The Future of Florida
 

What's your gut feeling about the future of state of Florida?

Maybe it's something at our age we shouldn't concern ourselves with now because we'll be long gone,
but my list below seems to be coming faster every year.
The population growth from people moving in the state is running wild which effects:

traffic, (including golfcarts and water sports),
crowds at entertainment venues,
prices of housing,
Unemployment,
crowded health care centers,
overcrowded restaurants with poor service or food,
rising sea water reducing building lots,
out of control insurance rates, home and auto,
increase in crime.

Have been in Florida for over 40 years and same things you mentioned were here 40 years ago. The only thing that did change is we now have the mentality of a deep south state with the latest migration of people.

The future of Florida will hinge on the foresight of our elected servants. As long as they don't give away the store trying to out-virtue one another, things should be fine.

Do you have tomorrow's topic picked out yet?

Will split into two states, the new one is the State of the Villages

I was born and raised in Jacksonville and lived here most of my life. I would say the most dramatic changes in my life time have occurred from Orlando and north due to growth. Orlando used to be nothing before Disney and all the other amusement park companies moved in. South Florida has always been a “pit” in my opinion (and my wife was born and raised in Miami). Florida will remain a destination for retirees and tourists as long as the COL remains affordable compared to where they came from.

All the other “issues” you list have been here forever. None of us have a crystal ball to say what is going to happen so we might as well enjoy this beautiful place that we live in and enjoy the time we have left on this earth.

:1rotfl:

OP should specify it is mostly the Villages area not all of Florida. Specifically most of Florida doesn’t have sports pools, golf cart or entertainment Venus

Do you really believe what you just stated?

Homeowners and automobile insurance will make Florida unaffordable.
 

Homeowners and automobile insurance will make Florida unaffordable, unless your income is over $400,000 a year, then you should be OK.
Many homeowners associations and condominium associations are receiving double and triple their previous premiums. And by law even if your unit has no mortgage on it, you still need to pay your condominium/HOA
insurance premiums. This is going to change Florida's affordability index by "a lot ".

Most, if not all, of these issues affect the entire country. Crime, even major ones, now go unpunished/under punished … crime goes up and gets more violent … outcome as expected. The government pays more to stay home than to work .. many stay home .. expected…. More people than ever fleeing to Florida to avoid high taxes, crime, woke politics, inclement weather, etc … while it is sometimes frustrating locally it is better than the overwhelming number of alternatives … aka .. NY, NJ, Chicago, California, Portland, Minneapolis, …. I could name quite a few more …

I'd agree with your list and add worsening weather/storms. But not in TV, please?!.....

And that is a huge problem.

just buy on the FL/GA line it will be ocean front property sooner or later

Full disclosure - I turned 60 a few months ago.

Around 1990 or so, when I thought of retirement, I thought of Florida. As a child in the 60s, I lived in Miami Beach for a while. I'd been back to Florida a few times and liked it. I'd look at a map and found what I thought was the perfect combination of what I was looking for when it came to location. Claremont FL.

In 1991, I found my birth parents (I was adopted) and it turned out my father lived in Florida. I went for a visit to Inverness and noticed that I could take a route through Claremont to get there from where I was (on a leisure trip for a convention). I liked what I saw and I kinda stored that away for future reference..

Set the wayback machine something over 15 years later. Again, I'm heading to Inverness. Again, coming from the Orlando area (I live in NH) I decide to go through Claremont.

It was... Depressing. All the orange groves were gone. Strip malls, parking lots and cookie cutter developments blanketed the area. I literally felt the little dream I had evaporate in my head as I drove through.

So, I have no idea where I'm going to retire to... And I'm running out of time to decide...

Yes. Agree.

Plus more homelessness, more aggressive drivers & less education

I for one am concerned about the attitude of those who say "who cares about what happens in the future, we will all be dead anyway." Selfish to the core. Woke-dumb is a threat to the nation and FL. T V is turning into nothing more than an opportunity to be landlords. I get your concerns.

go jags!

Major crimes go unpunished because these days, it’s who you know, or how good your attorney is at finding loopholes. Poor people that commit crimes are locked up for years, where a wealthy person is locked up for 5 months for the same crime. The inconsistency has always been there.

There is no avoiding crimes. Doesn’t matter what state, or what major city, or it’s politics. All major cities have crime and homelessness. I lived in Los Angeles for 35 years and never once experienced any crime. It was there, like any city, but you know in any city not to go walking alone after dark downtown….whether it’s Kansas City, Huntsville, or Jacksonville.

Get over the fact that during COVID people got perks because their jobs shut down for months. Deal with it. It was the moral thing to do…to help them. Now, people are working and LOW unemployment. Most nonservice jobs switched their workers to working from home, rather than an office. That will never change. It was the right thing to do. From here forward , we will always need workers for service jobs, because those are the lowest paid, and you can’t work from home. Who wants that, when you can get a job working from home these days? Who wants to wait on tables, when you can set your own hours, have your kids with you, and do shopping and deliveries for other people whenever you want to do it (Instacart) and make as much or more money?

Now…explain to me what “woke” exactly means, because the opposite of “woke”, is to be “asleep”,

FYI - it's Clermont. You can still find what you described, just not in that area.

NH would be the perfect place to retire (if it was 10 to 20 degrees warmer).

Not so sure about that. Prior to coming here I utilized my MN permit-to-carry on a daily basis. Here, even though I have a Florida permit, I haven't even carried once. Just haven't felt the need.

In my opinion this has everything to do with the local law enforcement. They obviously know who the petty troublemakers are, and keep the heat turned up on them. I read V - N on a daily basis; I don't know how many times I've read articles about someone being stopped for no license plate illumination, inappropriately stopping at a stop sign, etc. etc., followed by a drug dog "alerting" to the vehicle with the occupant(s) then being arrested for possession, drug paraphernalia, illegal weapons, you name it. But the point is, virtually all the articles in that particular publication are similar to this; virtually all petty crime. Possession. Shoplifting. Drunk and disorderly. Things that wouldn't even be mentioned should they occur in the northern cities that many of us come from.

Florida, at least around here, values its law-enforcement officers and supports them. As long as that continues I really don't see crime becoming a major issue around here.

I'm glad I'm closer to the end than the beginning.

Why
 

I’m sorry, but I’m retired (26 1/2 years in the USAF), haven’t missed any meals got a great wife, cute dog means to defend my wife and dog, why should I worry about all this stuff? Can’t do much if anything about it, most of the people that can are corrupt only care about how to stay in power. So be nice to one another and be happy!

That's easy, woke is being aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). I'll never understand why caring about others is considered a bad thing.

Not Worried
 

I’ve only been here two years but don’t I don’t see these problems. Sure, inflation is high at the moment and but that’s all cyclical.

Stop doom scrolling and get out and enjoy life. I do.

Dont worry about it unless you want to live in a cave! Nothing anyone can do but to thank the admin for opening up the borders. Its not different or any better here in ARizona either............my ins just got hit with a 300 raise! on the house. Our crime is going up wrong way drivers at least once a week if not more hit and runs quite oftern high heat levels and did I say NO water? we are running quite low but yet they keep building! I bought In TV and noticed things that we dont have here. Traffic was much lighter too......homes are half the price of what you pay here!

Dont bother to come to ARizona! We are over crowded things have changed alot here since 95 crazy drivers Californians moving here very high home prices that are out of reach along with the rents NO WATER we are in a shortage and have been asked to reduce use we are now a BLUE state ugh home ins got raised........Yes its a bit cheaper than Florida but Arizona is out growing it self with not much to do but stay indoors from April or May till October........BTW not many are that friendly here either.........I bought in florida. I cant downsize here at all......let alone have 3,000 clubs

Wow, that’s a really long sentence.

Her point/concern is well taken. Florida has changed quite a bit in 40 years. It's population has more than doubled, which causes the problems that the original post brings to light!

FL is the new CA.

Not even close.

Excellent that you stepped up and gave a definition of woke. Can you tackle "What is a woman"? That seems to be difficult for some to define today as well.

the sky ain't falling
 

it might be a result of federal administration celebrating criminals over law enforcement. Not as big of a problem in FL as some states. Maybe our borders need reinforcement to keep out criminals and terrorists

If I knew someone that had a gut feeling that the outlook of living in Florida was going to be bad, I'd ask them where they'd like to move, and what is preventing this action.

That is all.

Good one,! I expect you're referencing 1849.

In 1976 we took a cross-country trip in a 1970 Dodge Tradesman 100 van. While driving in Northern California I remember seeing bumper stickers that read "Don't Californianite Oregon. I say don't Californianite Florida.

God forbid!

Woke is really “I’m more important than you, my feelings are the most important thing in the world!” Well snowflake, you earn respect, respect me and I will respect you.

Bingo.

Caring about others is not a bad thing, if that is what you want to do.

Many of us are well informed but do not care to be "actively attentive to important societal facts and issues". We just want to enjoy our lives.