- cross-posted to:
- desantisthreatensusa@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- desantisthreatensusa@lemmy.world
Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.
One of the first signs Barb Carter’s move to Florida wasn’t the postcard life she’d envisioned was the armadillo infestation in her home that caused $9,000 in damages. Then came a hurricane, ever present feuding over politics, and an inability to find a doctor to remove a tumor from her liver.
After a year in the Sunshine State, Carter packed her car with whatever belongings she could fit and headed back to her home state of Kansas — selling her Florida home at a $40,000 loss and leaving behind the children and grandchildren she’d moved to be closer to.
“So many people ask, ‘Why would you move back to Kansas?’ I tell them all the same thing — you’ve got to take your vacation goggles off,” Carter said. “For me, it was very falsely promoted. Once living there, I thought, you know, this isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all.”
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I grew up there. I always, always hated living in FL. I fled that shithole 15 years ago. The only thing I ever appreciated was the natural beauty, and every time I go back to visit, they paved over more of it.
Imagine moving to Florida and being surprised by hurricanes.
While moving back to Kansas where tornadoes occur often.
Tornadoes suck, but they’re not even close to on the same level as hurricanes. I say that as someone from tornado alley and saw what happened to Joplin in 2011.
True, but climate change is going to make them a hell of a lot worse. What happened in Joplin is going to be the new normal in tornado alley.
As will hurricanes
Shits gonna suck
Imagine living in a tourist state and thinking it won’t have the pitfalls associated with everything being catered to tourism.
Yeah, but the article doesn’t really discuss issues related to tourism.
It is more issues related to a lack of services and a more expensive cost of living than expected.
That’s the problem with decades of “fuck the poor” policies. Eventually, people will suddenly realize that they aren’t in fact, “temporary embarrassed millionaires.” They will find out that the policies they’ve been conned into supporting are specifically targeted at hurting them, and will drive them to utter destitution if not to the grave. The only good news is that these far right policies will do so much damage and cause so much pain that it will inevitably create the circumstances for its collapse.
My parents were just telling me about a friend of theirs who moved back to Ohio… fucking Ohio… after discovering that retirement in Florida was terrible.
Yeah it must be pretty bad if Ohio and Kansas are looking better.
My grandparents retired to Florida in the 1970s. They never went to the beach. They rarely even went outside. They went for the climate after living in New York their whole lives and just stayed in their apartment with the air conditioning on.
I didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now.
And that was before Florida turned into a MAGA hellhole.
was it Boca Raton?
That’s where all the New Yorkers were always yearning for in The Nanny.
Come to think about it other sitcoms in the 90’s had that new yorkers retiring to florida schtick it was in Seinfeld as well
Deerfield Beach, but one of the Century Villages.
My grandfather, who was a bit of a joker, used to say, “no deer, no field and no beach.”
I remember they had a restaurant where you had to be 50 and older to get in after a certain time.
The lady from Ct made me laugh “I didn’t expect it to be 100 at night”…lady you moved there for the weather.
I tell this to people who want to move to Phoenix. Damn asphalt practically glows in the dark it’s so damn hot.
Asphalt is probably the reason it gets so hot. Dirt dissipates the heat it absorbs at night concrete and asphalt not so much.
That’s exactly what I was implying. I used to live there - the asphalt would be hot to the touch at night and outright dangerous to touch with bare skin during the day. The heat island effect made for an unbearable outside temperature for most of the year.
I’ll never understand people who want to live in the desert; plants can’t even survive there. Phoenix is a monument to man’s arrogance.
Deserts can be fine to live in, but a city that uses that much asphalt and concrete shouldnt be built in a desert.
That’s all America knows how to build anymore: sprawling suburbs with a minimum quota for parking spaces per-capita. Stucco and pavement as far as the eye can see.
I might move there for work in a bit over a year, and I’m trying not to already be a big baby about it. Summer will be rough for me.
I moved from there to Chicago as a young adult - best decision I ever made. Started my career in a beautiful city with 4 whole seasons and minimal magma pavement.
I grew up in Chicago! It’s the best city. I’ll probably go back some day. I’m so glad you enjoy it!
Definitely move back. Do whatever you can to avoid getting stationed in Phoenix. Whatever good it might do for your career just isn’t worth the inevitable misery you’ll experience getting into your car after it’s been baking in the desolate expanse all day.
I worked in Houston for a couple of years. I suggest just hunkering down and staying home in the summer.
Florida is on a Gilead speed run, I don’t predict good things will be happening there until they get their Christofascism problem under control.
she said the final straw was when she couldn’t find a surgeon to remove a 6-inch tumor from her liver that doctors warned could burst at any moment and lead to life-threatening sepsis. After being passed among doctors, she finally found one willing to remove the tumor. But when she called to schedule the surgery, her calls went unanswered and her messages weren’t returned. After months of trying and fearing for her life, she returned to Kansas to have the procedure done.
What’s with Orlando doctors? Is this sort of experience common there?
It’s pretty common to wait several months just to get into a new primary care doctor in Florida.
I had a family member go through 3 doctors and many months of unbearable pain in their leg, all saying it was a simple sports injury that’ll go away on its own, before someone realized they had a pool noodle sized tumor in their leg. I blame this incompetence for their death.
Do the lawyers agree?
Oof, condolences
I grew up here and swear to God I almost want to run for governor with the slogan “Make Florida Freaky Again” We are not built for this conservative imbalance. We have churches and strip clubs, a strong tradition of tolerance and acceptance of, well, freaks. Circus people, drag queens, swingers. I grew up hanging out with drag queens and old gay dudes in leather and punks and skinheads at the same concerts. And even our version of the absolute scourge of racism, while nasty as fuck, we don’t really have as much geographic segregation, I’ve never lived in a “white” or “black” neighborhood, they are often majority one or the other but not homogeneous and it’s block by block. It was way, way too violent when I was young but that had already gotten better before this sudden turn to the fascist side. How the fuck did we get here? How can anyone, with a straight face, say drag queens don’t belong here? In two years a pivot from my kid’s middle school teacher doing a drag performance at the teacher and student talent show, to this being an unimaginable affront, contributing to the delinquency of minors or something? What state do they think they are in? Go to Alabama, assholes. It’s you who are destroying our heritage.
Sorry, this rant has been building a long time.
I live in Miami. I’m the cartoon madman in a superhero movie who only wants a single nuclear device.
If your resume comes across my desk and you have been educated in a Florida institution that sits south of Tampa Bay, I automatically throw your resume away. It’s the first thing I look at. If I’m interviewing you and you ‘love Miami / SF’ I automatically question your integrity and your intelligence, and again, throw your resume away. I will never ever hire somebody who has been educated in South Florida under any circumstances for any reason ever. This place is full of the dumbest cunts you’ve ever met.
The incompetency that permeates your everyday life here takes such a toll, takes so much more time, cost so much more money and energy and spirit.
And now Miami is trying to reinvent itself as a tech hub while it literally has no idea what that means or the type of people that they’re trying to attract. None of my colleagues would ever consider moving here because they’re educated and kind and don’t have a constant chip on their shoulder. Don’t fall for the Miami tech hub lie.
Oh the cheapest grocery store brand of milk is currently $6.58 a gallon. At this point I’m just going to start putting printer ink into my cereal because it’s cheaper.
Miami and South Florida in general are nothing but a dirty smelly thieving shit encrusted junkie wearing a Gucci belt.
Years ago I had a co-worker from Miami. He had a bumper sticker that said “Miami - Flee it like a Native” on his car.
IDK why anyone is considering moving to FL with global warming picking up speed. Seems pretty foolish to me. This issue alone is enough to take it off my retirement list if places to live.
They don’t believe in it… They’re reactionary idiots.
They either
-
Don’t believe it exists
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Don’t believe it will effect them.
Or can’t afford to leave. We’re not all ignorant down here.
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Too often cities push for real estate flipping be ause it means more tax revenue. Any land near the beach is under threat of imminent domain seizure because it’s now legal for a city to sell that land to private developers for a tower of condos and tax revenue instead of the 2 bedroom home that used to be there. Police just seize anything they want from motorists. Insurance prices are insane, I could not afford windstorm Insurance for the 1st time in my life. Auto insurance per year costs more than my car is worth. Beaches have started charging 30.00 to park to keep people away allowing the rich residents a more private beach.
The worst part is the lack of affordable housing…all the while half the condos on the beach are empty because rich snowbirds only use them a month out of the year.
This whole state has become a POS
She was already considering a move out of the state when she was told by her homeowners insurance company that she would need to replace her home’s roof because it was older than four years or her insurance premium would be going up…
Is this normal in Florida? You have to replace your roof every four years?
No. This can’t be true.
Depends on the damage. It was a 25% damage rule. You get to storms in the same year that total that and it has to be replaced. (E.g. 12.5 and 12.5%). Don’t think it matters/mattered how old it was.
No. This seems kinda crazy. I’ve heard of having wind mitigation done on your roof to get your insurance rates down. I have no idea what it is but I do it.
I imagine this is it - was there a change in code? I have a friend who lives there, and it’s a huge deal for their insurance that they hurricane-proof everything, and those standard do get revised over time
Any new construction has to meet the code that the legislation comes up with, at least that’s how I’m to understand it. Most of the new construction on the coast is built up on slits due to coastal flooding. But everything built now must meet hurricane standards.
When I was a kid we never had to really worry about flooding but we’ve had family members and friends shelter at our house because of the flooding.
New construction has to meet current code, but existing buildings are grandfathered into code that existed when they were built, barring major renovations, as far as building inspections are concerned. However insurance can and does require updates
and it was expensive, very expensive.”
People hear “no state income tax” and don’t read any further. Property taxes are high if you want to live anywhere civilized. For instance Ft Myers is 4.7%. Insurance is crazy, as noted in the article, and the state is not kind to aged retirees.
It’s a great state if you’re an independently wealthy Republican.
Ft Myers does not have a 4.7% property tax rate. That would be ridiculously, catastrophically high. It decreased by 4.7% a years ago, but Florida is in the middle of the list for effective proper tax rate among all states in the country.
But I agree with you. I’ve heard many people I know from my state say they are leaving for FL because of income tax. I feel like many don’t consider everything that actually goes into living there. Other than the politics, insurance companies starting to refuse home insurance is the scariest thing that would prevent me from ever living there.
Wife and I ended up in Tampa early 2006. No state tax, but man, they made up for it there in fees and licensing for everything imaginable. Seemed like a lot of service industry jobs and trades all required you to get a local license. Heck, even the gals working in strip clubs were required to get a license to perform. I know some skilled trade jobs typically required licenses, but Florida just seemed to go out of their way to try to squeeze lower and middle class workers who were just trying to get by.
People hear “no state income tax” and don’t read any further.
Yeps. Know a bunch of people who came here for the good schools and now are threatening to leave since their kids graduated.
Like okay thanks for being a selfish asshole. Go enjoy your swampscape
They came to gentrify and were shocked, SHOCKED, to find there were already people living there.
Absolutely no one is “fleeing” we are on pace for 30 million population in the next few years. Just like any place with that many people there will be expensive areas for rich people.
There are flows in both directions. The net result may be growth of the state’s population, but having that many people leave is a sign that not everyone is happy there.
You mean birth rates + immigration > people leaving the state? I’m shocked! Shocked I tell you.
Seriously though, there does need to be an asterisk after “fleeing” that says “if they can afford it” which, let’s be honest, excludes most people who want to leave the state.
I mean, the article interviews, and quotes, four people who said they were fleeing.
More are moving in than leaving, but there are definitely people leaving because . . well, you know.
The first one was a chef who moved to palm beach and surprised it was expensive around there. Yeah that’s a very expensive part of the state. Average household income is almost 200k with 39 billionaires living there. Surprised Pikachu face! The second one was someone who moved into a trailer and the roof blew away in a hurricane. That’s par for the course in living in trailers in Florida. Google would have saved both of these people making smarter decisions
Speak for yourself. I fled that shithole 15 years ago, and I’ve used that verbage to describe the experience the whole time. FL fucking sucks, and you can’t even imagine how badly until you’ve lived almost anywhere else.
