For foreign grad. students: Tampa vs. Miami - Seldom mentioned items (Orlando: apartment complexes, renters)

[semiretired]

For Foreign Grad Students: Tampa vs. Miami as a place to live: Seldom mentioned items

Tampa is to Miami as San Diego is to LA:

1) Tampa highways: NEW - Miami highways: OLD
(This make a big difference, bec. of the huge size of the metropolitan areas here, highways are used on a daily basis, unlike in Europe.) New means with smooth pavement, new also means that capacity is larger compared to demand - smooth flow.

2) Type of highway traffic: Miami has 60% more trucks, as it is a huge international port.In Tampa, you will be driving with cars, not with trucks, they are rarer here.

3) Beach comparison: Although millions of international travelers go to Miami, local yokels who have lived there (yours truly, 6 years ) will tell you: Key Biscayne has been denuded of pines on bill bags state park. No longer that nice. The beaches before that now have a $5 fee, and the car-beach distance has become huge (5 minute walk). By comparison, Clearwater Beaches are so white, your eyes will burn, (Gulf-shell-composite-sand) with close parking. (I'm guessing one reason Scientology located its headquarters there is so that their European recruits go "Ooooh, I guess I'm staying.." )Another world-class beach beating Miami is Fort de Soto Beach. It has a clear, shallow translucent stream running about 400 feet behind the beach. Plus, in tampa you have western sunsets (sun dips into ocean). Finally, you have quiet swimming water if you like to do distance swimming. The atlantic in Miami is more agitated. Yet, in 2 hours you can be in Orlando for a surfing break from Tampa.
Ok, Miami has the keys, but that is a long trip, and the road is full on weekends.

4) Miami: Overcrowed, Tampa: Just right. Ever been to Europe ? Noticed how the cities are overflowing, you can't move around in supermarkets, narrow isles, no good parking. That's Miami now. Not when I lived there, but Miami is now like Europe. Every upper-middle class Latin-American has a condo there, because its a gateway to that continent. Tampa is not. It's a renters or home-owners heaven.

5) Academics: You happen to be in the lifesciences, work with stem cells ? Well USF, though generally mid-ranked, is in top 4 in the US in some regenerative medicine subspecialties. A big factor is also traffic-mobility comparison around the university: in Tampa you have big 4 lane roads, in Miami everything is connected to 2 lane US 1. Looking to do clinical trials ? There is a never ending supply of hospitals around USF, as well as specialized imaging centers.

6) Housing around USF. :Lots of apartment complexes. Basically, big hospitals were erected in a "dicey" neighborhood. But, if you want to live nice, check out the Tampa Palms area about 2-3 miles up Bruce Downs, that's upper-middle class,very nice, connected to wild parks. The other day, two sedan-high grey wading birds stand by the road, with red combs, stopped chewing, eyed me suspiciously as I stop the car. Tampa has real wilderness close to settled area. Miami, by comparison is overbuilt.

7) Temperature: Negligible - Miami is just a bit warmer in Winter, you can swim here too. (If your from Calif. - the locals here don't swim in Winter, they are accustomed to 30 deg. weather).

8) Connectivity: Everybody moans that Tampa International does not have a lot of European flights. Secret: you don't have to drive to Orlando - Go to Ft. Myers, much closer, direct flights to Germany via Air Berlin - no stopping in Atlanta or NY ! This is a regular German airline, not a charter, flying comfortable Airbuses.

Conclusion: So, if you are a student in science, carefully weigh these factors: crowding causes stress, Tampas population is stretched thin over a huge area, less tense than Miami, good luck.

And - lots of jobs coming up with lightrail, though this is a mistaken project. Florida planners should look at the California Hallitube Initiative - novel concepts: 1) Public transit system were you control vehicle,2) high speed, 3) novel vehicle transfer allowing serial operation attached to highways, 4) Microstations in malls, large employers. Google Hallitubes.