Pinellas or Sarasota?

[punkfan39126]

I really don't want to come off as a jerk or a Sarasota-hater because I know a lot of you guys love it but be prepared for a lot of pretentiousness if you move there. I grew up in Sarasota and live in St Pete now. I recently went back to Sarasota to visit my mom and couldn't wait to get the Hell out of there. First off, nobody has a real job, you'll meet a lot of "social media marketing strategists" which is code for "I have rich parents". Traffic is terrible, I was there on Tuesday afternoon and it took my FOREVER to get from place to place in town. This also proves that nobody works. It's like a fake, backwoods Beverly Hills where even the most half-assed artist or businessperson that couldn't hack it in a real city comes to be a big deal. People have a lemming mentality when it comes to things that are supposedly "cool". If a restaurant or bar isn't seen as "cool" by the "cool kids" it'll go under and vice-versa, and everyone always has shiny new iphone even if they just bought one 4 months ago. I worked on Main St. for years as a waiter and people in Sarasota treated me as if I wasn't even a human being. And it's also about as racist as a town can be, people aren't outwardly hateful but most are scared or uncomfortable around black people. Sorry, I swear I'll never do this rant again but I had to get it off my chest.

[Wwanderer]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

"Too-too" what? LOL

The OP used this term--I think he or she knows what it means. Only referring to downtown Sarasota.

[marcopolo]

I vote for you getting on the ground in Sarasota, St. Pete, Dunedin, Oldsmar, Safety Harbor--and seeing with your own eyes, and getting your own feel for the vibe. I completely understand why people are enchanted with each of these areas, for their own reasons.

We spent a lot of time researching Mount Dora, pleasant artsy lake community in the center of the state. Then we visited. Then we knew we needed to change our target area. (No offense to Mount Dora.) Focused on a couple of towns in Pinellas, picked one, love it love it love it. We've spent some daytrips in Sarasota, understand why people are high on it, but we needed to be closer to Tampa International Airport. Greater Tampa Bay area offers a wealth of choices, from beach communities to small towns to urban living to suburbia--and wherever you land, you are close to all these things. Good luck.

[Tink444]

Thank you all so much. I am headed that way in two weeks . You have given me a better idea of what areas to focus upon when I get there.

Thank you

[Tink444]

That was very informative about Sarasota. Starting to sound a lot like Boca and no one there actually worked either. Am staying away from Naples etc because that is similar too. I just cannot do it again. LOL My EYES are OPEN. :-)
Thank you, thank you!

[floridagirl777]

Sarasota is nice, but I personally like Oldsmar, Dunedin, and Safety Harbor (in Pinellas County) better. They are far less pretentious areas, and are not as spread out as Sarasota. They also have a very "down homey" feel and are close-knit communities. I lived in Oldsmar for several years and am now in Safety Harbor. I loved living in both areas. We had an opportunity to live in Sarasota, but chose not to because it lacked the family feel we were looking for.

Good luck. As someone on here already said, your best bet is to come and see these areas for yourself. I am sure you will find the right fit.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by floridagirl777

Sarasota is nice, but I personally like Oldsmar, Dunedin, and Safety Harbor (in Pinellas County) better. They are far less pretentious areas, and are not as spread out as Sarasota. They also have a very "down homey" feel and are close-knit communities. I lived in Oldsmar for several years and am now in Safety Harbor. I loved living in both areas. We had an opportunity to live in Sarasota, but chose not to because it lacked the family feel we were looking for.

Good luck. As someone on here already said, your best bet is to come and see these areas for yourself. I am sure you will find the right fit.

Floridagirl, I really resent when people just broadsweep a whole city as "pretentious". I live in Sarasota and while you can find some of that here, most of it is pretty wonderful, especially my neighborhood. I like your area a lot too, but I am sure you can find your pretentious people there as well. I am glad you and Wanderer and anyone else living in those areas are happy, that's great, but as Marcopolo pointed out we all have our different reasons why we prefer one place over another. It is just not fair to paint any place with such a broad brush. Opinions can be very skewed on a message board. That is why I agree with you about them seeing for themselves.

[wlkcde]

From what I've seen, Sarasota seems to have a divide between its full-time residents and its snowbirds. I have never really had this feeling living in St. Pete and its very easy to forget that tourism is a major part of the Pinellas county economy. I'm imagining that Sarasota is probably losing some of this divide as the boom in the 2000s made for a large number of new subdivisions in Manatee and Sarasota counties with middle and upper middle class full-time residents.

On a side note, Sarasota traffic really is frustrating. I don't think it is any worse than Pinellas traffic (definitely not worse than US-19 near Countryside), but it feels very congested because I-75 is on the very edge of the city limits. The drive from I-75 to downtown Sarasota seems to take a solid 20 minutes. Again, I do not live in Sarasota and I think one of the reasons I have perceived Sarasota traffic to be bad is because I am already making a 45 minute drive to Sarasota.