Our company is moving to Florida

6/19/2002 | self

[Armando Guerra]

Pinellas came out of the integration plan as part of a settlement in 2000. It is implementing a public school choice plan for 2003. However, race will still be considered a factor until 2007. Hiilsborough is not in a better situation. They also have a choice plan with race a factor. The order freeing Hillsborough County from the desegration order completely was overturned in March. Pinellas is no more a big no-no than Hillsborough when it comes to public schools. Personally, I like Tampa and St. Pete and could live in either, but prefer St. Pete as being a bit less congested and quieter. I also prefer St. Pete's downtown which has focused on residential rather than commercial. As such, St. Pete's downtown is livelier after 5 PM than Tampa, yet more family friendly than Ybor. St. Pete's nightlife is more of restaurants and galleries while Ybor is more bars and discos. Again, it is all personal and depends on what you value. When I was single and childless, Ybor was a better attraction.

[jra]

Here's the bottom line on Pinellas County schools...you could buy a house NEXT DOOR to a school you wanted your child to attend, but it would still be possible (likely, in fact) that your child would be bussed elsewhere.

They'll actually have a 'hub' system, whereby kids will be bussed to a central location, a hub, get off that bus and onto another bus to be taken to their assigned school.

That's the point I was trying to make about Pinellas County schools.

My kids will be going to Walden Lake Elementary and to Tomlin Middle, both recieved 'A' grades last week...woo hoo!

[summer]

Re your post #4 - Info here, at Select a Location -- from the state's business web site. Good luck! :)

[Armando Guerra]

I am not familiar with the hub-bussing and I will defer to you there. My wife is from Tampa and is experienced with being bussed clear across town, 45+ minutes on I-275, to a high-crime part of town. After her experiences, I don't think we would allow our children to be bussed under any circumstances so have never even examined that issue. I was only commenting on the school choice issue and the likelihood of being assigned to a distant school.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Thanks. Between the gators in the water and the bluehairs on land, we are trapped.

[NautiNurse]

Florida Gulf coast has fabulous fishing! If you need access to a major airport, Manatee County is just south of the Skyway Bridge, and an easy trip to the Tampa Airport (a fabulous airport), and the St. Pete Airport (a charming airport).

Manatee and Sarasota counties are very conservative. I moved my business down here four years ago--I love it!

[ao98]

Here's the map of the 2000 election.

[kellynla]

Thank you.

[TheCPA]

The Tampa Bay area is a very good area for the reasons that many others have stated. Two fast growing areas are Brandon and the area known as New Tampa. I live in Brandon and like it very much. We are growing rapidly with new businesses and lots of road construction. You might contact the Brandon Chamber of Commerce for more information.

[capt. norm]

You will be glad to know that both of Panama City's marinas (downtown and ST. Andrews) have been completely rebuilt and look really great now. Parker has grown with the rest of the area.

The area is as conservative as it's always been and law enforcement is good.

[Kryptonite]

Naples on the gulf coast is one of the fastest growing cities in America, which would be good for business. Satisfies the 2000 election map test as well.

Vero Beach is beautiful. Strongly considering it for retirement as well.

[AF_Blue]

Okaloosa county, in the Panhandle (and the Central Time Zone), is primarily a tourism community, with the military coming a close second. The primary source of revenue from the area is the annual tourism trade. We seem to get more of the family vacationers, rather than the party crowd. Income from military-related jobs (defense contractors), military support jobs (working in the base exchange), and military and retiree pay also provide a lot of $$$ to the community. The area is home to two Air Force bases, an AF Reserve base, an Army camp, and a Naval airfield. A little further east is Naval Air Station Pensacola. Contrary to national news reports, there were lots of people that stayed in line to vote during the 2000 elections, after it was reported the polls were closed, because we weren't listening to national news reports, we were too busy voting, then listening to LOCAL news reports that got it right.

The tourism industry is centered on the beautiful beaches in this area. The sand is sugar white, and the water is emerald green. Most of the tourism industry is located on Okaloosa Island, which is between Fort Walton Beach (FWB) and Destin. This is where you find your condos, restaurants, family attractions, beach industry (parasailing, charter boats, jet skis, etc).

Eglin AFB is the largest military installation in the world. Check it out on a map, if you can find one that shows the base property outline. Stretches from Pensacola to Panama City. Most of its land area is set aside for nature preserve, because it's mainly used for its air space over land and the Gulf of Mexico. Within the Eglin complex is Hurlburt Field, home to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and Duke Field, home of the 919 Special Operations Wing, the Reserve component of AFSOC.

You mentioned in a post your business was communication-based. The local phone service provider is Sprint. I pick up the phone, it works. Calling from FWB to Navarre (Santa Rosa County) is an in-state long distance call. Calling from FWB to Crestview is a flat 20-cent call, whether you talk for one minute (to an answering machine), or 100 minutes. Cell phone service providers are AT&T, Alltel, Sprint, Cingular, Cellular South, Nextel, and Southern Link. There are several local ISPs, as well as the usual suspects (AOL, Earthlink/Mindspring, AT&T, etc). My area is serviced by Cox Communications for cable TV and ISP. I have had both for a few years with no problems. I had DSS, but reception was too often affected by the regular thunderstorms. The local sales tax is 6%. Not being a business owner, I don't have any info on business-related taxes.

You may hear horror stories about hurricanes in this area. They're all true -- JUST KIDDING !! Being originally from Jacksonville, and living in NW FL for the past eight years, I've been through several hurricanes. The primary danger doesn't come from the hurricane itself, but the tornados it spins off. If the proper precautions are taken, you may experience some discomfort, some property damage, but overall you'll be fine. You sound too young to move to south FL. One keeps hearing of people retiring there, but no one leaving. S. FL's dirty little secret is that every seven years a tidal wave washes across it and thousands of retirees disappear. This is something you won't hear about on the news, or from anyone in S. FL either. The people in the 16 blue counties tend to stick around because they're floaters. ;->

Do a Google search using <"emerald coast" +florida>. There's too many good hits to list here.

Now, after all this, do you REALLY want to move to south Florida? I didn't think so.

[Dakotabound]

Tallahassee may be somewhat liberal voting-wise, but the surrounding area is still old-time south. The liberals have been imported, and are being developed as the city grows. But the natives are still quite conservative...or at least nice.

And Leon County had one of the lowest vote rejection rates in the 2000 election, not to mention Judge Sanders Sauls who saved the day. They don't mess with chads around here.

[Wright is right!]

"Because of the tax situation as long as we are in the state we are fine. And because of our business we can locate where we want. Phones, faxes and email make location of the business not essential but we would want a safe and clean area. We own the business."

Cool. That puts it in perspective. At first I thought the company you worked FOR was moving to FL, but it's YOUR company, so never mind!

Jacksonville is good, Ormond Beach/Flagler is excellent, and many places along the Gulf coast as well. You might find real estate prices on the Gulf to be higher the further south you go, as many of those places around Ft. Myers are retirement-oriented communities aimed at the Fortunate Seasoned Citizens.

If you like being on the water but don't want to spring for "beachfront," you can always get some exceptionally nice properties on the IntraCoastal - they're always less than the beach, and many would argue that they're nicer. If you have a boat, you can have your own dock, and a few minutes on the Intracoastal will put you at an inlet with access to the ocean/gulf. On the Atlantic side, even the Daytona area has some very nice properties on the Intracoastal.

Fortunately for you, FL has a very wide variety of property and different styles of communities, so you can take your pick of what you like. I personally wouldn't do O'lando, but it's a vibrant community even without The Mouse. Lifestyle wise, from a Freeper standpoint, I'd take J'ville down to Canaveral on the Intracoastal (on the Atlantic side) and Tampa/St. Pete back thru the panhandle on the Gulf side. Best recommendation I can make is for you to take a couple of weeks and go house-hunting in the areas you've narrowed it down to - see what you like, see what the people are like, see what trade-offs there are, and make your decision from there.

Happy Florida-ing!

Michael

[surely_you_jest]

Hey! I'm surely_you_jest, and in fact I can and do get all of that in Florida. In Sarasota. Highly recommended

[cynicom]

jest...

Use to live in Ocala area, years ago. Got to crowded, too much crime/drugs, wall to wall people. NC now.

[surely_you_jest]

Yeah? I used to be stationed in eastern NC. Didn't care for it. But my wife and I are thinking about getting a summer place in western NC, or eastern TN, in the mountains. My father used to do the same thing, in Asheville, but it is getting crowded and pricey. Any suggestions?

[cynicom]

jest....

Boone-Hickory NC to the west is okay. Or northeastern tip of TN is good. I live in northeastern NC, housing is out of sight but wanted to be near the coast.

[Junior]

The Panhandle.

[3D-JOY]

Welcome to Florida!

Consider the East Coast. I greatly prefer it to the retirement side,the west coast. Check out Brevard County. Maybe even Indian River County below it.

Land values on the barrier Island are reasonable and every day you will be thankful for the ocean breeze. 12 years here and I would not go back north or anywhere else.

Melbourne has been good for Harris corporation, Nokia and many other big concerns during the past few years.

The Space coast to the Treasure coast of Vero is about 10 degrees cooler than the southern cities and makes the summer much more enjoyable.( Mostly low 80's)

Good Luck finding your perfect place!