Some good, some bad...
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6/15/2007
Like all metro areas all across the country, every city has its good and bad sides. Tampa is no exception. It just depends on your needs/wants. For Tampa, the best and most exclusive area to live in is probably South Tampa. That's pretty much where the money/wealth is, where the most upscale/high-end shopping is and where the "best" neighborhoods are. Just take a drive on and around Bayshore Blvd. Beautiful mansionesque homes, restored bungalows,pricey highrises, shee-shee shops/services/restaurants, private schools...all the trappings of upper middleclass and wealthy lifestyles. Once out of South Tampa, from north of Kennedy Blvd., you will start to see less and less affluence. Channelside has had a positive influence, but Ybor City is still struggling with high crime in the late evening. Hillsborough County is a huge county and there are certainly nice communities all around, (Carrollwood for instance) but zoning in earlier years was not strict, and the population overall in many areas of Hills. Co. can be staggeringly undereducated and underemployed and trailers and doublewides still abound in many areas. Brandon, a huge, huge, bedroom community, east of Tampa, is your basic mostly middleclass bedroom community and there are many, many subdivisions to choose from. Unfortunately, it seems that inner-city crime has really hit Brandon very hard in the last few years, probably due to urban renewal in Tampa Heights/Seminole Heights and large apartment complexes being built in Brandon whose resident managers, anxious to fill them, don't do proper background checks. Still, Tampa/Hillsborough has some great benefits if you can afford to live in the better communities. If, though, like myself, you cannot afford the better/safer communities and are not in business/finance/accounting, healthcare, and want professional work that pays a decent living, you may have some problems. Like a lot of southern cities, the pay scales are on the low side, and unfortunately, salaries, have not kept up with the cost of living/housing. And if you don't like the heat/humidity/bugs and have allergy problems, you may want to consider living elsewhere. That's what I'm going to do.
Nancy | Brandon, FL