I'm 77, so I wouldn't have a problem living in a 55+ community. I like children, I really do, but not wild ones whose parents don't teach them how to behave among others. Yesterday was the first time that I can recall going to Target and not hearing a screaming child. Made the shopping experience so much more pleasant.
Having said that, I wouldn't live in Florida if they gave me an apartment free of charge. An old friend of mine and his wife moved to The Villages and they love it, but they're Republicans.
My house is in a no-pets 55+ community. We see and hear plenty of visiting grandkids. I would not live in the Villages, myself. I don't want to be in a highly populated area. I have no idea how my neighbors vote. Florida had more Democrat registered voters than Republican ones until 2020. Bad governance in some parts of the country has driven people to move to more free and law and order states like Florida.
Yes, you would have visiting grandkids, but they aren't there 24/7. At some point, they go home. Bad governance may be the reason people move, but personally, I don't believe that what DeSantis is doing or wants to do in Florida is beneficial. Banning books, not allowing history to be taught, not saying "gay," - these are all the beginnings of fascism. Ask any Holocaust survivor.
The "Don't Say Gay" bill was not at all about saying the word gay. (And that was not the actual name of the bill either) It is about not teaching elementary school children that boys can be girls and vice versa. And other non appropriate teaching in school. If it cannot be shown or read aloud in a public school board meeting then it does not belong in a public school especially an elementary school.
Google the images in some of these "children's" books. They have very graphic sexual images.
This post was edited by my2cents at June 2, 2023 5:00 PM MDT
I'm sure it does factor into people moving to FL along with the warmer weather. However, I would gladly pay a state income tax to not have a book-banning fascist for a governor.
People who are of age are free purchase the book in FL....that is NOT banned. Yes, the school children are banned from looking at porn at school. As they should be....
I'll save you the trouble of researching this yourself.
"From 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50% of all disasters, 45% of all reported deaths and 74% of all reported economic losses.
Worldwide, 44% of disasters have been associated with floods (riverine floods 24%, general floods 14%) and 17% have been associated with tropical cyclones.
Of the top 10 disasters, the hazards that led to the largest human losses during the period have been droughts (650 000 deaths), storms (577 232 deaths), floods (58 700 deaths) and extreme temperature (55 736 deaths).
Climate change has increased extreme sea level events associated with some tropical cyclones, which have increased the intensity of other extreme eventssuch as flooding and associated impacts. This has increased the vulnerability of low-lying megacities, deltas, coasts and islands in many parts of the world."
Yes....the climate changes it has from the beginning of time. Various deserts were once lush green forests, and vice versa. We are not the cause....the sun is.
My thoughts about moving to Florida are NO. Even though my sister and her partner built their own house in Florida. I'm used to a four season year with few hurricanes.
This brings back a memory of a story about retiring to Florida. This story is no reflection on Florida as a good place to retire, just a story about something that really happened.
In her 80s, my mom moved to Florida with her boyfriend. They lived in an apartment complex. One of her fellow retirees who lived on her own in a neighboring unit, was attacked and beaten in her apartment, then her apartment was set on fire. After a stay in the hospital, she went to stay in the unit with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was around ninety and died shortly after she was released from the hospital. The boyfriend lived in a unit with other family members who didn't want this lady there any more. Her family members finally came to bring this lady home with them to another state.
Soon thereafter, the management hired people to refurbish the burned out apartment, a father and son team. One day my mom and her boyfriend heard screaming coming from the neighboring apartment. They ran to see what the trouble was. It seams that the father had just accidentally cut his hand off with a circular saw. My mom staunched the bleeding while her boyfriend called an ambulance and the son was pretty hysterical. We found out later that the hand was reattached but I don't know how functional it was afterwards.
It wasn't long after that that my mom broke up with her boyfriend and two of my brothers drove down to Florida with a U-haul and brought her back home!
I think of that apartment as a haunted place. I hope that everyone who's lived there since haven't had any such troubles.
This post was edited by NYAD at June 3, 2023 9:04 AM MDT
Spunky 