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Old 10-09-2014, 04:35 AM
 
Location: sittin happy in the sun :-)
3,645 posts, read 7,147,419 times
Reputation: 1877

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No homebuilder ???? LOL


Both Titanz and Pipedream are excellent plumbers.

I use Travis at Sunshine Air, very nice guy reliable service.

I could also post a few 'don't touch' people including the stucco guy who tried price gouging the day before he was due to start and already had materials on site because 'the house is bigger'....or the painter who failed to turn up for a week (clue ,he will be voting for amend 2), the carpenter who begged for work and promised good prices and then last minute tried to increase them 'well because I am busy now'................or the many ,many (MANY) who just don't return prices.........................
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Old 10-09-2014, 05:16 AM
 
Location: Palm Island and North Port
7,511 posts, read 22,914,037 times
Reputation: 2878
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr&mrssunshine View Post
No homebuilder ???? LOL


Both Titanz and Pipedream are excellent plumbers.

I use Travis at Sunshine Air, very nice guy reliable service.

I could also post a few 'don't touch' people including the stucco guy who tried price gouging the day before he was due to start and already had materials on site because 'the house is bigger'....or the painter who failed to turn up for a week (clue ,he will be voting for amend 2), the carpenter who begged for work and promised good prices and then last minute tried to increase them 'well because I am busy now'................or the many ,many (MANY) who just don't return prices.........................
Geeezz how could I leave that off?
Homebuilder
Vantage Homes

Who's your roofer and do you recommend them? Septic? Tile? Granite? You use Casa Pools too, right?

Come on mister, give up the goods.

Totally agree. The "no show" thing drives me crazy. Happens all the time, unfortunately. Dealing with lots of investor/flippers I see it frequently.
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:07 AM
 
747 posts, read 1,011,541 times
Reputation: 355
Awesome info SoFLGal! Wow!

You're gonna need some coffee today.
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:20 AM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,082,980 times
Reputation: 1257
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoFLGal View Post
BH glad you posted some of the local history of the town. The restaurant I spoke of in my last post called Trabue, was actually named after Colonel Isaac Trabue, who brought the first train on the Florida Southern Railroad to town in 1887. The town was originally named after Mr. Trabue-- The Town of Trabue. In 1887 the town name was changed to Punta Gorda, which in Spanish, means "Fat Point". In the late 1800's Cuba used to ship cattle to Punta Gorda and the town was well known for its fishing history and the founding of The Consolidated Ice Manufacturing, Refrigeration and Fish Company. The Ice House Pub in the downtown area still stands in the original building where the Ice House Fish Company was started in the late 1800's. August Freeman was the first Mayor of Punta Gorda and his old yellow and white house, the AC Freeman house is where the Chamber and Historical Society are located.
The Ice House has hundreds of imported beers, and many on tap (including my favorite Yeungling, of course). It is a great place to bring friends and have a drink, or dinner (good fish and chips), it is run by an English Family. They have a lot of English games to play all around the establishment, including Darts (and they'll be happy to teach you hot to play Crickett if you're interested).

Punta Gorda has gone through several disasters. One of the first was the fire of 1905, which burned down much of the downtown area. When it was rebuilt it was built mostly of brick, including many of the roads. In the 1920's the first bridge across Charlotte Harbor was completed and this coincided with the great land boom of the 20's. The 1920's is also when Desoto county split from Charlotte county, they are still today, two separate counties.

Many of you remember Hurricane Charley, that ripped through the town in 2004. My youngest daughter was only 2 weeks old at the time. I have never left the area due to a hurricane and this one turned at the last minute. Had we known it was going to be a direct hit, we would have evacuated. The good thing about hurricanes is that you usually get ample warnings. The bad thing is that, of course, they are unpredictable.
If you don't know about Hurricane Charley, you'll learn, a lot of people here still talk about it. There is history all over town that depicts it, and if you go to the restaurant / bar on the water called Hurricane Charlie's they have pictures, and art that will describe the event. If you go to Laishley's Park (a place where they hold many of the festivals, We'll all chat about on this thread, you will see in the far corner a bunch of palm trees. Two of them are made of metal from collapsed buildings from Hurricane Charley. One stands Tall, the other is bent at almost a 90 degrees - symbolizing that during Charlie the town of Punta Gorda bent, but did not break.

The Punta Gorda Airport was once the US Army airfield and was built to train combat air pilots in World War II.
Rumor has it that some of the holes in Port Charlotte Harbor (the deepest of which is only about 22'), were made by bombing runs made when the Air Port was used for military training.

In the late 50's and early 60's the PGI (Punta Gorda Isles) area was developed by three entrepreneurs. They laid out 55 miles of canals 100 feet wide and 17 feet deep using dredged sand to raise the level of the canal front land. These home sites have access to Charlotte Harbor. PGI has over 125 miles of concrete lined seawalls that are maintained by the City of Punta Gorda. There is a $500.00/year assessment included in your taxes. But if anything happens to those walls the City will repair and/or replace them at no additional cost to the home owner. These walls keep water levels high enough that there are no muddy exposed areas in the Isles which helps breed mosquitos. We have very few mosquitos or no see 'ems here in PGI, until you get near the mangrove fringed areas. Also, since there is no place in the Isles for Alligators to bank themselves (they can't climb the walls), they don't like to come into the canals. They do, and have but it is rare that you'll spot one. The canal system makes PGI a true boaters paradise.

If you drive around Punta Gorda you'll see many murals on the sides of buildings paying tribute to some of the locals who helped to make Punta Gorda what it is today. There are also many interesting historical markers in town that give a summery of several of the places I mentioned. Punta Gorda is also a bike friendly town. If you ride around you will see (on many corners) historical old bikes painted a variety of colors, and if they have baskets they are filled with flowers. The town also has a free "yellow bike" lending program, and there are several places you can pick up a free bike, ride it around the miles of bike paths that run around the harbor, through many of our parks, and beyond. With the weather being so great most of the time, it is a fantastic way to tour the murals, and check out the many shops, restaurants and parks here.

So get out there and do some exploring!
Wish I'd of thought to say that. ;-)
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:23 AM
 
Location: North of South, South of North
8,704 posts, read 10,895,775 times
Reputation: 5150
I currently live in Palm Harbor, but later on in life when my wife retires, we may be retiring down your way. That is why I picked this forum as my first mod opportunity and y'all do not disappoint.

I have already had great collaborative conversations with several members and the result is awesome information, such as in this thread.

Thank y'all for being such great people, making for a great forum and a pleasant experience for a newbie mod. And thanks for quickly reporting the blast of spam posts we have been getting. We want to keep our forum clean and on track. Keep on the lookout. Thx.

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Old 10-09-2014, 07:23 AM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,082,980 times
Reputation: 1257
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoFLGal View Post
One last thing before I call it a night. For all you sports fans, check out the Charlotte Sports Park for some baseball. It's the home of the Tampa Bay Rays Spring training. The Charlotte Stone Crabs The Charlotte Stone Crabs is owned by Cal Ripken, and is a minor league team of the Orioles - who are playing in the AL Championship Series this year).are there during regular season. Right across the street from the Sports Park is the Charlotte County Fairgrounds, which has a ton of things happening during the year. The fair runs Jan-Feb. They have gun shows, RV shows, boat shows, car shows, bird shows, MMA fights, rodeos, great country concerts in April.

I could post all night about Charlotte county but I suppose I should get some sleep. See you tomorrow!
As the weather cools down, going to a game with some friends is an awesome way to spend an evening!
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:33 AM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,082,980 times
Reputation: 1257
You need to go back to bed!!
Actually, that was a pretty good post. I liked to see the map showing the areas and likelihood of a hurricane hitting the area. Since I've been here (almost 8 years now) Maryland (where I'm from) has had more hurricane and storm damage than this area. All combined though - they didn't touch the damage that Charlie caused. I think Hurricane Sandy did far more damage up in NY, NJ, RI, and MA than Charlie did as an alternative comparison. Hurricane's are no joke, but the buildings here are now built to much more stringent codes than they were previously. If a category 3 or larger was headed here - I'd get outta town.

The rebuilding here has been unbelievable though. If you learn the history of this place, understand what was cleared out and removed, and what has build re-built in its place - this place is bright, new, vibrant, alive, and a fantastic town.
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:51 AM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,082,980 times
Reputation: 1257
Quote:
Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy View Post
I currently live in Palm Harbor, but later on in life when my wife retires, we may be retiring down your way. That is why I picked this forum as my first mod opportunity and y'all do not disappoint.

I have already had great collaborative conversations with several members and the result is awesome information, such as in this thread.

Thank y'all for being such great people, making for a great forum and a pleasant experience for a newbie mod. And thanks for quickly reporting the blast of spam posts we have been getting. We want to keep our forum clean and on track. Keep on the lookout. Thx.

Oh, and Welcome to the Forum!!
We do that for new posters here. ;-)

It wasn't always so. We've had many negative posters over the years. Many of us, have gone beyond this forum, to reach out, meet up, and make friends, so people know that the posters here are real people. That being so, we have all talked, and want to be positive on this forum and offer information, and answer questions / share experiences (good and bad / positive and negative) about this area. Things have improved tremendously here over the past several years. The recession hit this area very hard, the job market was miserable, people here were really hurting, and many people came here to vent. But, through it all, the many many posters on this board (which started out being the Sarasota Board), remained positive and helpful.

That being said, banter is alive and well, we all have our own opinions, and some things tend to get frustrating for both sides of a subject. I appreciated that. It keeps my eyes open when learning about things, because it kept my expectations of the area in balance, so I expect things will get hot, humid, buggy (every once in a while). I can't stand love bugs!!! But, compared to mosquitos and bitting bugs up north, or stink bugs in MD, I'll take it.

We are below the subtropical line, which means we have palm trees (huge variety), and flowering plants all year round! I love that. 2 days a year it may get into the 30s -40s, and hot a couple months during the summer, but most of the year the sun shines and the temperatures ROCK!!
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Old 10-09-2014, 08:43 AM
 
Location: Palm Island and North Port
7,511 posts, read 22,914,037 times
Reputation: 2878
Quote:
Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy View Post
I currently live in Palm Harbor, but later on in life when my wife retires, we may be retiring down your way. That is why I picked this forum as my first mod opportunity and y'all do not disappoint.

I have already had great collaborative conversations with several members and the result is awesome information, such as in this thread.

Thank y'all for being such great people, making for a great forum and a pleasant experience for a newbie mod. And thanks for quickly reporting the blast of spam posts we have been getting. We want to keep our forum clean and on track. Keep on the lookout. Thx.

We usually get super cool mods on this section and you're no exception! I don't know about anyone else but I think you're doing a great job Wasn't Nancythereader our old mod? I absolutely love her. She's so sweet.

Like BH said, most of the people in this area are very friendly and more than happy to answer any questions.

I reported a bunch of the spam BS that was coming in at like 3am or whatever. I would think CD would have. Captcha or whatever that thing is where you have to type the letters when you sign up.

We're happy to have you here hanging out with us!
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Old 10-09-2014, 08:44 AM
 
Location: Palm Island and North Port
7,511 posts, read 22,914,037 times
Reputation: 2878
Quote:
Originally Posted by SJNE17 View Post
Awesome info SoFLGal! Wow!

You're gonna need some coffee today.
Off to find the Starbucks! Thanks for the recommendation
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