"America's Most Unhappy Cities" (Naples: moving to, places, complaints)

[Swimmom32]

Originally Posted by fauve

^^^Rock

My theory, using this case as an example, is that she left South Florida when housing prices in Georgia were at their height and is now doing her part to keep people moving there. Only problem with this tactic is that even if we wanted to move to Georgia, we can't, because none of us can sell our homes. The flood from South Florida to NC, et al, is over, at least for now, probably for good - white flight has done flown...

Fauve I had to laugh at this one..dont u know NC/charlotte is Utopia oh and there are nice people and then we have alot of "FAKE" nice too...I also think Climate has alot to do with it...people seem to think we dont have winters we have mild ones but we have already had 3 snow days, and now have to make up school, so the way I see it is, SF has nice weather all year round, so one isnt stuck DOING NOTHING...I will say we dont regret the move but for us its time to move on...

hahahahahahahaha dont get me wrong its certainly better than NJ, however its what u make of it..charlotte is beautiful, and very much like Alpheretta which is why we decided against it... All I know is we cant wait to get down to florida despite all the negativity, there is negativity everywhere that is just LIFE PEOPLE.....

[HopToIt]

I dont know anyone that said Charlotte/NC are utopia, but, for most people, is the temerate climate more suitable than FL weather? Yes. And are people (overall) nicer than in FL? Yes.

I dont think anyone said that it is perfect there, or that everyone is nice. But, especially people that have lived in both places like I have will tell you that they prefer the temperate climate of NC and that the people there are generally nicer than in Florida.

[Shoegal1075]

All the negative that is spoken about is part of the daily grind called life. Are there cities that are safer, yes - there will always be a better, safer something to someone else. It's like that man who is incredibly hot and marries the plain jane and you see them and are like what the F... is going on - LOL. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what is good to you will not be good for the next, but appreciate that you both have good and bad thoughts about a place.

[Shoegal1075]

Hop - I think it probably pertains to certain parts of Florida. I get what everyone is saying about SFL, but there are a lot of people that disagree about the Northern part.

Bottom line is everyones life is different and requires different things to sustain it. What works for you, obviously does not work for other people. You like the climate, some don't. You think people are nicer (and guys if they are let's just call a spade a spade and say they are, I think it is fair), some people don't pay attention to the rudness. As you know, I am from NYC and will gladly say that for the most part the people I have dealt with in SFL were very nice. I might fall down in shock if I were to go to NC or Atlanta, but I also don't think that NYers are horrible either.

So, let's meet half way and say for the most part are the people in the Carolina's nicer than in SFL? Probably, but that doesn't mean that there are more MEAN people than NICE in SFL either. All is what you make of it. If you are positive, people get that from you and react accordingly. If you give off a crabiness people will act accordingly. That goes for both the Northerners who have relocated and the native Floridians (YES, you guys too). There are many natives who immediately get defensive when they are around Northerners. Assuming the worst - stop, look and listen and you just may find a new friend.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by Rock Newman

I will never understand what the infatuation is with Atlanta from some people on these forums ... I travel there at least three times a year , have friends in Alpharetta ... no big deal . Crime is as bad or worse than Miami , traffic is a quagmire , air quality sucks , race relations are tense .. "phony " nice what church ya' all go to mentality ... you want genuinely
nice take the shirt of your back people .. go to South Texas . I find the Northern burbs of Atlanta like Alpharetta , John's Creek and Roswell to be brain numbingly boring ... cookie cutter homes , the same strip malls over and over ... the only truly beautiful places in Atlanta are Mid Town and Buckhead .. again Atlanta is just ok , I much prefer Charlotte if that is the case .

Rock,
We have to be fair and see that it's on both sides of the fence. I travel to GA quite often (about every 6-8 weeks), and like it very much. I don't like flat surfaces for one, and don't like the heat either.
I'm the type that likes a metropolis, and life. Atlanta has it more than South Florida. (I am from the city of New York after all. ) These are just examples.
There are some who love the beach and rave about Florida and its weather. That's cool too. It's about everyone having a preference.

I think you may have gone with a defensive preconception of Atlanta. (I'm not saying that is the case, just an observation.)

When I say that, I mean you may have heard others rave about it, and you asked yourself: "What could be so good about it?" Now that being said, you may have gone up there with a mind set that you may not like it or already could not be impressed by it. It's human. We've all been guilty doing it one time or another. For ex: Some people may rave about a restaurant, and you go there to say it was decent at best. Your mindset may have been, what makes Steakhouse B, better than Steakhouse A?(Steakhouse A is the one I usually go to, and will always prefer it no matter what)

I thought the same about Atlanta years ago, until I started going more and developing networks while going there. I also have plenty of friends and relatives that moved throughout the years. (That also helps, and could make the transition easier for me.)

Originally Posted by Rock Newman

fauve ... I agree I will never understand why someone would leave South Florida and continue to bash it from what ever locale they have moved too ?
That tells me that people who do that and there are many on this forum are miserable in their new setting as well and will be miserable anywhere they live .

Good points. I guess some people think every other person's situation will be like their own. They had no luck or good experiences in South Florida (or wherever they lived) and want that to either be the person's preconception of the place, or dont want to believe others can be happy where they were miserable. Yes, you are right again. Some people will be miserable everywhere and anywhere, maybe even in heaven...

Originally Posted by HopToIt

"cookie cutter homes , the same strip malls over and over ..."

Wow, coming from a FL resident, that seems kind of odd to talk about Northern Atlanta and how the homes are cookie-cutter and same strip malls over and over and over again. LOL. But atleast they do have some hills and other scnery to look at.

You have to admit, even if you think Alpharetta, Roswell and Johns Creek are "boring" and nothing but strip malls and cookie-cutter homes (interesting concept as that is exactly how many ppl describe FL), you have to admit that the hills and scenery is far prettier than flat land and billboards that line FL streets. And, the people are definitely nicer, that too is very evident.

I have to give that one to HopToit . I think South Florida is the epitome of cookie cutter. We have to admit that anything, anywhere built recently is just that..Cookie Cutter. That's everywhere, no exception. South Florida boomed from the 90s to the mid 2000s, and most houses were cookie cutter designs, in small small lot, subdivisions. You have exceptions in Coral Gables, and Ft Lauderdale by the beach (I forgot the name of the area, I think Magnolia Park. Correct me if I'm wrong). Same goes for Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Cascade Heights, East Point and so forth. I give Metro Atlanta 2 thumbs up for nicers homes, and diverse architecture.
Another point for scenery, hills and such. I'm not much a beach person, so I can do without. For others, they dont care about hills and wont trade the beach for anything. To each his own.

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

HopToIt>
The difference is that South Florida is not boring like Atlanta. There is far more to do here. And while the landscape is flat here, we have the Atlantic Ocean and beaches as well as the FL Everglades. Also, we do not have smog in the air and it is sunny here often while cloudy in Atlanta. I have family in Atlanta, and have visited there numerous times. You literally cannot walk through the downtown area without being hassled at every corner by the homeless for change. It makes walking the streets of downtown Miami a cakewalk, and Miami is pretty bad.

As far as cookie-cutter homes and strip malls, both Atlanta and South FLorida have tons of those. I think that SOuth Florida has far more small businesses than the greater Atlanta area does, but most are in the Miami area not in Broward County. And as far as the people being nice in Atlanta, it is a very fake nice. I'd rather people be real with me than put on a show and talk crap behind my back.

The article I referenced for this post gave reasons why Atlanta is so depressed. One of the reasons was the weather, which stinks. The traffic was rated poorly and the crime was rated 2nd worst. I recognize that the suburbs are probably less crime and less traffic than the inner city, but that is true anywhere including south florida. The suicide rate was another factor, and South Florida has very few compared to our overall crime rate. Like I said originally, you can talk a lot of trash about South FLorida, but one thing you cannot say is that it is "depressing". There is nothing depressing here. Its usually sunny.

That's all subjective. I think otherwise. I have more things to do in Atlanta than I do here. I have friends that love it there, and a few, very few that hate it there. I mentioned a friend of mine that left Miami for Atlanta, and wants to move back. She missed the "heat" (both sense of the word). Heat as in climate, and the Latin Beat that Atlanta does not have. Her words, not mine. Others would not move back here for all the money on earth.

I have my hobbies down here to keep me grounded until I leave, but I get bored here. Remember, I'm not a beach person. I enjoy going to the racetrack in Palm Beach, that I'll miss.

There is nothing fun for me in the Everglades. I dont want to be around gators, snakes and murky waters, lol. To correct your facts, traffic is bad, but has improved. It's now 10th or 11th in the nation. That's good news for me. Check for yourself. It was on the Atlanta forum recently. I'll look for the link for you if you're interested. I prefer the seasons, so for me GA gets . I give FL its points for good weather in the winter (that's about it). I can go outside and grill in 60 degree weather . Summers here are not the nicest, heat and rain most of the time. See it's all subjective. It depends on how you want to see the glass. Half empty or Half full for both places.

[Just1Lion]

i wouldnt think So. Florida would rank high in depression. any place with that much sunshine/warm weather/beaches doesn't really promote depression. given there are plenty of depressed people there, but it certainly is not because of its geographic location. and ive been there many times, didnt get that "angry people" vibe at all. not at all. please come up to philly and you will see what angry people are really like.

[Strel]

Originally Posted by dk22

You couldn't guess with all the bigoted comments from all the people who've left this place due to "race" reasons. They'll use buzz words like crime, crazy drivers, and one obvious description that nobody speaks english anymore down here. To me that seems like you're leaving because there's less white people here and you don't like that. Just my 2 cents on things, but this place definitely not a depressing area. The only time it's depressing is when all the depressed people that have moved here from somewhere else say they're unhappy here. I'm sure they'd be depressed anywhere they go.

True of some but not of others. I loathe South Florida for all of the reasons you state above - and I am married to a Hispanic, so you can discount racism on my part. Hell I love Cubans, they are a hoot. I hear Spanish every day so that's not an issue for me.

Cubans didn't ruin South Florida. Yankees did.

[HopToIt]

I think it's a combination of bad apples from both sides.

[Shoegal1075]

Yeppers - did you guys know that Arizona has the least amount of cloudy days in the whole country. Florida has abou 144 cloudy days a year, Arizona 77 - can you believe that.

[acegolfer]

Originally Posted by Chelsa1075

Yeppers - did you guys know that Arizona has the least amount of cloudy days in the whole country. Florida has abou 144 cloudy days a year, Arizona 77 - can you believe that.

Define cloudy days?

If it's sunny in the morning, gets cloudy around 3 pm and rains for 30 minutes, and gets sunny again around 5 pm, is this a sunny day or cloudy day? The weather agency will say it's cloudy. That's why FL has 144 cloudy days.

It's not like no sun for straight 41 days in NW pacific this winter. Or constant grey days in upstate NY.

Ppl say it's muggy here during summer. It's true. But I can't remember a day since I moved down here that I couldn't see the sun.