3 ms·

You lumped all of Florida into one awful description. There is sprawl, spread, and desolation in every state. Crazy drivers exist everywhere, and to think they

You lumped all of Florida into one awful description. There is sprawl, spread, and desolation in every state. Crazy drivers exist everywhere, and to think they don't is naive. Sure, they have a weird thing in FL about breaking before signaling a turn, but I'd take the roads in FL over the interstates in Chicago or Atlanta. It just sounds like you're bitter about where you live now. I live in one of the large cities in Florida, and while the transit isn't world-class, the quality of life certainly is.

mdorazio 6y ago
Which city do you live in? I've been trying to figure out which FL cities are most attractive to the HN crowd and tend to get mixed answers.
- souprock 6y ago
  You'll get mixed answers because people don't like the same stuff. I like the Melbourne area. I'm to the east, out on the barrier island. I have a coworker out to the west, with canal access to a lake so he can go shoot alligators from his airboat. There was a coworker who got 11 acres. He got sheep, chickens, and goats. He can shoot in his yard. Somebody got a low-rise condo right on the Atlantic Ocean beach. Somebody bought a McMansion. The last time this came up I described the culture a bit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17271199 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17271199 People who want to walk to work can do that, but road traffic is insignificant. The public transportation here is called SCAT. (supposedly the Space Coast Area Transit) The word "scat" fits it very well. I don't think anybody cares.
  - zafka 6y ago
    I live half way between Melbourne and Boca, which are the places with the most "HN type" work. It has been pretty glorious here for quite a while, but development is finally moving in big time.
  - mdorazio 6y ago
    Thanks for the insight.
- mikem170 6y ago
  I can't speak for the HN crowd, I imagine opinions vary, but I can say what has caught my eye. I pay attention to what I can walk to in a neighbourhood (beer? live music? park? supermarket?), location in the city (near other things), and cost (not crazy expensive) I've been mostly around Jacksonville, and there are spots that I like. The three blocks along the beaches if you can swing it! Or on the beach side of the ditch (inter-coastal). Or the hipster neighborhoods near downtown (Riverside, San Marco, Springfield, Murray Hill, maybe uptown proper). I would be impractical to live on the beach and work downtown. Cost of living is a good deal. It's got everything, you just might need to look for it a bit! I've been through St. Pete, and some spots, including some of the small towns on the coast of the peninsula, left a good impression (Tarpon Springs, for example). As long as you avoid the sprawl on 19 and don't have a killer commute off the peninsula. I thought St. Augustine was interesting, I've been there multiple times. It's a small city, and has a lot of tourists - and a lot of the things that tourists like to do. I lived in a similar tourist town, and you find the good stuff and learn you way around. I haven't lived here but know people that do. I've been to Gainesville. It's a college town. The unique and interesting stuff is tied to that. But I do like small cities, it's easy to be close to everything and not have the hassles of a bigger/busier place. I've been around Orlando. Nothing I saw caught my eye. Avoid I4 during rush hour, during the day if you can! I've been though some of the suburbs south of Miami, didn't like the traffic, nothing I saw caught my eye. I've visited Key West and South Beach Miami. Both were interesting and unique in their own way. I'd spend more time in Key West if I had the chance. (and money!) My visit to South Beach was a while ago. Neat place to visit. I stayed at a hostel that had valet parking :-)
- paul_f 6y ago
  I live in the Flagler Beach/Palm Coast area (between St Augustine and Daytona). Do remote "HN-type" work. Few tourists here. Traffic is non existent. Live on a salt-water canal and can take my boat out to the Intercostal for fishing or cruising. Great weather, low cost of living, plenty of beach bars with live music. Paradise.
mikem170 6y ago
I didn't mean to disparage the people in Florida, or the quality of life in general. But I do think it would be a lot better if so many people didn't have to deal with so much traffic. I think it's a problem the way that cities have grown via sprawl over the past few decades, and a lot of southern cities have grown a lot during that time. Apparently it's more profitable to build further out instead of infilling, and build housing developments instead of integrated neighbourhoods. It's depressing to see apartment complexes with sidewalks to nowhere and nothing to do but drive a couple/few miles to the nearest applebees or whatever. I think the problem with crazy drivers comes with the amount and density of traffic, the long commutes, the divided highways with people driving well over the already fast speed limits while people are pulling in and out of plazas, etc. This can be brutal for the people who need to deal with that every day. The neighborhoods in older cities, or older parts of cities, tend to be grids of various sized roads dispersing traffic as opposed to cul-de-sacs funnelling everyone in and out of their complexes and developments onto a couple of congested main roads. I've lived in a northern city, much of it built before the automobile, but not anywhere as crowded as Chicago or NYC. I'm not personally bitter, except for maybe zoning laws that don't allow for more density. I've had a work form home job for quite a while, and haven't had to deal much with bad traffic. I do feel sad for the people I know who have to commute more than an hour in bad traffic, I feel sad for the working poor who struggle to keep a car on the road, I feel sad for the kids in some of these places who need a ride to see any of their friends, the teenagers with nowhere to hang out besides the Waffle House parking lot, etc.

mdorazio 6y ago

Which city do you live in? I've been trying to figure out which FL cities are most attractive to the HN crowd and tend to get mixed answers.

souprock 6y ago
You'll get mixed answers because people don't like the same stuff. I like the Melbourne area. I'm to the east, out on the barrier island. I have a coworker out to the west, with canal access to a lake so he can go shoot alligators from his airboat. There was a coworker who got 11 acres. He got sheep, chickens, and goats. He can shoot in his yard. Somebody got a low-rise condo right on the Atlantic Ocean beach. Somebody bought a McMansion. The last time this came up I described the culture a bit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17271199 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17271199 People who want to walk to work can do that, but road traffic is insignificant. The public transportation here is called SCAT. (supposedly the Space Coast Area Transit) The word "scat" fits it very well. I don't think anybody cares.
- zafka 6y ago
  I live half way between Melbourne and Boca, which are the places with the most "HN type" work. It has been pretty glorious here for quite a while, but development is finally moving in big time.
- mdorazio 6y ago
  Thanks for the insight.
mikem170 6y ago
I can't speak for the HN crowd, I imagine opinions vary, but I can say what has caught my eye. I pay attention to what I can walk to in a neighbourhood (beer? live music? park? supermarket?), location in the city (near other things), and cost (not crazy expensive) I've been mostly around Jacksonville, and there are spots that I like. The three blocks along the beaches if you can swing it! Or on the beach side of the ditch (inter-coastal). Or the hipster neighborhoods near downtown (Riverside, San Marco, Springfield, Murray Hill, maybe uptown proper). I would be impractical to live on the beach and work downtown. Cost of living is a good deal. It's got everything, you just might need to look for it a bit! I've been through St. Pete, and some spots, including some of the small towns on the coast of the peninsula, left a good impression (Tarpon Springs, for example). As long as you avoid the sprawl on 19 and don't have a killer commute off the peninsula. I thought St. Augustine was interesting, I've been there multiple times. It's a small city, and has a lot of tourists - and a lot of the things that tourists like to do. I lived in a similar tourist town, and you find the good stuff and learn you way around. I haven't lived here but know people that do. I've been to Gainesville. It's a college town. The unique and interesting stuff is tied to that. But I do like small cities, it's easy to be close to everything and not have the hassles of a bigger/busier place. I've been around Orlando. Nothing I saw caught my eye. Avoid I4 during rush hour, during the day if you can! I've been though some of the suburbs south of Miami, didn't like the traffic, nothing I saw caught my eye. I've visited Key West and South Beach Miami. Both were interesting and unique in their own way. I'd spend more time in Key West if I had the chance. (and money!) My visit to South Beach was a while ago. Neat place to visit. I stayed at a hostel that had valet parking :-)
paul_f 6y ago
I live in the Flagler Beach/Palm Coast area (between St Augustine and Daytona). Do remote "HN-type" work. Few tourists here. Traffic is non existent. Live on a salt-water canal and can take my boat out to the Intercostal for fishing or cruising. Great weather, low cost of living, plenty of beach bars with live music. Paradise.

mikem170 6y ago

I didn't mean to disparage the people in Florida, or the quality of life in general. But I do think it would be a lot better if so many people didn't have to deal with so much traffic. I think it's a problem the way that cities have grown via sprawl over the past few decades, and a lot of southern cities have grown a lot during that time. Apparently it's more profitable to build further out instead of infilling, and build housing developments instead of integrated neighbourhoods. It's depressing to see apartment complexes with sidewalks to nowhere and nothing to do but drive a couple/few miles to the nearest applebees or whatever. I think the problem with crazy drivers comes with the amount and density of traffic, the long commutes, the divided highways with people driving well over the already fast speed limits while people are pulling in and out of plazas, etc. This can be brutal for the people who need to deal with that every day. The neighborhoods in older cities, or older parts of cities, tend to be grids of various sized roads dispersing traffic as opposed to cul-de-sacs funnelling everyone in and out of their complexes and developments onto a couple of congested main roads. I've lived in a northern city, much of it built before the automobile, but not anywhere as crowded as Chicago or NYC. I'm not personally bitter, except for maybe zoning laws that don't allow for more density. I've had a work form home job for quite a while, and haven't had to deal much with bad traffic. I do feel sad for the people I know who have to commute more than an hour in bad traffic, I feel sad for the working poor who struggle to keep a car on the road, I feel sad for the kids in some of these places who need a ride to see any of their friends, the teenagers with nowhere to hang out besides the Waffle House parking lot, etc.