Lacking EVRYTHING one wants from a city
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12/11/2005
Ahhhh, Orlando.
Land of strip malls, daily bank robberies, WalMart SUPER Centers and overcrowded roads with unyielding drivers with absolutely no traffic sense, skills. I've never witnessed so many drivers speeding, recklessly, with cops paying no attention at all. (I've lived both in NYC and Boston--yes, traffic is awful, but drivers are at least somewhat skilled in getting where they need to be).
Orlando is awful. Dirty. Crime ridden. Absolutely NO culture, entertainment, nothing close to a real city, no unique districts or subsets of downtown (oh, OK, "Antique Row" which has 3 or 4 pathetic shops...Thornton Park, which tries hard to be trendy and cosmopolitan but just doesn't hit the mark). Transportation is awful (ONE major interstate through the entire city.....the rest are toll roads). Downtown sleeps after 5 PM, with the exception of Orange Avenue...which itself is odd; strange. Hip-hop clubs and white trash bars, attracting wanna be thugs and Paris-Hilton look-alikes. Nothing upscale or trendy, nothing close to being unique or different. Nothing fun for the late-twenty or thirty-somethings who need to relax after work...unless you want to go to TGI Fridays!! (yawn........)
Visitors to the area get a distorted sense of reality--when they come to Orlando, they are immersed within the resorts, lush gardens and pools, theme parks and tourist traps...live here and you learn. Which is true with much of Florida. It's not a postcard.
And yes, I am leaving, as soon as I can transfer with my job. Nothing is keeping me here, and I am counting down the days until I don't have to see PR flags and CDs hanging from a rear-view mirror of a tricked out 1989 Honda Accord.
Mark | Sanford, FL