Safe but insincere
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7/27/2009
I lived in Wellington, FL as a child about 15 years ago, and it seemed like a nice, natural place at the time, with lots of trees and vacant lots. I have recently moved back, and found that it has become almost unrecognizable. The developers seem to have gone crazy (note the 43% growth rate since 2000), often building houses and commercial buildings on speculation, which then sit empty on what were one nice, natural wooded areas; particularly the commercial buildings. There used to be a 10,000-acre tree nursery with an adjacent strawberry farm, for example, and now it has been replaced by a trendy shopping mall with literally half-empty parking lots every time I drive by it. Almost everyone is from New York or New Jersey now, which makes it feel like Wellington itself has no identity other than being a colony for those states. There seems to be little cultural diversity, even though people of various ethnicities live here: everyone dresses in the popular Western styles, the places of worship are almost all churches, the few foreign restaurants and stores feel forced, and many of the people here from other countries speak better English than me. If anyone does try to stand out, they are sometimes, sadly, made fun of: I work next to an Asian restaurant with employees who are not as Westernized, and everyone else in my "professional" office makes fun of them, even though they bend over backwards for our Asian clients who speak perfect English and carry Coach purses. Everyone in Wellington drives an SUV or a shiny new truck, usually while on their cell phone or texting, and despite fairly low amounts of traffic, driving around town is still incredibly hazardous and nerve-racking. Most people don't speed, but I cannot count how many times I have almost been hit by someone drifting into my lane without a turn signal, or almost got into an accident trying to get around someone driving 15 miles under the speed limit on a busy road--in both cases, the drivers of those vehicles were almost exclusively on their cell phones. I know some people are perfectly capable of doing both at once, but I'm sure experiences like these are good material for stereotyping. Most everyone who is pulling out of a sidestreet also expects you to slam on your brakes for them so that they can pull out ahead of you, which I think is very rude, and in my neighborhood, there also happen to be a lot of teenagers who enjoy walking or biking across the road two feet in front of you while you are driving 45 mph. As far as culture goes, there is only one concert venue, which hosts only big-name acts that are primarily country or easy-listening 80's; no performing arts centers, no museums of any kind, no big colleges or college radio, and only one tiny movie theater (the next closest one is in neighboring Royal Palm Beach, off of the six-lane heckhole known as 441). Almost all the stores and restaurants are chains, usually the ones that take up the most possible land area (Super Walmart, SuperTarget, BJ's, Kohl's, Outback, Homegoods, Macaroni Grill, Starbucks), and what small stores exist are usually a little pricey (one exception is Wellington Florist, which I used for my wedding, and they were actually very kind and reasonably priced). Publix, the local grocery store for Florida, has three nearby locations, and while it is a very clean, well-organized store with decent variety, the prices are actually higher in their Wellington locations than they were in eastern Boca Raton, where I lived before returning here and which is usually considered an expensive area. Wellington is, however, like West Boca Raton: everyone is very concerned about wealth, beauty, material goods, keeping up with meaningless fads, and impressing the neighbors. If anyone here is sincere, able to think outside the box, or unconcerned with the latest celebrity gossip, they certainly do not talk about it in public. Speaking of wealth, even the apartments here are ridiculously expensive: do not expect to pay less than $1000/month for a tiny one-bedroom. In most neighborhoods, you can also be fined for growing your grass a few inches too tall, painting your house the wrong color, parking on your own streetside lawn (though parking in the actual STREET and blocking traffic is okay), or having bird poop on your mailbox. In short, for a geeky, untrendy, poor, vegetarian, history-loving environmentalist who doesn't listen to the radio or watch TV (like me), Wellington is not really an ideal place to live. The two positive things that I will say about the area are these: it is one of few places in eastern Florida where I would feel relatively safe walking or biking at night; and the area by the horse farms and the Aero Club, which consists of pretty houses with whole fields for yards, is a nice, quiet place to drive through and look at something other than suburban sprawl. If only the houses there didn't cost so much....
Abhd | Wellington, FL