St.Pete vs Tampa for my situation (Clearwater, Sarasota: crime rate, house)

[moradrew]

Good afternoon. I am moving to Florida in the next 2 months, I will be transferring to a Verizon Wireless store in Plant City. I am a 24 year old male, not a party animal, but I like to have a great time at the bar. I have two german shepherds that I spend a lot of time with, so bark parks/dog friendly areas will sway my decision.

I am stuck between Tampa-Seminole Heights/hyde park area, or minutes from downtown St.Pete. I am attracted to St.Pete bc from what I read it has less crime, and it is close as heck to the beach. However it seems like a bit of a commute to Plant City.



Specific questions:

CLICK HERE-AREA OF ST.PETE WHERE I MAY LIVE
How far of a commute is it from downtown St.Pete area to Plant City?

From where I would live in St.Pete, would it be smarter to take skyway bridge to 62, then towards Plant city? Or 275 towards Tampa?


Is the St.Pete nightlife suffice for a 24 year old?


Any advice is aprreciated!

[Moni74]

This is kindof off the subject but we are moving to St. Pete because I got a good job and my husband is going to be going back to school (but not until we get residency because out of state tuition is ridiculous). He will be looking for work and he loves Cel phones, electronics, gadgets AND sales. He's mentioned wanting to work at a Cel store. Can you tell me what te job is really like, pay, commission, job openings, etc.

I wish I knew more about your commute time questions or the nightlife in St. Pete, we are old (36!!) so not so much into nightlife anymore

Thank you for any info you have about working for a wireless company.

[ferret111]

You don't want to live in St. Pete if you're working in Plant City, especially since you want to live way down by Pinellas Point. I'd go with Seminole Heights. From what I understand, St. Pete currently has a higher crime rate than Tampa, but I'm not positive.

[CrowGirl]

I agree with ferret....commuting from St Pete to Plant City is quite a haul. I actually bought my house in the Carrollwood area from a couple who were moving to Plant City. He was sick of making the commute from HERE to there.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by ferret111

You don't want to live in St. Pete if you're working in Plant City, especially since you want to live way down by Pinellas Point. I'd go with Seminole Heights. From what I understand, St. Pete currently has a higher crime rate than Tampa, but I'm not positive.

Yup, I agree with ferret, as I often seem to be doing these days

St. Pete does have higher crime than Tampa, and it is way too big a commute to Plant City. There are a lot of nice parts of Seminole Heights, stick to the areas known as "Old Seminole Heights" and avoid Southeast Seminole Hgts.

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by ferret111

You don't want to live in St. Pete if you're working in Plant City, especially since you want to live way down by Pinellas Point. I'd go with Seminole Heights. From what I understand, St. Pete currently has a higher crime rate than Tampa, but I'm not positive.

I think both cities are relatively enjoyable. As far as crime, I would say its a tie on the whole, but Tampa seems to have a lot of run down furniture stores and stuff. Comes in handy to buy cheap in this recession though. Despite all the old run down areas, I am really attracted to Tampa, but I am also attracted to St Pete as well. It can be a tough call sometimes. Same climate, good neighborhoods and bad. Both walkable near the city cores.. Really tough call for me at times.

[sjj1488]

For a 24 yr old, you would definitely want to live in Hyde Park. It's filled with young professionals who like to have a good time. Much less of a commute to plant city as well vs st. pete.

[Kevin from Tampa]

Live in Tampa if you're gonna work in Plant City. St Pete is too far to commute every day if you don't have to.

[LKJ1988]

It's a 1.5 hour drive at best from St Pete to Plant city. Only the rich areas in St Pete are somewhat safe.

[mph101]

Its the drive that makes your plan rather rough. The way to go should you do that commute would be I-275 north to I-4 via the Franklin or Gandy /Crosstown to Plant City and not the Skyway. But it would be a long commute even when traffic is decent at 3 AM on a Monday morning. Other times with traffic and delays you would quickly lose your momentum on thinking this would work.

The southern location in St. Pete offers excellent access to the south as you mention by the skyway. Really the only good section of I-275 is in Pinellas & Manatee. Traffic moves, there is nothing nice to say about the traffic on I-275 in Tampa.

The area you like in St. Pete is cool. Hogwash to the constant crime junk you read. Yeah certainly there is crime in any city. I live in the area of St. Pete you like. I walk my 3 dogs daily, St. Pete has a lot of dog parks, in fact St. Pete has a lot of parks compared to Tampa. From the location you are showing there are 4 dogs fairly close. Ft. Desoto, Pass-a-grille, & ST. Pete Beach awesome beaches.

Ft. Desoto has a nice dog park along with some open beach. and enjoy a decent night life of bars and clubs in ST. Pete and the beaches. Theres a fair music scene. I'm keen on the State Theater, Jannus landing for indie, metal, pop smaller acts. The Vans Warp tour was just held this past weekend at the Bayfront park as it has been for the past several years in Downtown. For the fewer large concerts I can afford or even want to see its not a bad trip to Tampa to see them. St. Pete to Tampa for a night out is doable from St. Pete easily.

Ybor area of Tampa has a lot of venues and nightlife too, yet its more pricey and tourist trap. I don't think Tampa has the quality of open areas or scenic places as St. Pete in fact I know it doesn't you can live on Harbor Island with big bucks but you still back up to the Port loaded with haz-mat petro oil, heavy industry, stinking waste waster treatment plant, a view of junk yards and the threat of a LPG or ammonia leak causing the sirens to go off warning you that disaster is coming you way.
Tampa is a more urbanized, old industry, feel over St. Pete.

..........its pure bull that only rich areas are safe in St. Pete. Gave me a good laugh. I don 't know how some of these people live so afraid of there shadow crying out about crime. Crime is scary but to come out with some of these absurd observations constantly, they must live boxed into a room with 10" thick walls to protect them from the hoodlums. They need to go back to small town America population 18 in 20 sq. miles.

Bottom line that commute is a no go if you want have any time for a life and the cost of getting to work will not be going down. Forget the Plant city gig in the first place and look for a job in Bradenton, Sarasota or Clearwater if you can't get one in St. Pete and then right on with the move you are talking about. It will work out for you nicely.