Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay
 [Register]
Tampa Bay Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-10-2008, 10:43 AM
 
61 posts, read 299,939 times
Reputation: 56

Advertisements

Which place would you choose and why? We are a young family, two kids, and make in the $220K range. We need good schools, the least amount of crime possible, good beaches, and good restaurants. We have job offers in both areas and need to decide which one to go with. Let me know your opinion! Thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-10-2008, 01:11 PM
 
346 posts, read 1,337,807 times
Reputation: 174
Wellington is nice, but there's no beaches there since it's so far inland. WPB is aweful with crime and all. Clearwater has the best beaches around and the schools there are good. St. Pete has nice beaches too, but their schools are so so. Boca might fit what you're looking for. It has all the amenities with good shops, restaurants, and good schools as well. It's also close to the beaches. Your income also fits in the Boca lifestyle range. Not that it matters much, but Boca has a huge Jewish population. That could be a great thing or not for some, but I just wanted to throw it out there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2008, 01:18 PM
 
Location: Tampa, Fl (SoHo/Hyde Park)
1,336 posts, read 4,951,375 times
Reputation: 1039
south florida (palm beach) and tampa bay are like night and day, no comparison. u need a TON of money to live in wellington or boca and its a high attitude, ritzy, snobbish environment, very NY agressive atmosphere....tampa bay is more rugged, industrial, working class with a semi southern-redneck twist. cost of living lower in tampa bay and i find the weather way more oppressively hot in hillsborough county than i did in south florida.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 12:17 PM
 
91 posts, read 386,351 times
Reputation: 84
If you are looking to surround yourself with snobby jerks that yap on their cell phones in their beemers and act like they are better than you even if they are a waiter barely affording the car payment...move to Boca, lots of that there...not everyone, but a majority for sure. Public schools are ok in Boca but there are good Private schools... if you want to spend 15k a year to put your kid in kindergarten... But hey, if you can afford it, and want to deal with your kid asking you "where is MY Porsche?" on their 16th birthday because all their friends have one... Boca is the place for that... (can you tell I don't like Boca?) my inlaws live in West Boca and that is a little tamer but I still dislike it...

If you want to get carjacked, move to WPB (there are nicer big money areas near there but I never found it to be that great.

Wellington is not that bad, I had a friends that lived there when we lived in Boynton Beach and it seemed on the level. But aside from the Wellington Mall, you are far from everything.

We are moving to Tampa in a few weeks for my job. From what I have seen during the times I have been there, it is less pretentious than the east coast. At least in the areas I have been to (Odessa, Land O Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Westchase and surrounding areas) I have seen a pretty good mix of nice people. I found people to be generally friendly in day to day dealings (bank, stores, restaurants), I did not get this "hospitality" when we lived on the southeast coast of FL. You can get a pretty nice home in a well kept area in the Tampa vicinity for a good price.

Clearwater in my experience was mega overcrowded. It took us 2 hours to get out there when mapquest said 35 minutes. I heard St. Pete is nice but I have never been there. South Tampa is supposed to be where all the folks with $ live. I have not been through there yet though.

All in all, I think you'll find a more well rounded bunch of people in the Tampa area in relation to the areas you are considering on the East coast. That is just from my experiences there. Apparently Land O Lakes from what I am told is the new horizon and there is alot of new construction taking place to make it a mecca of convenience and simple luxury. I have been through some of the newer developments in LOL and they are very nice.

Good schools is a hard topic to discuss because anyone can look at the stats and see that FL lags behind in education. But everytime I see a "where are the good schools?" post here, it seems that everyone brags about how their area has great "A rated" schools. But it is sad that an A rated school in FL is a D rated school in the north. That is a huge concern of mine since our local public schools are good where we live now.

Anyway, good luck with your move!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 12:54 PM
 
346 posts, read 1,337,807 times
Reputation: 174
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackacc View Post
If you are looking to surround yourself with snobby jerks that yap on their cell phones in their beemers and act like they are better than you even if they are a waiter barely affording the car payment...move to Boca, lots of that there...not everyone, but a majority for sure. Public schools are ok in Boca but there are good Private schools... if you want to spend 15k a year to put your kid in kindergarten... But hey, if you can afford it, and want to deal with your kid asking you "where is MY Porsche?" on their 16th birthday because all their friends have one... Boca is the place for that... (can you tell I don't like Boca?) my inlaws live in West Boca and that is a little tamer but I still dislike it...

If you want to get carjacked, move to WPB (there are nicer big money areas near there but I never found it to be that great.

Wellington is not that bad, I had a friends that lived there when we lived in Boynton Beach and it seemed on the level. But aside from the Wellington Mall, you are far from everything.

We are moving to Tampa in a few weeks for my job. From what I have seen during the times I have been there, it is less pretentious than the east coast. At least in the areas I have been to (Odessa, Land O Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Westchase and surrounding areas) I have seen a pretty good mix of nice people. I found people to be generally friendly in day to day dealings (bank, stores, restaurants), I did not get this "hospitality" when we lived on the southeast coast of FL. You can get a pretty nice home in a well kept area in the Tampa vicinity for a good price.

Clearwater in my experience was mega overcrowded. It took us 2 hours to get out there when mapquest said 35 minutes. I heard St. Pete is nice but I have never been there. South Tampa is supposed to be where all the folks with $ live. I have not been through there yet though.

All in all, I think you'll find a more well rounded bunch of people in the Tampa area in relation to the areas you are considering on the East coast. That is just from my experiences there. Apparently Land O Lakes from what I am told is the new horizon and there is alot of new construction taking place to make it a mecca of convenience and simple luxury. I have been through some of the newer developments in LOL and they are very nice.

Good schools is a hard topic to discuss because anyone can look at the stats and see that FL lags behind in education. But everytime I see a "where are the good schools?" post here, it seems that everyone brags about how their area has great "A rated" schools. But it is sad that an A rated school in FL is a D rated school in the north. That is a huge concern of mine since our local public schools are good where we live now.

Anyway, good luck with your move!
Have you really lived in that area before or only heard stories from disgruntled people? I don't live in Boca, but I'm pretty close to it. Sure there's a lot of money there, but they all don't drive BMW and Porsches and ask one another for Grey Poupon from their Rolls.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 01:21 PM
 
91 posts, read 386,351 times
Reputation: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by dk22 View Post
Have you really lived in that area before or only heard stories from disgruntled people? I don't live in Boca, but I'm pretty close to it. Sure there's a lot of money there, but they all don't drive BMW and Porsches and ask one another for Grey Poupon from their Rolls.
Yes, I actually spent 3 years working in Boca and I have alot of family that lives within the city limits of Boca so I spent almost every day there during those 3 years.

Of course not all of the people there are like that, but there are plenty that are. And sure, they would never ask another to borrow Grey Poupon, they would just cut them off with no turn signal on their way to the store to buy it

It's just not my cup of tea that's all, I was raised in NJ and grew up differently. There are alot of areas in North Jersey that remind me of South FL as well, I am not too fond of them either. Something just bothers me about kids driving around in $50k cars when they are 16 and believing they deserve it. I found in Boca that many people had an inflated sense of worth. I experienced that in South FL quite a bit. I may be hypersensitive to that sort of thing but it bothered me.

One positive thing I can say about Boca is that the crime rate is usually pretty low from my experience there. Surrounding areas, maybe not. Delray has the hood on the outskirts of downtown and Boynton has shootings at the mall. Although I did read in the paper when I was down there over Christmas vacation, that a woman and her 8 year old daughter were executed in their car while shopping at the Boca Town Center mall and that really affected me since some of my inlaws live close to there. Looks like a carjacking gone bad but awful nontheless.

I just found people to be not as nice and a bit more self absorbed in South FL when compared with my dealings with people on the West Coast. Someone posted earlier that Tampa has more of a working class feel and that is fine with me. Real people that work hard, not trust fund babies.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 02:52 PM
 
346 posts, read 1,337,807 times
Reputation: 174
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackacc View Post
Yes, I actually spent 3 years working in Boca and I have alot of family that lives within the city limits of Boca so I spent almost every day there during those 3 years.

Of course not all of the people there are like that, but there are plenty that are. And sure, they would never ask another to borrow Grey Poupon, they would just cut them off with no turn signal on their way to the store to buy it

It's just not my cup of tea that's all, I was raised in NJ and grew up differently. There are alot of areas in North Jersey that remind me of South FL as well, I am not too fond of them either. Something just bothers me about kids driving around in $50k cars when they are 16 and believing they deserve it. I found in Boca that many people had an inflated sense of worth. I experienced that in South FL quite a bit. I may be hypersensitive to that sort of thing but it bothered me.

One positive thing I can say about Boca is that the crime rate is usually pretty low from my experience there. Surrounding areas, maybe not. Delray has the hood on the outskirts of downtown and Boynton has shootings at the mall. Although I did read in the paper when I was down there over Christmas vacation, that a woman and her 8 year old daughter were executed in their car while shopping at the Boca Town Center mall and that really affected me since some of my inlaws live close to there. Looks like a carjacking gone bad but awful nontheless.

I just found people to be not as nice and a bit more self absorbed in South FL when compared with my dealings with people on the West Coast. Someone posted earlier that Tampa has more of a working class feel and that is fine with me. Real people that work hard, not trust fund babies.
Yeah, they could be tough to swallow at times, but I got use to it. You know what hardened me? I had to commute to Dade County and drive around there from place to place for 3 years. It made Broward feel like a dream after putting up with Dade County drivers for that long.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2008, 06:05 PM
 
Location: Tampa, Fl (SoHo/Hyde Park)
1,336 posts, read 4,951,375 times
Reputation: 1039
i simply couldnt stomach the mentality of people in south florida. ive never seen anything like it (ny/long island, jersey) comes close but south florida is just bizarre. tampa is getting that way somewhat but nowhere near south florida. theres way less flare, money and nonsense in tampa bay. i would NEVER raise kids in south florida, tampa is debateable but never sofla...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-13-2008, 07:32 AM
 
Location: Orlando, FL
1,988 posts, read 7,124,980 times
Reputation: 656
Tampa is notorious for being down to earth. It has a lot of the same great stuff, costs a lot less money, and has prettier beaches IMO. I would look into Westchase or Clearwater or South Tampa.
Even the 16 year old host at the PF Changs in Boca was a total snob to us so I know exactly what people are talking about. I like both areas for different reasons but would recommend Tampa over South Florida. It makes a great weekend trip or getaway but is a hard place to live.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-13-2008, 07:53 AM
 
91 posts, read 386,351 times
Reputation: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilshire81182 View Post
Even the 16 year old host at the PF Changs in Boca was a total snob to us so I know exactly what people are talking about.
Haha, yeah when I lived in South FL, I worked at a high school. One day I overheard two 16 year old girls discussing this HUGE problem in the hallway. The one girl could not decide if she wanted a yellow Hummer or a black one for her birthday. I am dead serious. You would think she was deciding between life or death by her tone of voice. It was pretty funny, and pathetic at the same time.

She chose Yellow, it was in the parking lot the next week, couldn't miss it...and then she backed it into a concrete post the 2nd day she had it.

But as stated above, South FL is a nice place to go visit, I just would not want to live there full time anymore.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top