewish roots of some kind (I can tell by the neighborhood they say they came from).

And so, I think secular Jews will find it 100% to their liking in that sense. Religious Jews should explore from afar (talk to synagogues or orgs) to see if their particular ways can be accomodated.

[Coachgns]

There are several synagogues here, reform, comservative & orthodox, as well as Hasidim. Coming from Long Island and being Jewish, I really do not feel any different than I did there.
Religion should not be a factor n a move here.