I currently live in extreme west Florida, but I'm under highly considering moving to the Tampa Bay area within the next few years. I was looking at areas like Brandon, Valrico, Clearwater, and maybe Wesley Chapel. I'm curious to here what anyone has to say about the area who lives there or has lived there. I'm curious about everything pretty much, not just the car scene. So if anyone wants to help educate me, I'd love to discuss it!
Wanting to learn about the Tampa Bay area
- Thread starter 626ofall
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dalocksmith
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- Mazda 3 Hatch
Sure what do you want to know?
www.tamparacing.com 
is a start
is a startdalocksmith
Member
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- Mazda 3 Hatch
A lot of old people and fyi they can't drive. As well as a lot of other idiot drivers. Traffic sucks but nothing you won't find in any other city for that matter. All and all I have no complaints. I do agree with destineal. Gas prices suck! Descent club scene if your into that and pretty central so you can access all of what Florida has to offer. Wow I sound like a travel agent haha.
I personally hate everything about Tampa. EVERYTHING is WAY overpriced. I moved to Tampa 2-years ago and am moving back out of Tampa in May. Drivers here are terrible. It's nasty here unless you live in South Tampa where you should expect to pay a pretty penny for everything. Crime is CRAZY high here. All in all it's not worth living here.
Good to know! I appreciate all the input! Jo060, where did you move from, if you don't mind my asking? How much is the gas there currently? Its 3.35 here, so I'm curious. I find great appeal in the bay area's "centralness". I'm just so used to being central to nothing around here. I figure it will be big city traffic, coupled with the excessive driving aggression. There seems to be a plenitude of poor, aged drivers here too.
I'm from Orlando and Ocala. I've lived most of my live in Ocala. Although it's a small town a lot of my time is/was spent in big cities.
I forgot to add this...and this is NOT meant to offend ANYONE in anyway. If this comment does offend anyone I'm very sorry and I'll remove it.
Tampa is very "hood rich" You'll see/hear A LOT of cars raised on 25 inch+ wheels, cruising around blasting their 3-4 15's in the trunk. Right now gas is about $3.36-$3.47 for Regular.
The thing is it's not big city. When you see downtown tampa you'll only see 5 or so tall building (Can't call them skyscrapers). The traffic is due to terrible drivers and poor road design.
To say the drivers are terrible would be an understatement. I just don't know any other way to describe it.
I forgot to add this...and this is NOT meant to offend ANYONE in anyway. If this comment does offend anyone I'm very sorry and I'll remove it.
Tampa is very "hood rich" You'll see/hear A LOT of cars raised on 25 inch+ wheels, cruising around blasting their 3-4 15's in the trunk. Right now gas is about $3.36-$3.47 for Regular.
The thing is it's not big city. When you see downtown tampa you'll only see 5 or so tall building (Can't call them skyscrapers). The traffic is due to terrible drivers and poor road design.
To say the drivers are terrible would be an understatement. I just don't know any other way to describe it.
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Tampa pretty much sucks. Traffic sucks, people suck, crime, dirty, (blah).
Hop over to Pinellas County and it's not so bad. Steer clear of St. Petersburg. It's gone downhil fast. Clearwater / Clearwater Beach / Palm Harbor are decent places and not far from the nightlife in Tampa. Tampa is a place I prefer to "visit" and not live in. LOL! But if you decide you like Tampa better, check out Brandon and Lithia. Super cheap houses out there right now.
Hop over to Pinellas County and it's not so bad. Steer clear of St. Petersburg. It's gone downhil fast. Clearwater / Clearwater Beach / Palm Harbor are decent places and not far from the nightlife in Tampa. Tampa is a place I prefer to "visit" and not live in. LOL! But if you decide you like Tampa better, check out Brandon and Lithia. Super cheap houses out there right now.
The city limits itself is not likely where I'd want to live. From my looking around, it seems that Brandon, Valrico, Clearwater, Wesley Chapel, and places like that are much better to live in. I would want to especially steer clear of the areas around USF and east of 275. I've read the housing market is the pits (one of the worst in the nation possibly)which is probably great as a buyer, but... I know its a more complex issue then that. There are more people in Hillsborough county and Pinellas county then there are in the entire rest of the state west of about Levy county. Considering that, I expect it it be quite busy in every way. I guess every time I go somewhere else in Florida I see so much more going on and it doesn't feel so out of the loop like Pensacola does. I don't know that I'm explaining myself well, but things are way too damn quiet here and way to little goes on. Our biggest industry(tourism) took a huge hit from the oil spill. It was a shame really, because media potrayal of the spill made it look far far worse then it was here. I'm not saying it wasn't a mess, but it was not nearly as bad as the hysteria led many non locals to believe. That really helped to damage our tourism this last year. Every time we have a hurricane, tourism takes a huge hit. I know that much of Florida is all about tourism, but I would rather live in a place with more stable industry then we have here. I'll get off my soapox now lol. Thanksfor everyone's input thus far!
Clearwater/ Dunedin/ Palm Harbor area very nice, close to most thing, Traffic is a pain but compared to Chicago up here it is nothing. Very nice residential, not near the crime as in Tampa Area, lot of hot rods/tuners around, beaches are beautiful, housing is a lot more affordable today than 3 yrs ago.
Just as many young people as old which is rare for Fl.
Real pretty drives when you ride North East of Pinellas Co, 1/8 mile drag strip close by and close to 1/4 mile strip in Bradenton.
If they are still doing it at Gandy Bridge they usually have 400+ nice cars show up every Fri/Sat night.
Hwy 19 through the middle of Pinellas is Club/Restaurant/store row but can be a pain to navigate .
Pinellas Co Sherrifs can be a real pain!!!
Need to have a good job already!!!
Just as many young people as old which is rare for Fl.
Real pretty drives when you ride North East of Pinellas Co, 1/8 mile drag strip close by and close to 1/4 mile strip in Bradenton.
If they are still doing it at Gandy Bridge they usually have 400+ nice cars show up every Fri/Sat night.
Hwy 19 through the middle of Pinellas is Club/Restaurant/store row but can be a pain to navigate .
Pinellas Co Sherrifs can be a real pain!!!
Need to have a good job already!!!
RunAroundNekid
Member
I used past oil spills to my advantage in my hardship letter. I mentioned how oil spills that happened years ago are still affecting areas years later. So I claimed 5 years worth
First off, you're a liar. I live 30 minutes fro New Orleans and tried to get BP to cover some lost wages due to the oil spill. They sent a claims investigator out, I had to give multiple statements, and jump through tons of hoops, and still have seen no money, and probably won't.
They're being very stern on the payouts to those who were TRUTHFULLY affected, like myself and many other HONEST folks in S. Louisiana.
Second, I grew up in Clearwater/Largo. If you can deal with everything overpriced, a metric s*** ton of people, and horrid traffic, then its for you
Since moving to Louisiana, I've never been happier.
First off, you're a liar. I live 30 minutes fro New Orleans and tried to get BP to cover some lost wages due to the oil spill. They sent a claims investigator out, I had to give multiple statements, and jump through tons of hoops, and still have seen no money, and probably won't.
They're being very stern on the payouts to those who were TRUTHFULLY affected, like myself and many other HONEST folks in S. Louisiana.
Second, I grew up in Clearwater/Largo. If you can deal with everything overpriced, a metric s*** ton of people, and horrid traffic, then its for you
Since moving to Louisiana, I've never been happier.
I'm not lying about anything. I drove about 15min to the GCCF in Clearwater. Showed all of my paystubs, Wrote a hardship letter, handed in my W-2. Filled out tons of paper work. This was all done on December 31st. (Why would I lie about this anyway). Actually, half the people I worked with in the restaurant just received checks. From Cooks, hostesses, servers, bartenders etc..
And the restaurant business has been effected...for a little while anyway. When I was working there I went from working 30hrs a week to about 15-20. And not near the same pay.
