Oh C-water, Oh C-water how lovely are thy branches

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7/1/2019
I've resided in Clearwater for 30 odd years (no pun intended). It does have it's good and bad. We are an attractive city wrapped around an amazing piece of waterfront. Yes, we have tourist. But HELLO that is were a lot of us earn our livings and where our tax basis comes from. Would you prefer ugly factories?
Our biggest downfalls are no 2-75 access. You are royally screwed if you have to commute to Tampa for work. Another other is the Scientology community that has bought most of the downtown area. I'm a live and let live open minded person who accepts anyone's beliefs as their own choice and believes they have the RIGHT to do so. But they put off such a negative vibe in the downtown area. Go there at night--It's absolutely creepy. It appears that they don't want anyone down there except for themselves. I don't know if they still do the winter wonderland at Christmas time but even that was WEIRD!
We have this super cool, awesome, amazing beach but cross the bridge to our downtown and it's deader than disco and mullet haircuts. Everyone else has thriving, fun downtown's but us......St Pete, Safety Harbor, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs. Even freakin' New Port Richey has a better downtown than us! Imagine that!
So back to the good, warm winters, lots of beautiful old oaks, a super cool bike trail, friendly folks, integrated communities-yes it's true. We have very little racial tension here. When there is a racial problem here, it tends to come from the management not the little people. There are decent job prospects here but if you plan on retiring look for a city/county job or open a small business.
Vicki | Clearwater, FL