A nice place to move....from.
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10/12/2019
I lived in St Pete for 2 years, and it was a mixed bag. Visually, the place has a very beautiful downtown. It's a really pretty city, and I felt safe walking in most parts of it, even alone at night. But many of the problems you encounter in other parts of Florida are there as well. Rampant development is ruining things. Everywhere you turn the developers are tearing down two perfectly good homes in nice neighborhoods, then building three McMansions for multiple families that stretch all the way out to the street. The yard itself is gone, the parking is gone (so people park on the streets), and worst of all, you get a lot of these yuppie snowbird types who walk around with big dogs because they are afraid. Mind you, these are perfectly safe neighborhoods. They don't fit in and are arrogant, self centered jerks.
Speaking of arrogant, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Quebec snowbird retirees. These are the most unpleasant people on earth. Rude, unpleasant, etc. Just read the reviews of ANY city on the planet that has to deal with these "people". 99% of them just want them to leave and never come back.
I had it made in St Pete. Owned my own neat mobile home in a well located senior park, and the owner, who was a local, was a wonderful person. Straight up guy. All of my bills including phone, lot rental, elect, internet and credit cards came to much less than $600 a month. But I had to leave because it was impossible to make friends there. Like someone said, if you move there you better bring your own friends. The mid west retirees stick to themselves, same w/ the east coasters, and none of them are exactly what I would call polite or friendly.
The city likes to pretend that it's this oh so cool, liberal place....as if. It's more like 51% Democrat and 49% Republican. In the last election Pinellas county voted for Donald Trump! It's extremely transient, so no one wants to be friends because you, or them, will soon be moving on. The music scene is really lame no matter what type of music you like. I did enjoy biking there, but you better find a shady street in the summer or you will die of the heat and humidity. Housing prices, especially downtown, are way more than anyone working in that area can afford. This goes for rentals or purchasing. Wages are low, and there is absolutely no Southern hospitality, which makes sense since Florida is a place full of Yankees.
They finally cleaned up Williams park, but it's still a waste of a great resource. You can have the homeless everywhere bothering people, or you can have the cops riding around on ATV's running them out. Either way, it's not exactly where one would want to be.
steve | ,