Am fed up with traffic and rude tourists, superficiality and insensitivity on the SE coast. Was encouraged to move to St
Pete for a tighter community where people actually care. OK my cs family from St. Pete, how is the life over on the west coast? I am an outdoor cyclist, love hosting potlucks, and love to talk with people from all over the world. Would I be happy in St.Pete? Please PM me if u care to describe details. Thanks!!
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Hey, Paula!
Many of us long for community no matter where we are.. have you checked out Meetup? You may find locals who share your interests (and you can research groups in St. Petersburg on there, too!)
My suggestion would be to connect with folks in Pinellas County now & get feedback from them about jobs/housing/traffic/weather, etc.. in other words, make connections now to make your possible transition easier! There are a lot of eclectic & spiritual groups in St Pete, but if that's not your thing, it won't help! There's also lots of smaller, great live music venues with kind peeps (like The Blueberry Patch in Gulfport). Find your Tribe! ;-)
Good luck & keep us posted!
I love CS, but I agree that Meetup is a great way to go. I moved here, didn't work and had no friends and I started my own meetup group and it has been amazing the fun we've had. I'm sold on it for finding people with common interests. Of course, CS is great and travel is a huge commonality. Harder to gather the CSers though as they are an independent lot.
It's a great question. A famous article in the psychological literature on well-being (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1978) reported only small differences in life satisfaction between paraplegics and control subjects, on the one hand, and between lottery winners and control subjects, on the other. In accord, (Diener & Diener, 1996). So I think Richard and Heather are correctly suggesting that a geographical cure, in and of itself, may not give the results you are looking for. There's less traffic here, generally speaking, and the tourists tend to be from the Midwest instead of New York / New Jersey, given the I-75 vs I-95 corridor, and many people find mid-westerners less annoying. There's less wealth here, which may or may not be an attractive feature.
Yes you would be happy in St. Pete. It is moving and upcoming, caters to all people, arts, music, activities, bike trails, etc. The SE area of Florida does to even come close to how people live in St. Pete. More laid back, quieter, gorgeous beaches, less traffic, too.
I think St. Pete is an amazing city. I live next door in Clearwater. We go over to St. Pete quite a bit (2x last week). Lots of activities, biking, kayaking. I think the people are cool, artsy, outdoorsy. Traffic isn't great anywhere that I know of around here, but I do find the people to be friendly and caring. If you have nothing to lose over where you are, come and give it a shot. I've spent a little time on the East Coast and do find Gulf area friendlier.
There is traffic in St. Pete, but nothing like what you find in the Miami area. There are tourists in St. Pete, but they are mostly over-fed mid-westerners who go home sometime in April, not angry New Yorkers who want to stay and take-out their frustration on the locals. So, is it paradise? No, but it's more peaceful than Miami. On the other hand, it is not as cosmopolitan as Miami.
I have lived in St. Pete for over 30 years and watched it grow from a desperate ghost-town to a boom-town of art galleries, restaurants, and craft breweries. Will your life suddenly become perfect here? No. Will you be happier here than in Miami? Probably. Check this site before you decide: http://ilovetheburg.com/ Please don't just sit around and be unhappy. Change something and see what happens.
Good luck with your decision.
RJB
Thank you all for your feedback. Of course home is what I make out of it, but I am a sensitive person and thus, my emotions are often triggered by those around me. When I am with smiling happy people, then I am happy too. Seems like the best thing for me to do is to come over for a week or so and totally engage!!!! Hopefully I will be able to connect with some of you when that does happen! Thanks for the suggestions...sounds like you all are a happy community! That's a great start.
Honestly, St. Pete is being gentrified. If you want to see the sadness that a lot of people don't want to talk about then please do move here and be a part of the Gentrification. Saint Petersburg is a beautiful city that has been kicking off a lot of the locals from where they used to live. I'm a community organizer and seeing first hand what is happening to the people is really sad. (Gentrification forces the relocation of current, established residents and businesses, causing them to move from a gentrified area, seeking lower cost housing and stores. Gentrification often shifts a neighborhood’s racial/ethnic composition and average household income by developing new, more expensive housing, businesses and improved resources.) Nobody can make you happy, if you expect others to do it for you then your in for a surprise. Do what you think is best. Be your own light even in darkness. Aho!!!