Some good stuff about Bradenton (Tampa, St. Petersburg: rent, crime, how much)

[Old Man Winter]

I lived in Bradenton for 16 years, it has changed over the years like all places do. For me, I hate that town. house broken into 2 different times, held off the burglar at gunpoint both times until police came , attempted car jacking by the red barn many years ago, held them off at 9mm point , drugs, hookers, gang violence. I know its not all of Bradenton, but for me the quiet little town it use to be turned into one big crack laden ghetto. I still hate going back to visit friends, every time I enter the city I cant wait to leave !

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Old Man Winter

I lived in Bradenton for 16 years, it has changed over the years like all places do. For me, I hate that town. house broken into 2 different times, held off the burglar at gunpoint both times until police came , attempted car jacking by the red barn many years ago, held them off at 9mm point , drugs, hookers, gang violence. I know its not all of Bradenton, but for me the quiet little town it use to be turned into one big crack laden ghetto. I still hate going back to visit friends, every time I enter the city I cant wait to leave !

Sounds like my experiences in Sarasota 15 years ago, which is why I hated that town back then. It was the neighborhood I lived in (Laurel Park). Me and hubby SWORE we would never come back. Well, I learned to never say "never." We are now back, and loving it, but then we live in a better neighborhood now (and in fairness Laurel Park is better than it used to be).
But being victim of a crime several times can really color one's perception about a place, even it you logically know it's not the whole area. Sarasota still has a lot of crime like you describe in Bradenton, it is mostly concentrated in the inner city, and more specifically Newtown. In both towns I try to stay out of the bad areas.

Anyway, I would like to keep this thread on track which is "Some GOOD stuff about Bradenton." Please, pretty please! There are enough people here who want to totally trash this town, and it DOES have some good things to offer. And I believe it will get better and better, lots of good things coming to Bradenton over the next decade. Places DO change, Sarasota sure did, we didn't even visit for the 12 years we were gone and were SHOCKED at how nice it had become during that time! I am hoping for the same for the pretty little city of Bradenton, it has a lot of potential.

[Old Man Winter]

Gypsy, my appologies. I did not intend on hijacking the thread with negative vibes of Bradenton. The dog park over by GT bray I thk , awesome place to run your dogs. AMI and the causeway were always a good day at the beach. One of my most memorable experiences to date in my 21 years in Florida came from the Bolletierri tennis academy. I took in 2 exchange students from Brazil for an entire year, was probably the most culturaly diverse things i will ever do ! Baseball right in town with the Pirates. I also use to love going to councils for the best burger in town ( back in the day ) lol. The riverfront use to have great fishing. And the small park , north off 75th, had some of the best redfish holes in manatee county. Its not all bad.

[DoctorRain]

Its a crazy cycle. I think when Bradenton improves, they are gonna push their trash toward Parrish and if Palmetto improves, anything north will not be nice anymore since they push their gangs north and stuff.
People left Bradenton to move to Ellenton and Parrish and then those who escaped for there will leave once Bradenton pushes their trash to those new subdivisions out by Sr 75 lol.
I frankly see the next gangland to be the burbs outside of it, so Bradenton indeed has potential.

[{ Nico }]

Thanks for starting this thread! We are looking into moving to Bradenton and everything we have found on here about the Bradenton area has been mostly negative! But, we've been there numerous times and have not yet felt unsafe. We also looked at the Manatee County crime rate in comparison to where we live and found that Manatee County has less crime than where we live in Indiana!!

Just with every place there are bad areas and good ones! Keep the "good stuff" coming!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by { Nico }

Thanks for starting this thread! We are looking into moving to Bradenton and everything we have found on here about the Bradenton area has been mostly negative! But, we've been there numerous times and have not yet felt unsafe. We also looked at the Manatee County crime rate in comparison to where we live and found that Manatee County has less crime than where we live in Indiana!!

Just with every place there are bad areas and good ones! Keep the "good stuff" coming!

Hi Nico! There are nice places to live in Bradenton. As far as crime, well for sure it's too high, but in today's paper there was an article that crime in Bradenton went down over 5% last year, and in fact has gone down for the last 6 years. It still needs to come down more, but it's a good sign that it's on a long downward trend. Law enforcement has been coming down hard on gangs and such and they are going to other areas to do their bad deeds.

OLDMANWINTER - Thank you. Bradenton is a great place for fisherman. Besides the Gulf, there are the Bays and rivers! The area is really blessed with fabulous waterfronts. I just love the little fishing village of Cortez! I hope it never changes!

Here's something I bet no one knows about that is in Bradenton - horseback riding on the beach! Well, it's actually Palma Sola Bay, but how cool is that?

Horseback Riding on the Beach - Trail Rides Sarasota-Bradenton-Tampa (http://www.beachhorses.com/Great_World_Way/Home.html - broken link)

I would like to try that some time!

[tommy-105]

Pretty Cool! (Give the video a chance to get started.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtMQoR6xb0

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Hi Nico! There are nice places to live in Bradenton. As far as crime, well for sure it's too high, but in today's paper there was an article that crime in Bradenton went down over 5% last year, and in fact has gone down for the last 6 years. It still needs to come down more, but it's a good sign that it's on a long downward trend. Law enforcement has been coming down hard on gangs and such and they are going to other areas to do their bad deeds.

OLDMANWINTER - Thank you. Bradenton is a great place for fisherman. Besides the Gulf, there are the Bays and rivers! The area is really blessed with fabulous waterfronts. I just love the little fishing village of Cortez! I hope it never changes!

Here's something I bet no one knows about that is in Bradenton - horseback riding on the beach! Well, it's actually Palma Sola Bay, but how cool is that?

Horseback Riding on the Beach - Trail Rides Sarasota-Bradenton-Tampa (http://www.beachhorses.com/Great_World_Way/Home.html - broken link)

I would like to try that some time!

Very cool; used to see horses all the time when I lived on AMI & came across the causeway.

[keelybella]

My husband and I have only lived in Bradenton a little over a year now and I have a lot of great things to say about the area! I, too, read these forums before moving to the area. (Truth be told, I was moving here regardless but it never hurts to do research). I've been a visitor to the Bradenton / AMI area for over 20 years as my entire family lives in the area. Each year I saw the area grow and change.

I've lived in quite a few states and I've seen the same negative things in every one of those states that folks refer to as faults in Bradenton. For me, though, there are so many more positive traits to living in this area over others: (no particular order)

} Village of the Arts - former gallery owner and resident.
} Surrounded by museums and art galleries
} the mellow vibe, gorgeous beaches and mom and pop shops/restaurants of Anna Maria Island
} the fun and quirkiness of Siesta Key - only a 30 mintue drive away at most!!
} farmer's markets, craft fairs, art fairs, festivals of all kinds, music (almost) year-round
} Proximity to the Manatee River and the Gulf of Mexico
} easy access to parks, recreational areas and plentiful bike paths/roads
} longer baseball seasons (spring training camps AND the rays!!) - always a game a short drive away!!

I could go on... but truly Bradenton gets a bad rep and it's sad. There is a lot to offer here!!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by keelybella

My husband and I have only lived in Bradenton a little over a year now and I have a lot of great things to say about the area! I, too, read these forums before moving to the area. (Truth be told, I was moving here regardless but it never hurts to do research). I've been a visitor to the Bradenton / AMI area for over 20 years as my entire family lives in the area. Each year I saw the area grow and change.

I've lived in quite a few states and I've seen the same negative things in every one of those states that folks refer to as faults in Bradenton. For me, though, there are so many more positive traits to living in this area over others: (no particular order)

} Village of the Arts - former gallery owner and resident.
} Surrounded by museums and art galleries
} the mellow vibe, gorgeous beaches and mom and pop shops/restaurants of Anna Maria Island
} the fun and quirkiness of Siesta Key - only a 30 mintue drive away at most!!
} farmer's markets, craft fairs, art fairs, festivals of all kinds, music (almost) year-round
} Proximity to the Manatee River and the Gulf of Mexico
} easy access to parks, recreational areas and plentiful bike paths/roads
} longer baseball seasons (spring training camps AND the rays!!) - always a game a short drive away!!

I could go on... but truly Bradenton gets a bad rep and it's sad. There is a lot to offer here!!

I could not agree with you more Keely! Those are the things I love about the area! Say, have you ever been to the Robinson Preserve? I have never been there, but would like to go, I have heard there are bike paths, and love to ride through nature. I do think Manatee has a lot of great parks and nature preserves, which for me is a huge asset.