Lehigh Acres area (Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers: crime, custom home, neighborhood)

[rv3572]

Anyone know where the fairly safe/good area's of Lehigh Acres are? My Parents are moving to Florida from Massachusetts and my father (old School) will not listen to anyone giving advice on different parts of the state. He has his heart and brain set on Lehigh Acres. Any correspondence will be appreciated.

[kar]

Originally Posted by rv3572

Anyone know where the fairly safe/good area's of Lehigh Acres are? My Parents are moving to Florida from Massachusetts and my father (old School) will not listen to anyone giving advice on different parts of the state. He has his heart and brain set on Lehigh Acres. Any correspondence will be appreciated.

Don't let them do it. Lehigh is a dump. We lived in Lee County for twelve years before we moved and know the area very well. It is full of crime. Most of the homes look like they have been built in a desert. It is one of the worst parts of Lee County to live.

[hiknapster]

There are nice towns in Florida and bad towns. Lehigh Acres is one of the worst. It was created as a land scam. For years, there was very little there, just houses plunked down will-nilly. When the great land rush was on in Lee County, it seemed that every punk, gang member, illegal immigrant. what have you, moved to Lehigh. It is an absolute disaster. There is just nothing good about the place. It isn't even pretty. It kind of sits in the middle of nowhere.

Every so often someone asks about Lehigh on city-data. A few that know the place warn them to stay away from it, and no one, but no one, defends it. It's that bad.

Whatever possessed your dad to want to move there?

By the way, Kar and I are from Massachusetts.

[FedUpInFtMyers]

Do whatever you have to do to sway your dad from moving to Lehigh Acres. It really is BAD. No one wants to be there now with the exception of those who make it bad. If your old school dad insists and moves down in spite of the warnings, he will be enrolled once more in the School of Hard Knocks, trust me. SW FL is not the place to come to retire or relax or anything along those lines. Please stop him from moving down here. Good luck!

[tallrick]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_Acres,_Florida Do some research on the net first. I was looking at buying there in 1992. Those 1,500.00 lots were tempting, but looking at a neighborhood of small lots and no scenery wasn't appealing at all. Golden Gate in Collier county looked better to me with it's 2+ acre lots. There's not much to do in western Lee county, so why bother? I am sure that by now it's filled with the lowest class people from Florida. A friend of mine owns groups of lots there, and he complains what a dump it has become. He has to pay money to remove trash from the lots as people dump there and the zoning department threatens HIM for it. He's trying to sell but no one will offer even the assessed value for the lots. DON"T BUY THERE!

[redvicious]

Like all cities, Lehigh has it's good and bad parts. In lee county, this can happen on he same street. It's one of the fastest growing areas in Lee County which is part of the increase in crime. Most of the crime is caused by the influx of people moving from Fort Myers and Cape Coral. I wouldn't reccomend it as a retirement destination, for sure, but it is not nearly as bad as these other users are making it out to be. My husband is an aluminum contractor and I work for a logistics firm. We live in a custom built home (designed by yours truly!) in a nice area. We are certainly not the lowest class of Floridian. We earn a 6 figure income...I would say there is nothing low class about that. None of my neighbours are punks, (my music preference is old school punk!) gangsters, or immigrants, although I was born in Dublin, Ireland. I guess that qualifies me as one of those "damn foreigners" that the typical Florida redneck so despises. For the most part, are all just hard working people who own thier homes, and take pride in thier lawns. As for the comment that there is nothing to do in Western Lee county, this is 100% correct. There's nothing to do in all of Lee county. We spend too much time working to worry about trivial things such as this. As for the comment that the houses look like they were built in a desert...has the writer of this comment ever been to the desert? I grew up in Tucson, AZ. and the desert is quite breathtakingly beautiful. There are several towns in AZ that are perfect for retirement.

[hiknapster]

You built a custom home in Lehigh?

Headlines for the past week:

Thursday, Sep. 6
• Tasered Rottweiler found in Lehigh grow house
• Video: Creating College Majors
• Deputy's patrol car heavily damaged in Lehigh
• Special traffic patrols planned this weekend
• North Fort Myers, Lehigh, Cape sprayed for bugs
• Partial roadblock cleared on Lee Blvd. in Lehigh
• Bonita may hold key to Lehigh killings

Wednesday, Sep. 5
• Video: Club Rush at Edison College
• Lee deputies may be targeting these roads
• Trio found slain in Lehigh identified
• Fire, rescue district budget passes muster
• Consumer alert: Photos of recent product recalls

Tuesday, Sep. 4
• Sen. Dave Aronberg pays visit to Lehigh
• Slain men found in Lehigh identified
• Lehigh hearing tonight on fire, rescue budget
• Park gives place for kids to climb

Monday, Sep. 3
• Slain men in Lehigh likely in on criminal activity
• Triple slaying shocks Lehigh Acres

Sunday, Sep. 2
• Possible ID on 1 of 3 homicide victims in Lehigh
• Not all Lee districts heed tax rollbacks

Saturday, Sep. 1
• Man arrested in Lehigh auto-part thefts
• Dead dog found tied to fence in Lehigh
• Name given for motorcyclist killed in Lehigh
• Conditions hampered search for canal victims
• Materials boost reading, writing skills
• Eat right and reduce heartburn
• Riverdale grad has major success, hits snag
• September first month of new garden season
• Missionary serves through teaching
• Crime-cutting tips given
• Vet fights for Lehigh voice
• Sheriff honors deputy, civilian
• Drug-sniffing dog serves schools
• New traffic light a hit in Gateway Water district approves assessment increase
• Man shot during gas station robbery recovers
• Water district OKs assessment increase
• Water district OKs plan for new facility

[FSU_Alum]

I would advise against Lehigh. There is a lot of hidden crime, in addition to the crime you see in the news and on television. Many gangs in Lehigh, and there is a problem with vandalism/property damage. Also, one of the favorite past-times of kids with nothing to do is to break into snow-bird houses (and houses of Germans who are back on the Continent) and steal stuff (including their prescription drugs).

There's been a big stink about how, proportionally, Lehigh gets so few cops compared to the rest of the county.

If your dad has his heart set on Lee County, have him choose somewhere in the southern part of the county.

If you can't talk him into that, then maybe Gateway (which is more South County, but close to Lehigh) or Varsity Lakes, which is in Lehigh, but a gated community--edging more toward middle class--and near the library.

[121804]

Originally Posted by rv3572

Anyone know where the fairly safe/good area's of Lehigh Acres are? My Parents are moving to Florida from Massachusetts and my father (old School) will not listen to anyone giving advice on different parts of the state. He has his heart and brain set on Lehigh Acres. Any correspondence will be appreciated.

Why is he so intent on Lehigh Acres? I would do everything possible to tell my parents "ABSOLUTELY NOT". It is crime-ridden, gang ridden, & even the mayor has come out to say they do not have enough police to deal with the crime right now. It is not a good area. If your parents know anything about Holyoke, MA...double that...that is Lehigh....

[redvicious]

My husband inherited land with a Lehigh address, but physically located in Buckingham......sat on it for years and finally decided to design and build about 5 years ago.
The only reason I replied to this post is because I take offense to generalizations made about a population. Since I am a homeowner in the Lehigh Acres community, I take offense to being classified as a lower class citizen, gangsters and immigrants. I could live in Gateway or just about any gated community in Lee/Collier county if I wanted too...just can't handle the postage stamp lots these homes sit on.
I totally agree about the crime in Lehigh. This area is growing by leaps and bounds and there are not enough offcers to keep up with that growth. A friend of mine is a Lee county Sherriff assigned to Lehigh. He told me that the majority of criminals thtare caught for majour crimes in Lehigh, don't reside here. They have Fort Myers addresses and come here because the criminals know there is a lack of officers. I lived in Lehigh for a short time in the early 90's..there were 2 patrol cars and 4 officers. The population has quadrupled since then. This is happening all over Lee county..not just Lehigh. There are gangs in Cape Coral, shootings almost daily in Fort Myers. I can't see why anyone would want to retire here.