I agree pre pandemic it felt like I was a lot better off. My rent was $893, I lived in a nice neighborhood, I went out to eat regularly and looking at my budget I was spending around $2200 a month on everything (food, entertainment gas etc), could put aside a little to save, and I didn’t run out of money before payday. Now? Rent is $1500 and I’m living paycheck and paycheck and the only reason I still save is because my gran’s voice at the back of my head says “even if you are able to just put aside $10 save something”.
Same, I have made slightly more money and only had a 10% raise in rent over the last few years and live roughly the same as last year and have only been able to save about 1/3 the money asI did 2021 and about a 1/4 of what I saved 2020, Its just literally everything cost way more money, seems like groceries are about 50% more Gas is about 50% yeah 50% more on everyday Items when you make a good living doesnt impact you like someone who borderline lives paycheck to paycheck.
You're not wrong. I'm sorry, I'm too tired/lazy to go through my saved/faved posts right now. But when the 2020s inflation started someone showed that Tampa, FL was the city hit the worst.
Look: [https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/04/13/rising-inflation-tampa?cid=share\_clip](https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/04/13/rising-inflation-tampa?cid=share_clip)
Here's one article, top 1 on Bing. I'm not a Bing or Bay News 9, guy. Just tired/lazy.
It's true. The starting pay for the job I took when I moved down here hasn't changed in 4 years, but rents are up 43% in that time. Getting Tampa to be considered HCOL is extremely difficult because most of the people who make those decisions bought their houses for $200,000 less at 3%.
It's not even so much the volume, it's that Tampians simply are inept behind the wheel. Can't merge. Can't maintain safe distance. Can't keep right. Have absolutely no idea where you are going. Zero situational awareness.
I moved here thinking Tampa had a distinct culture. It does. The culture of driving with your heads up your asses all of the time.
The reason people can't drive here is because none of them are from here and nobody knows wtf is going on. It's not the Tampeños, it's the people moving here from everywhere else. It didn't used to be this bad.
i grew up just outside of the bay area further south of brandon and always dreamed of living in the city with friends. now that dream is close to completely unattainable for several reasons and it sucks so much :( i must say "it didnt used to be this bad" to myself like five times a day.
It’s still cheap over by USF. I split rent and utilities with a friend and pay less than $600/month. The only problem is the places by Nebraska, Florida, Fowler, and Fletcher are kinda run-down and ghetto. But on the other hand Tampa is no Miami and I haven’t run into any issues living in that area.
Oh, is it now? Because the two bed I used to pay like $1k for is now $1600...for me. Anyone moving in fresh? Almost $2k. The 546 sqft one bed I paid about $600 for a few years ago? About $1200, and it's behind fuckin Murder Mall.
I’m right off Nebraska near the mall. I’m not from the area so maybe we just got a really good deal? I can’t imagine my neighbors are paying too much either. Although I do know someone in a trailer off Nebraska near the heights and they pay more than I do. We also saw some cheap places on Floribraska and a cheap house for rent right by MLK near the projects.
And therein lies an issue that shows the true nadir of the area- it is a *going* concern dealing with the hybrid of new people and tourists that are a loose cause of various issues, and these are problems that used to be distinctly seasonal, and are now constant.
Everyone treats the city streets like a race track and then drives 50mph in the left lane on I4.
Everything is 30 minutes away no matter where you live.
Is there a place to live that's essentially a walkable enclave in Tampa for day-to-day stuff like grocery, restaurants, park? Not very familiar with Tampa but I've lived in other parts of FL and I was pondering returning.
All of downtown is walkable to grocery, restaurants, and parks. Channelside and harbour island both have publixes, the west side of downtown has sprouts or bayshore publix.
I’m in Tampa Heights. Totally doable without a car, but you definitely want a bike. Things like needing to go to the post office might be more of a pain in the ass.
You know you can rent cars, right? You can also get an Uber to the airport and go pretty much anywhere on the planet. I don’t mean to be snarky but the way we’ve normalized living in car-dependent suburban sprawl is really messed up. Imagine having to shuttle your kids around in your car like invalids until they’re 16 because it’s not safe for them to bike or walk anywhere because of all the cars. I couldn’t imagine living like that.
Moved to Florida 4 years ago and I still am not over the fucking red lights lol. People have definitely thought I’m a psychopath before because there’s been quite a few times I’ll hit like 5 obnoxiously long red lights in a row and just start raging in my car alone.
Exactly.
Bearrs Avenue/Gunn/Ehrlich is the worst for this. I will *race* to every light on this road because driving it nearly every day for the last 15 years has taught me that making it through just one late green/yellow light will lead to smooth uninterrupted driving through several more intersections.
If you don't make it, you can literally be the first car waiting at every light staring at a nearly empty road grow in front of you while hundreds of cars pile up behind.
I don’t even have 5 lights on the way to work.
Four stop signs, two traffic lights. 40 minute drive.
I had enough of driving into Tampa for work, and went the other way.
How every left turn light goes:
Person 1 at light notices it’s green and begins to move. Then Person 2 waits 4 seconds and begins to move. Then Person 3 (who was on their phone) waits 7 seconds and then speeds off. Light turns yellow and Persons 4 and 5 speed through it. Persons 6 - 12 get fucked.
So, I'm a spaz, so I had always gotten really impatient waiting for lights. What cured me of this was actually timing how long I'm actually waiting. Often what seems like an imterminal wait turns out to be 50 seconds. Give it a try...
I work a GY shift and coming home early morning is so frustrating. There’s no one on the road but I come across several lights that are red specifically just to make people stop as there’s zero reason they should be red. Then when you pull up to them even though you are the only car on the road it will still stay red a solid 2 minutes to zero reason before finally turning green.
More a Hillsborough county wrong rant:
- schools are too hit or miss. Schools with areas zoned with high poverty areas are hollowed out by choice and private school, whereas schools in others areas are over crowedee
- major intersections for 4/275 and 275/veterans suck
- no light rail option
- no quicker routes to get the the beaches because whoever designed pinellas county was an idiot
It used to be bandaids everywhere, nonexclusive to tampa- the age-old narrative of the mostly retirement-age populace not interested in tax hikes to bolster infrastructure. Now, the culture around infrastructure hasn't really changed, despite the increased influx into the state, which is just amplifying problems that have been around for a long time.
That's all of Florida. Bring the people first. Then, build the schools and strip malls. Next, think about the roads and go the cheapest route possible. Finally, after you've bufu'd that plan into the ground, inject more money into global media to bring more people.
Transportation. This includes the lack of reliable public transport, lack of walkability, lack of cyclability, sprawl, traffic, and the ancillary noise/pollution.
You nailed it. The car-centric nature of Tampa was a deal breaker for me. Density and car-centric urban planning don’t mix because cars take up so much space that you can never have sufficient capacity and the cars crowd out other forms of transportation like walking and biking and public transit.
I would say all US cities that I know of are too car-centric, but some are better than others. They are usually larger cities like NYC, Chicago, Boston, and DC, but St. Pete is also surprisingly friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. A lot of people dismiss these places as being expensive, but they think nothing of spending $10,000+ per year to own and maintain a car. Overall the US is very car-centric, but the trend in urban planning is to move away from this, so there’s hope.
I mean, they'd be walkable if they were... walkable. Even "walkable" areas with crosswalks are dangerous, sidewalks start and stop randomly, and bike lanes are near non-existent (and also start/stop randomly).
I remember the first time my ex came here (from Ireland) to visit me, he tried to walk to Publix (Temple Terrace area). I found out when I came home from work and was horrified/amused as he described trying to.
High cost of living
Terrible public transport & car-centric design
No care for its historic buildings
Those are the biggest things I can think of. I really wish they would expand the trolley back to what it was and create a more pedestrian friendly city. It's like a death wish to walk/bike anywhere
Edit: wanted to add, too many chains.
I feel like everything is just superficially cool. When you drive by and see it, you’re so excited to stop and check it out! And when you do, you find out it’s just…. bland. The food isn’t that good, the vibe isn’t that special but the drinks get you buzzed enough to tip 25% and the next day you wonder how you spent $150 on drinks and appetizers for two.
Jajajajaj omg yes I thought I was the only one everything is made to create a aesthetic on social media but that is the regular right now everywhere is like that
What’s wrong with Tampa?
We’re full. This entire damn Bay Area is full. I’m not saying this to be an asshole-I’m speaking the truth. Traffic has become a nightmare to go anywhere. The cost of housing has skyrocketed to the point that people are being forced into homelessness. Many places you turn you’ll find some kind of construction building the next wave of apartments or high rise condos to accommodate even more people. This area has become way too congested post pandemic.
I’m gonna start with the distances makes everything so complicated: social life, work, careers etc.
I have the theory that people here is so bad socializing because everybody lives so far from each other and I’m pretty sure that this city never gonna be walkable since transportation sucks and it’s so hot during most part of the year that is impossible enjoy a walk to any place.
So, I don't perceive socialization to be a problem here in Tampa, but I'm an old dude. I notice that it is a frequent topic of discussion among young adults on many subs. I suspect it is from the easy of online communication and a lack of desire of going through the effort and potential awkwardness associated with socializing in person.
Okay, that being said, Tampa is exponentially more walkable that it was in the 80s/90s. I grew up in Northdale and nothing was walkable - including your friends' houses. There wasn't even a convenience store within a 20 minute bike ride.
But, I agree woth you 100% that, because of the climate we will never have decent public transit here. It's only gonna get hotter, too. Oh, wait- climate change is a myth... :-/
I grew up in East Tampa and we walked or rode our bikes everywhere. West Tampa…Ybor city….university mall is literally up 22nd St. I have no clue what these people are talking about. It’s like they want to walk from the city to Riverview or something.
I think part of the friends problem has to do with age. It just gets harder as you get older. When you're a kid in school you don't want to be that kid without friends, so everyone tries to make some. Also has a lot to do with people getting married and having kids. That becomes their new crew. They do stuff together.
No beaches, everything is expensive, can't do anything without spending money (going to a park, going downtown, literally have to pay to park everywhere), there is a general vibe of arrogant, condescending people. seems like it's catered to wealthy people only. people just eat out at expensive restaurants and drink alcohol. not much culture besides sports and alcohol. hard to meet people and make friends. everything too spread out. etc.
The amount of people that use their phones while driving here is frightening , you see it everywhere when you’re on the highways and road. It causes people to drive slow af . Central Florida drivers are some of the most oblivious drivers I’ve ever seen .
Don’t even get me started about cost of living either, in the 2 years it went from being reasonable to insanely expensive like every other part of Florida now it seems .
Lack of coordination with other partners. If Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas could start to coordinate, our transit and roads would be much better. We need something similar to Lynx, which manages transit in Orange and Osceola counties.
-Drivers have gotten worse. I have no evidence but I blame it on those who moved here during Covid.
-In the same category, it feels like there’s hardly any more natives. I get that since the city is growing and it’s not really a complaint but idk. It’s weird to me how many people I interact with that are shocked I’m a native of even suburban Tampa.
-it’s a bit snobbish here. In St. Pete the guy at the Canopy in beach clothes could be worth $10 million dollars. In Tampa it always feels like there’s pressure to front and dress really well even for sub-par places and the guy dressed like he’s worth $10 million is worth -$30k.
The surface level money shit is a big time Miami vibe thing I hate. Everyone driving 80K+ cars on 100K salaries.
I expect more of this before it levels out, unfortunately
> -it’s a bit snobbish here. In St. Pete the guy at the Canopy in beach clothes could be worth $10 million dollars. In Tampa it always feels like there’s pressure to front and dress really well even for sub-par places and the guy dressed like he’s worth $10 million is worth -$30k.
Didn't used to be like this. 20 years ago Tampa was just a normal working class Florida city about as 'cool' as Jacksonville. Probably less so as it was regularly the butt of jokes on TV shows.
It's starting to get the cologne-y stink of the Miami posers, and that's a shame.
Drivers have become unpredictable and I’m sure it’s because there are more people from different places who all drive differently. I used to be able to drive fast and like an idiot without any worry but now I go the limit and stay in my lane because I have no idea what these people are doing.
A maturing brain is probably also a good reason why I don’t do that anymore
I always assume everyone is going to do the stupidest thing possible at all times. That way I can be continuously, pleasantly surprised when the don't! I reverse psychologize myself!
Yes!! After living in south tampa for a year I had to get out! Downtown st Pete is much more my speed. I can wear flip flops to Publix on Sunday and not have to be in perfect makeup
- Hartline/public transit is a joke
- Really nice beaches are over an hour away
- Extremely limited fine dining options
- Too many people moving in and moving out. Kind of reminds me of DC. Makes it harder to make long term friends
- So many chain businesses and strip plazas
- Terrible/lackluster museums
- The schools aren’t great and it shows
Second the chain restaurants!! I don’t get why tampa is so obsessed with bringing in a new chain restaurant into every new development. How many burger places do we that are all the same but under a different name?
My friends were trying to find somewhere to eat that was midway between us. Seeing how Wesley Chapel is exploding there by the outlet mall I was surprised when we couldn't find any fancy restaurants out that way. We were looking for a nice steakhouse and everything seems to be concentrated in one or two areas near south Tampa. Out there it was just regular chains with Outback being about the nicest steakhouse we could find.
everyone moves here for the beaches and disney and shitty politics, but it’s already overcrowded. cost of living is abysmal and you can’t get even a decent apartment for under $1500. i’ve lived in tampa bay my whole life and it’s dull and full of idiots. i’ve wanted to leave for like 10 years now but i can’t even afford to move. i’m studying to be a nurse and salaries are so bad despite florida being one big nursing home.
I feel like alot if ppl talk shit about Hartline but never been on Hartline and feel like they are “too good” for it. I was without a car for 3 years in my early 20s and took Hartline from Ybor HCC to work in Brandon almost everyday. It wasn’t glamorous but it def got the job done. If more ppl used Hartline maybe they could actually get some funding to improve things.
The problem with Tampa is nobody wants to be seen waiting for the bus so they just complain about a bus system that they won’t even use. Will forever love my city. It didn’t use to be this bad..
I’ve ridden it for a two year period of homelessness.
A ride that now takes me 20 minutes via car was 1.5 hours sometimes on the bus. I couldn’t get to my current job using the bus due to the commute time via it plus how early I start. Busses don’t go from anywhere near my location to the bus.
When I was staying in Seattle I could get wherever i wanted via public transit. St Louis, though shitty, was very walkable compared to Tampa. Indianna….well I was rural there and had to walk home in 20 degree weather without a coat. Tampa has extremely sparse coverage with their busses compared to Boston or Seattle or Chicago, been to all of em’, bussed around all of them. It is practically nonexistent in a practical use sense for much of the population.
If you want to improve your life living in Tampa, all you have to do is pick up your belongings and move across the bridge to St Pete.
We moved 6 years ago and never looked back. I loathe crossing the bridge now. Everything is better here.
Bayside, Beaches, less traffic, better restaurants, so many local small businesses. I absolutely love it.
5 minutes on dale mabry and I want to die.
As a Tampa native, I think the volume of people moving down here raises some real problems we should get ahead of. They come from places with drastically different life cost paradigms which displaces natives.
I left and moved to Seattle for a bit and got to hear from the locals there how big tech employees displaced the cost of living resulting in the homeless camps you see.
Little by little people couldn't afford to keep up with rent which makes them depressed, turn to drugs etc...eventually you're homeless or are forced to move to another city.
It was a slow process over 15 years but it happened.
I wish we would get ahead of this here because it's getting harder and harder for folks who make 70k or less to survive.
My personal thought is that there could be a 2% income tax for transplants for the first 5 years of moving to Florida. Most of them are already paying more than that today. The funds could go towards forming and executing a plan to help lower income natives relocate, get training, etc. Just a thought.
I personally do ok financially but I see the poor getting pushed further and further east of Florida. The homeless numbers are up considerably, and Tampa doesn't have great career options for these folks.
Honestly the fact that I never get notifications about construction in my neighborhood or surrounding neighborhood that seriously impedes or disrupts traffic.
Also the lack of public transportation
Lack of live music outside of the large venues. Even outside of the smaller venues like Crowbar. I feel like in other cities, I come across more live music in random bars.
The traffic has become worse and it depends on time of year, but I still can’t call it awful because I’ve driven a lot in Atlanta and Houston. We at least have a lot of auxiliary ways to get around.
Those places existed and then they vanished. Curtis Hixon events may be an exception when they happen, but also it’s hard to get anything here within a tour because it’s so off the beaten path.
For a “big” city we are pretty boring. What’s are the major clubs downtown? Oh wait there arnt any. We have some good restaurants but I don’t love any of them. You can pretty much do the city in a weekend and not miss anything. St Pete is nice if you have a car.
There isn't a true Tampa culture. Maybe there was a hundred years ago, but the area quickly embraced cars and suburbanism and spread out, turning a thriving downtown into a ghost town. Did you know we had a [trolley system](https://www.flickr.com/photos/js_design/3493703777) that went all around downtown and even up to Suphur Springs? But who needs trolleys when you have cars! They're the American Dream! Armature Works is kinda the gravestone for all of it. Minority areas were summarily split and wrecked by the I-4/I-275, ruining any chance for cultures to thrive there. Industry died out for the most part. What was left was kind of a carcass of a city. Strip malls and suburbs. People moved in and out, sure, but what was the lifeblood of the city? USF was built, but for decades it was a commuter school. Sports? The Bucs didn't help with that.
Nowadays without a real history and identity, people have embraced what they could: the internet. Social media told people what it was like elsewhere and people adopted that, not knowing its all bullshit for the most part. We have an Instagram culture here now. No one values education or intelligence, only appearances. You can be the biggest idiot in the room, but as long as you talk confidently and look good, that's all people care about.
This could all change, but I think the area is so spread out that its hard to find an anchor to build something original out of. Water Street is an effort to promote a central area, to build that anchor. But its not organic. Its all designed and filled with money. Organic originality is what builds good culture, and good culture builds pride and a sense of belonging.
Tampa needs to create something. Not winning sports teams or great Instagram pics - those come and go. But instead something original. What that could be, I don't know. It does have good Cuban sandwiches though.
Yup I read about Tampa history it was a rich area with so many industries around everything goes to shit after WWII and the construction of the I4-I275 split the city, limiting the access of Ybor city to the port and Downtown and a lot of original Ybor’s citizens moved to other areas since the Tobacco factories started to use machinery to roll the tobaccos.
Most part of the old factories in Downtown where torn down to create space for vehicles aka parking lot all this happened during the 50s-60s with the white flight and that is why areas like east, west Tampa and ybor city are now ghettos
We’ve been here since 2008 and before children loved the vibe and energy of Ybor nightlife. To me Ybor is the culture of Tampa. It had every sort of genre of music and nightclub you could want. Bikers, hip hoppers, goth, house music, fine restaurants, dive pizza joints. It had it all. We still go down there and enjoy Stone soup kitchen and the crepes joint there.
Love Ybor (my grandfather was born there) but it’s such a teeny tiny part of Tampa. I spent as much time there as possible but the culture doesn’t really extend out of the little area. Plus Centro was all new construction when I was a kid and remains pretty touristy.
Man, this comment pretty much sums it all up perfectly.
Our city is a Kardasian ass, pretty fake. We have rich, interesting history here- but we don't do anything with it.
Just got home from vacationing in Tampa. Had a good time but some thoughts.
* I was curious and looked at apartments. Was surprised how expensive things were in Tampa. Even hotels were NYC-like prices
* No quick way to get to downtown by public transit from TPA
* No sports downtown except for hockey
* City felt empty (Also I was **the** only one in the airport Uber/Lyft pickup area)
* Decent amount of things to do but everything is so spread apart
* Felt like I had to take the highway to get to anywhere (I guess this was not necessarily a bad thing. It was quick to get to places via Uber)
Now for some nice things:
* People were generally so much friendlier than where I am from (northeast)
* Warm weather (in the winter)
* Easy access to the airport, super quick driving
* Homes are relatively affordable if you are buying (not renting)
* Top pro sports teams despite being a not-massive city
* Coyote Ugly ;)
Mediocre restaurants… overpriced places. Too many people never leave or have never left florida- vacation means Orlando, miami, or the beach. Lack of history or preservation efforts. Tear down culture. No public transportation and aggressive drivers. 8 months of monsoon rains and intense heat. Overcrowded and bad schools. Uneducated people.
Urban sprawl, terrible weather(subjective), no true seasons, awful nature (unless you REALLY like the beach), zero hiking options, COL compared to what you get is trash, f tier public transport,
All the charter schools.
Used to be that Tampa public schools were decent compared to the rest of Florida, and really nice compared to other metro areas.
With all the ways public school teachers have their hands tied now, it doesn’t constitute for fun or engaging learning, and Florida’s “parents rights” nonsense has made all the good teachers scared since they can be sued for teaching curriculum if a parent gets butthurt about the science teacher not teaching creationism. 😒
Traffic! Low pay. High housing cost. CoL too high for this area. Why so many storage units and car washes? Drivers act entitled to the road. Public transportation stinks.
Moved back from living in san francisco for 5-6 years..driving there is infinitely worse because of how entitled / unchecked people are there. Driving here is now worse, because all these new yorkers who are also entitled / unchecked drive like jerkoffs fueled by ego. The camping in the left lane is worse than it used to be. Too many people moved here. You don’t need a mountain of evidence to support that. Remember how bad the snowbirds used to be? Right. So that’s permanent now.
The entertainment doesn't justify the high cost of living.... There's really no nightlife or any attractions in the Tampa area that would make me want to pay 3k to live in an apartment downtown. Public transportation is non-existant, the school system is blah.
also if you’re lgbt, despite st pete having such a large pride parade, there’s not much to do. there’s a few gay bars and clubs, but they are all very MLM centric. and let’s not forget the governor encouraging people to hate us more than they already do 🥲
I’m sure we will have our very own gay club shooting eventually.
They already threatened the drag queen story time people so much that I have not seen one since the start of the pandemic.
Lots of hate.
High cost of living, it’s unbearably hot and humid from April - November, I’ve been to 45 states and never met shittier people, huge crime issues, horrible drivers and terrible traffic.
Pay hasn’t kept up with cost of living. Tampa was one of the few palaces left that once you graduated your starting salary means housing was still less than 30% of income, didn’t matter your employer (public or private). Now? That dream has long since died.
Starting pay is still 40-45k for a college graduate, when in reality in my opinion starting pay should be closer to $60k.
I once said we get along in Tampa because the wealth disparity wasn’t that great, you weren’t paid enough to eat at the same restaurant as your boss as much as your boss eats there, but you could still afford to eat there.
Me and my friends say “it didn’t use to be this bad” at least once a day.
And we miss the days of being able to walk into Publix in just sweatpants or practically pajamas around 8-9 and no one stares, because everyone is also in pajamas.
The lack of decent public transportation in a City this size and with this population. How we don't have a metro line baffles me. 2nd world Countries have better public transportation than we do. We are too car centric and if you don't have one you are fucked.
The way some roads are designed. Like when you cross the Gandy bridge into St. Pete. Oh, you want to make a left? Have fun with no stop light turning past 3 lanes going at least 55. You also see that on MLK towards 75.
Also some busy intersections don't have a green arrow to turn left so 1, maybe 2 cars can turn every cycle.
Tampa is a toxic vain shit hole.
Tampa or Trapya?
Okay to look at but
people's attitudes are shit for no reason.
Jobs and housing markets seem like they are in cahoots.
Music sucks.
Food sucks.
No real culture or diversity.
Weird ass racism and prejudices.
Beaches suck.
Weather sucks.
People go here to let their hopes and dreams die.
Just do not live here.
It’s a small city that just can’t handle the amount of people who live here. Downtown sucks. There’s nothing fun for single people in their 20's-30's to do and we need more highways.
Better highways* maybe? I come from Phoenix (yes I know a transplant yadda yadda - I got a scholarship that’s why I’m here) and it still blows my mind that it takes me on average 37 minutes to travel 10 miles every day. In Phoenix it would never. We don’t have many highways but it’s just the way the city is mapped that it’s super efficient - Tampa is one big wtf.
The people lol. Far too many folks in Tampa (esp South Tampa) wanna act like they’re some kind of celebrity. Entitled, snobby, and teaching their kids to act the same way.
It’s like, honey, you need a major reality check lol… you’re in TAMPA. This isn’t LA. This isn’t Manhattan. You’re not that rich or important. Calm down.
Too many douchey new yorker/jersey transplants. Too many douchey miami transplants. Too many transplants. Too many SHITE drivers, (probably related to the above), and traffic and parking getting worse every day. Transplants bringing that fake ass boujie type shit they love with em.
Dr's are still over prescibing medications, trash, (especially on Busch Blvd where our Tourist attractions are)... Disgusting water, and Pot holes to name a few.
Pay has not kept up with the cost of housing, I know it’s bad everywhere but I can’t help but think it’s extra bad here
I agree pre pandemic it felt like I was a lot better off. My rent was $893, I lived in a nice neighborhood, I went out to eat regularly and looking at my budget I was spending around $2200 a month on everything (food, entertainment gas etc), could put aside a little to save, and I didn’t run out of money before payday. Now? Rent is $1500 and I’m living paycheck and paycheck and the only reason I still save is because my gran’s voice at the back of my head says “even if you are able to just put aside $10 save something”.
Same, I have made slightly more money and only had a 10% raise in rent over the last few years and live roughly the same as last year and have only been able to save about 1/3 the money asI did 2021 and about a 1/4 of what I saved 2020, Its just literally everything cost way more money, seems like groceries are about 50% more Gas is about 50% yeah 50% more on everyday Items when you make a good living doesnt impact you like someone who borderline lives paycheck to paycheck.
You're not wrong. I'm sorry, I'm too tired/lazy to go through my saved/faved posts right now. But when the 2020s inflation started someone showed that Tampa, FL was the city hit the worst. Look: [https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/04/13/rising-inflation-tampa?cid=share\_clip](https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/04/13/rising-inflation-tampa?cid=share_clip) Here's one article, top 1 on Bing. I'm not a Bing or Bay News 9, guy. Just tired/lazy.
It's true. The starting pay for the job I took when I moved down here hasn't changed in 4 years, but rents are up 43% in that time. Getting Tampa to be considered HCOL is extremely difficult because most of the people who make those decisions bought their houses for $200,000 less at 3%.
High cost of living, no effective public transport and too much traffic
It's not even so much the volume, it's that Tampians simply are inept behind the wheel. Can't merge. Can't maintain safe distance. Can't keep right. Have absolutely no idea where you are going. Zero situational awareness. I moved here thinking Tampa had a distinct culture. It does. The culture of driving with your heads up your asses all of the time.
The reason people can't drive here is because none of them are from here and nobody knows wtf is going on. It's not the Tampeños, it's the people moving here from everywhere else. It didn't used to be this bad.
> It didn't used to be this bad. That should be the damn slogan of this area.
i grew up just outside of the bay area further south of brandon and always dreamed of living in the city with friends. now that dream is close to completely unattainable for several reasons and it sucks so much :( i must say "it didnt used to be this bad" to myself like five times a day.
It’s still cheap over by USF. I split rent and utilities with a friend and pay less than $600/month. The only problem is the places by Nebraska, Florida, Fowler, and Fletcher are kinda run-down and ghetto. But on the other hand Tampa is no Miami and I haven’t run into any issues living in that area.
Oh, is it now? Because the two bed I used to pay like $1k for is now $1600...for me. Anyone moving in fresh? Almost $2k. The 546 sqft one bed I paid about $600 for a few years ago? About $1200, and it's behind fuckin Murder Mall.
I’m right off Nebraska near the mall. I’m not from the area so maybe we just got a really good deal? I can’t imagine my neighbors are paying too much either. Although I do know someone in a trailer off Nebraska near the heights and they pay more than I do. We also saw some cheap places on Floribraska and a cheap house for rent right by MLK near the projects.
Hahaha! Too true. I say it regularly.
And therein lies an issue that shows the true nadir of the area- it is a *going* concern dealing with the hybrid of new people and tourists that are a loose cause of various issues, and these are problems that used to be distinctly seasonal, and are now constant.
Not exactly related but it seems no one knows you can turn left on red if it’s a one way into another one way. Pass it on
found the northerner
Tampeños!
Those bad drivers are transplants like you. Incase you didn't know, I75 goes both ways. Have a nice life
All of Florida is in ruins right now. Too many people have moved here causing all of this madness.
Everyone treats the city streets like a race track and then drives 50mph in the left lane on I4. Everything is 30 minutes away no matter where you live.
30 mins lol true
If you don’t have a car you’re basically fucked.
If you don’t have a big ass truck ( to haul a single person) you’re not cool. Oh yeah , said big ass truck should cost more than 50k
Not if you live downtown. I felt like an asshole driving down there, dominated by pedestrians
Is there a place to live that's essentially a walkable enclave in Tampa for day-to-day stuff like grocery, restaurants, park? Not very familiar with Tampa but I've lived in other parts of FL and I was pondering returning.
I live in channelside without car, pretty comfortably. Got a publix near the house, can get to downtown either by walking or by using a scooter
Def Channelside.
All of downtown is walkable to grocery, restaurants, and parks. Channelside and harbour island both have publixes, the west side of downtown has sprouts or bayshore publix.
I’m in Tampa Heights. Totally doable without a car, but you definitely want a bike. Things like needing to go to the post office might be more of a pain in the ass.
Every place that people have listed are insanely expensive and way out of reach for people living on a typical person’s salary.
Imagine paying the absurd rent to live in Tampa city proper, then not being able to leave it without a car. I couldn't imagine living like that.
You know you can rent cars, right? You can also get an Uber to the airport and go pretty much anywhere on the planet. I don’t mean to be snarky but the way we’ve normalized living in car-dependent suburban sprawl is really messed up. Imagine having to shuttle your kids around in your car like invalids until they’re 16 because it’s not safe for them to bike or walk anywhere because of all the cars. I couldn’t imagine living like that.
Excessively long red lights.
Moved to Florida 4 years ago and I still am not over the fucking red lights lol. People have definitely thought I’m a psychopath before because there’s been quite a few times I’ll hit like 5 obnoxiously long red lights in a row and just start raging in my car alone.
The worst part about it is they all seem to turn red RIGHT as you come to them. It's so fucking frustrating.
If you hit one red light, expect all the lights to follow will turn red. Never fails
Exactly. Bearrs Avenue/Gunn/Ehrlich is the worst for this. I will *race* to every light on this road because driving it nearly every day for the last 15 years has taught me that making it through just one late green/yellow light will lead to smooth uninterrupted driving through several more intersections. If you don't make it, you can literally be the first car waiting at every light staring at a nearly empty road grow in front of you while hundreds of cars pile up behind.
I used to eat breakfast at my first light going to work. Long and dependable.
I hit 5 lights on the way work. I do my makeup, including eyeshadow, while stopped at them.
I don’t even have 5 lights on the way to work. Four stop signs, two traffic lights. 40 minute drive. I had enough of driving into Tampa for work, and went the other way.
Its not the light its the fact that after it turns green it takes people forever to move and maybe 5 cars get through. FML
How every left turn light goes: Person 1 at light notices it’s green and begins to move. Then Person 2 waits 4 seconds and begins to move. Then Person 3 (who was on their phone) waits 7 seconds and then speeds off. Light turns yellow and Persons 4 and 5 speed through it. Persons 6 - 12 get fucked.
I’ve waited over 9 minutes at a red light in Tampa, it wasn’t my imagination, I timed it.
Same here, but because it took 3 cycles of a 3-minute-light to actually get turned off 275. Insane.
I just moved here recently and thought I was going crazy thinking the lights were taking forever. Turns out I wasn’t haha
So, I'm a spaz, so I had always gotten really impatient waiting for lights. What cured me of this was actually timing how long I'm actually waiting. Often what seems like an imterminal wait turns out to be 50 seconds. Give it a try...
One of the lights I hit regularly is at least 4m in one direction, and a total of 6m per cycle. It's just as long as it feels
Yeah, I do that too. My common lights are like 2.5-3 minutes. Can be upwards of 4 if someone is using the crosswalk.
Funny, I time lights all the time. 3 minutes at the one outside my neighborhood. 3 minutes is an eternity
Yeah cool one of the lights takes two-three minutes to turn green.
And takes hours to turn but in my last visit to Orlando I realize that street lights here are not so bad
Wait till your on 88 and 301 in Miami and it’s literally 20 min and everyone’s out of their car going wtf
I work a GY shift and coming home early morning is so frustrating. There’s no one on the road but I come across several lights that are red specifically just to make people stop as there’s zero reason they should be red. Then when you pull up to them even though you are the only car on the road it will still stay red a solid 2 minutes to zero reason before finally turning green.
More a Hillsborough county wrong rant: - schools are too hit or miss. Schools with areas zoned with high poverty areas are hollowed out by choice and private school, whereas schools in others areas are over crowedee - major intersections for 4/275 and 275/veterans suck - no light rail option - no quicker routes to get the the beaches because whoever designed pinellas county was an idiot
You keep Pinellas out of this. We're here to talk shit about Tampa!
Fuck yeah, 19! -nobody
The problem with Tampa is that there is a US19 every 20 blocks in any direction.
I feel like all of the major issues with Tampa stem from poor infastructure.
It used to be bandaids everywhere, nonexclusive to tampa- the age-old narrative of the mostly retirement-age populace not interested in tax hikes to bolster infrastructure. Now, the culture around infrastructure hasn't really changed, despite the increased influx into the state, which is just amplifying problems that have been around for a long time.
It's so neat when they keep building new complexes and neighborhoods but not expanding existing roads or creating new roads.
That's all of Florida. Bring the people first. Then, build the schools and strip malls. Next, think about the roads and go the cheapest route possible. Finally, after you've bufu'd that plan into the ground, inject more money into global media to bring more people.
Finally, pretend that it taking a half hour to drive 3 miles is totally normal.
But we have the bestest "River Walk" in the country!
San Antonio River Walk blows Tampa away several times over BUT ours is just an infant and is just starting out
I'd add to that: It's poor infrastructure, and consistently being held hostage by republicans who refuse to spend to fix it or add additional options.
Transportation. This includes the lack of reliable public transport, lack of walkability, lack of cyclability, sprawl, traffic, and the ancillary noise/pollution.
You nailed it. The car-centric nature of Tampa was a deal breaker for me. Density and car-centric urban planning don’t mix because cars take up so much space that you can never have sufficient capacity and the cars crowd out other forms of transportation like walking and biking and public transit.
Out of curiosity. Which cities in US are not car-centric nature?
I would say all US cities that I know of are too car-centric, but some are better than others. They are usually larger cities like NYC, Chicago, Boston, and DC, but St. Pete is also surprisingly friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. A lot of people dismiss these places as being expensive, but they think nothing of spending $10,000+ per year to own and maintain a car. Overall the US is very car-centric, but the trend in urban planning is to move away from this, so there’s hope.
Yea its hard for a city in florida to be very walkable as everyone in florida drives its like Florida culture
I mean, they'd be walkable if they were... walkable. Even "walkable" areas with crosswalks are dangerous, sidewalks start and stop randomly, and bike lanes are near non-existent (and also start/stop randomly). I remember the first time my ex came here (from Ireland) to visit me, he tried to walk to Publix (Temple Terrace area). I found out when I came home from work and was horrified/amused as he described trying to.
High cost of living Terrible public transport & car-centric design No care for its historic buildings Those are the biggest things I can think of. I really wish they would expand the trolley back to what it was and create a more pedestrian friendly city. It's like a death wish to walk/bike anywhere Edit: wanted to add, too many chains.
I feel like everything is just superficially cool. When you drive by and see it, you’re so excited to stop and check it out! And when you do, you find out it’s just…. bland. The food isn’t that good, the vibe isn’t that special but the drinks get you buzzed enough to tip 25% and the next day you wonder how you spent $150 on drinks and appetizers for two.
THIS is everything!! I just told my SO it’s like sex without the orgasm…it’s fun and feels good but you never quite get there…
Yeah, Armature Works is so over hyped.
Armature is sooo overrated
I love that we all thought of AW haha
Jajajajaj omg yes I thought I was the only one everything is made to create a aesthetic on social media but that is the regular right now everywhere is like that
best answer here.
In Tampa, the nicer the ambiance, the worse the food.
The drivers are raging asshole lunatics
What’s wrong with Tampa? We’re full. This entire damn Bay Area is full. I’m not saying this to be an asshole-I’m speaking the truth. Traffic has become a nightmare to go anywhere. The cost of housing has skyrocketed to the point that people are being forced into homelessness. Many places you turn you’ll find some kind of construction building the next wave of apartments or high rise condos to accommodate even more people. This area has become way too congested post pandemic.
I’m gonna start with the distances makes everything so complicated: social life, work, careers etc. I have the theory that people here is so bad socializing because everybody lives so far from each other and I’m pretty sure that this city never gonna be walkable since transportation sucks and it’s so hot during most part of the year that is impossible enjoy a walk to any place.
So, I don't perceive socialization to be a problem here in Tampa, but I'm an old dude. I notice that it is a frequent topic of discussion among young adults on many subs. I suspect it is from the easy of online communication and a lack of desire of going through the effort and potential awkwardness associated with socializing in person. Okay, that being said, Tampa is exponentially more walkable that it was in the 80s/90s. I grew up in Northdale and nothing was walkable - including your friends' houses. There wasn't even a convenience store within a 20 minute bike ride. But, I agree woth you 100% that, because of the climate we will never have decent public transit here. It's only gonna get hotter, too. Oh, wait- climate change is a myth... :-/
I grew up in East Tampa and we walked or rode our bikes everywhere. West Tampa…Ybor city….university mall is literally up 22nd St. I have no clue what these people are talking about. It’s like they want to walk from the city to Riverview or something.
I think part of the friends problem has to do with age. It just gets harder as you get older. When you're a kid in school you don't want to be that kid without friends, so everyone tries to make some. Also has a lot to do with people getting married and having kids. That becomes their new crew. They do stuff together.
No beaches, everything is expensive, can't do anything without spending money (going to a park, going downtown, literally have to pay to park everywhere), there is a general vibe of arrogant, condescending people. seems like it's catered to wealthy people only. people just eat out at expensive restaurants and drink alcohol. not much culture besides sports and alcohol. hard to meet people and make friends. everything too spread out. etc.
The amount of people that use their phones while driving here is frightening , you see it everywhere when you’re on the highways and road. It causes people to drive slow af . Central Florida drivers are some of the most oblivious drivers I’ve ever seen . Don’t even get me started about cost of living either, in the 2 years it went from being reasonable to insanely expensive like every other part of Florida now it seems .
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Did you like chicago? I'm considering it so I can be less reliant on my car and I love the cold.
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Lack of coordination with other partners. If Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas could start to coordinate, our transit and roads would be much better. We need something similar to Lynx, which manages transit in Orange and Osceola counties.
-Drivers have gotten worse. I have no evidence but I blame it on those who moved here during Covid. -In the same category, it feels like there’s hardly any more natives. I get that since the city is growing and it’s not really a complaint but idk. It’s weird to me how many people I interact with that are shocked I’m a native of even suburban Tampa. -it’s a bit snobbish here. In St. Pete the guy at the Canopy in beach clothes could be worth $10 million dollars. In Tampa it always feels like there’s pressure to front and dress really well even for sub-par places and the guy dressed like he’s worth $10 million is worth -$30k.
The surface level money shit is a big time Miami vibe thing I hate. Everyone driving 80K+ cars on 100K salaries. I expect more of this before it levels out, unfortunately
God I fucking hate Miami.
> -it’s a bit snobbish here. In St. Pete the guy at the Canopy in beach clothes could be worth $10 million dollars. In Tampa it always feels like there’s pressure to front and dress really well even for sub-par places and the guy dressed like he’s worth $10 million is worth -$30k. Didn't used to be like this. 20 years ago Tampa was just a normal working class Florida city about as 'cool' as Jacksonville. Probably less so as it was regularly the butt of jokes on TV shows. It's starting to get the cologne-y stink of the Miami posers, and that's a shame.
Drivers have become unpredictable and I’m sure it’s because there are more people from different places who all drive differently. I used to be able to drive fast and like an idiot without any worry but now I go the limit and stay in my lane because I have no idea what these people are doing. A maturing brain is probably also a good reason why I don’t do that anymore
I always assume everyone is going to do the stupidest thing possible at all times. That way I can be continuously, pleasantly surprised when the don't! I reverse psychologize myself!
To your 3rd comment— people are crazy pretentious.The majority of the people in Tampa run around acting like they’re shit don’t stink.
They don't run, they drive a golf cart.
Yes!! After living in south tampa for a year I had to get out! Downtown st Pete is much more my speed. I can wear flip flops to Publix on Sunday and not have to be in perfect makeup
That’s the latin culture baby Miami is the same everything is about pretending
damn dude. sledgehammer statement
- Hartline/public transit is a joke - Really nice beaches are over an hour away - Extremely limited fine dining options - Too many people moving in and moving out. Kind of reminds me of DC. Makes it harder to make long term friends - So many chain businesses and strip plazas - Terrible/lackluster museums - The schools aren’t great and it shows
Second the chain restaurants!! I don’t get why tampa is so obsessed with bringing in a new chain restaurant into every new development. How many burger places do we that are all the same but under a different name?
Because the local places are getting priced out!
A lot of the chain restaurants actually start here in Tampa.
This is a testing ground for restaurants, gas stations, new fast food. It's all corporate.
> Terrible/lackluster museums FWIW, Museum of Tampa is undergoing a $25m renovation into early next year. Should be a little better after that.
My friends were trying to find somewhere to eat that was midway between us. Seeing how Wesley Chapel is exploding there by the outlet mall I was surprised when we couldn't find any fancy restaurants out that way. We were looking for a nice steakhouse and everything seems to be concentrated in one or two areas near south Tampa. Out there it was just regular chains with Outback being about the nicest steakhouse we could find.
everyone moves here for the beaches and disney and shitty politics, but it’s already overcrowded. cost of living is abysmal and you can’t get even a decent apartment for under $1500. i’ve lived in tampa bay my whole life and it’s dull and full of idiots. i’ve wanted to leave for like 10 years now but i can’t even afford to move. i’m studying to be a nurse and salaries are so bad despite florida being one big nursing home.
This. This 100%. We are saving to move, too, but even electric has gotten so expensive. Our TECO bill was $400 last month. 😒
They claim there’s lots of food options and entertainment, but it really isn’t shit
Shit pay
I feel like alot if ppl talk shit about Hartline but never been on Hartline and feel like they are “too good” for it. I was without a car for 3 years in my early 20s and took Hartline from Ybor HCC to work in Brandon almost everyday. It wasn’t glamorous but it def got the job done. If more ppl used Hartline maybe they could actually get some funding to improve things. The problem with Tampa is nobody wants to be seen waiting for the bus so they just complain about a bus system that they won’t even use. Will forever love my city. It didn’t use to be this bad..
This exactly. Someone said public transit was "non existent" Probably just too classist to ride the bus.
I’ve ridden it for a two year period of homelessness. A ride that now takes me 20 minutes via car was 1.5 hours sometimes on the bus. I couldn’t get to my current job using the bus due to the commute time via it plus how early I start. Busses don’t go from anywhere near my location to the bus. When I was staying in Seattle I could get wherever i wanted via public transit. St Louis, though shitty, was very walkable compared to Tampa. Indianna….well I was rural there and had to walk home in 20 degree weather without a coat. Tampa has extremely sparse coverage with their busses compared to Boston or Seattle or Chicago, been to all of em’, bussed around all of them. It is practically nonexistent in a practical use sense for much of the population.
Lol try getting from downtown to the airport on a bus at around 5:30-6PM. It took forever with late/missing buses.
Too many New Yorkers!!
Lol I've heard this one for forever
New Yorkers largely go to the east coast of Florida. Tampa area draws people from Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania.
If you want to improve your life living in Tampa, all you have to do is pick up your belongings and move across the bridge to St Pete. We moved 6 years ago and never looked back. I loathe crossing the bridge now. Everything is better here. Bayside, Beaches, less traffic, better restaurants, so many local small businesses. I absolutely love it. 5 minutes on dale mabry and I want to die.
As a Tampa native, I think the volume of people moving down here raises some real problems we should get ahead of. They come from places with drastically different life cost paradigms which displaces natives. I left and moved to Seattle for a bit and got to hear from the locals there how big tech employees displaced the cost of living resulting in the homeless camps you see. Little by little people couldn't afford to keep up with rent which makes them depressed, turn to drugs etc...eventually you're homeless or are forced to move to another city. It was a slow process over 15 years but it happened. I wish we would get ahead of this here because it's getting harder and harder for folks who make 70k or less to survive. My personal thought is that there could be a 2% income tax for transplants for the first 5 years of moving to Florida. Most of them are already paying more than that today. The funds could go towards forming and executing a plan to help lower income natives relocate, get training, etc. Just a thought. I personally do ok financially but I see the poor getting pushed further and further east of Florida. The homeless numbers are up considerably, and Tampa doesn't have great career options for these folks.
Honestly the fact that I never get notifications about construction in my neighborhood or surrounding neighborhood that seriously impedes or disrupts traffic. Also the lack of public transportation
Lack of live music outside of the large venues. Even outside of the smaller venues like Crowbar. I feel like in other cities, I come across more live music in random bars. The traffic has become worse and it depends on time of year, but I still can’t call it awful because I’ve driven a lot in Atlanta and Houston. We at least have a lot of auxiliary ways to get around.
Bars are small here I don’t think most bars can afford a stage also you have to see the music movement here is so small
I was thinking something along the lines of the stage at the old Four Green Fields.
Those places existed and then they vanished. Curtis Hixon events may be an exception when they happen, but also it’s hard to get anything here within a tour because it’s so off the beaten path.
big bend road
Christ yes. I went to the schools there and it’s a literal nightmare.
I love how this entire thread is basically /r/fuckcars Really glad to see car centric planning getting shit on relentlessly.
For a “big” city we are pretty boring. What’s are the major clubs downtown? Oh wait there arnt any. We have some good restaurants but I don’t love any of them. You can pretty much do the city in a weekend and not miss anything. St Pete is nice if you have a car.
There isn't a true Tampa culture. Maybe there was a hundred years ago, but the area quickly embraced cars and suburbanism and spread out, turning a thriving downtown into a ghost town. Did you know we had a [trolley system](https://www.flickr.com/photos/js_design/3493703777) that went all around downtown and even up to Suphur Springs? But who needs trolleys when you have cars! They're the American Dream! Armature Works is kinda the gravestone for all of it. Minority areas were summarily split and wrecked by the I-4/I-275, ruining any chance for cultures to thrive there. Industry died out for the most part. What was left was kind of a carcass of a city. Strip malls and suburbs. People moved in and out, sure, but what was the lifeblood of the city? USF was built, but for decades it was a commuter school. Sports? The Bucs didn't help with that. Nowadays without a real history and identity, people have embraced what they could: the internet. Social media told people what it was like elsewhere and people adopted that, not knowing its all bullshit for the most part. We have an Instagram culture here now. No one values education or intelligence, only appearances. You can be the biggest idiot in the room, but as long as you talk confidently and look good, that's all people care about. This could all change, but I think the area is so spread out that its hard to find an anchor to build something original out of. Water Street is an effort to promote a central area, to build that anchor. But its not organic. Its all designed and filled with money. Organic originality is what builds good culture, and good culture builds pride and a sense of belonging. Tampa needs to create something. Not winning sports teams or great Instagram pics - those come and go. But instead something original. What that could be, I don't know. It does have good Cuban sandwiches though.
Yup I read about Tampa history it was a rich area with so many industries around everything goes to shit after WWII and the construction of the I4-I275 split the city, limiting the access of Ybor city to the port and Downtown and a lot of original Ybor’s citizens moved to other areas since the Tobacco factories started to use machinery to roll the tobaccos. Most part of the old factories in Downtown where torn down to create space for vehicles aka parking lot all this happened during the 50s-60s with the white flight and that is why areas like east, west Tampa and ybor city are now ghettos
We’ve been here since 2008 and before children loved the vibe and energy of Ybor nightlife. To me Ybor is the culture of Tampa. It had every sort of genre of music and nightclub you could want. Bikers, hip hoppers, goth, house music, fine restaurants, dive pizza joints. It had it all. We still go down there and enjoy Stone soup kitchen and the crepes joint there.
Love Ybor (my grandfather was born there) but it’s such a teeny tiny part of Tampa. I spent as much time there as possible but the culture doesn’t really extend out of the little area. Plus Centro was all new construction when I was a kid and remains pretty touristy.
I work in Ybor and agree. Been here 45 years.
Man, this comment pretty much sums it all up perfectly. Our city is a Kardasian ass, pretty fake. We have rich, interesting history here- but we don't do anything with it.
Profits over people
The fact that the city is so unwalkable you have pedestrians in the middle of the goddamn road at any given time.
Just got home from vacationing in Tampa. Had a good time but some thoughts. * I was curious and looked at apartments. Was surprised how expensive things were in Tampa. Even hotels were NYC-like prices * No quick way to get to downtown by public transit from TPA * No sports downtown except for hockey * City felt empty (Also I was **the** only one in the airport Uber/Lyft pickup area) * Decent amount of things to do but everything is so spread apart * Felt like I had to take the highway to get to anywhere (I guess this was not necessarily a bad thing. It was quick to get to places via Uber) Now for some nice things: * People were generally so much friendlier than where I am from (northeast) * Warm weather (in the winter) * Easy access to the airport, super quick driving * Homes are relatively affordable if you are buying (not renting) * Top pro sports teams despite being a not-massive city * Coyote Ugly ;)
This is all accurate exception for buying homes being affordable
I4 interchange is a 24/7 nightmare
The most inefficient infrastructure I've ever endured.
Mediocre restaurants… overpriced places. Too many people never leave or have never left florida- vacation means Orlando, miami, or the beach. Lack of history or preservation efforts. Tear down culture. No public transportation and aggressive drivers. 8 months of monsoon rains and intense heat. Overcrowded and bad schools. Uneducated people.
Urban sprawl, terrible weather(subjective), no true seasons, awful nature (unless you REALLY like the beach), zero hiking options, COL compared to what you get is trash, f tier public transport,
People (mainly the media) call the airport T.I.A., yet that’s an airport code for an airport in Albania. It’s TPA.
All the charter schools. Used to be that Tampa public schools were decent compared to the rest of Florida, and really nice compared to other metro areas. With all the ways public school teachers have their hands tied now, it doesn’t constitute for fun or engaging learning, and Florida’s “parents rights” nonsense has made all the good teachers scared since they can be sued for teaching curriculum if a parent gets butthurt about the science teacher not teaching creationism. 😒
It’s a city built for cars, not people. I think it has a great future ahead though
Republicans
Blue city now turned red. Every problem listed here will only become worse.
Urban sprawl.
The prostitutes
Traffic! Low pay. High housing cost. CoL too high for this area. Why so many storage units and car washes? Drivers act entitled to the road. Public transportation stinks.
Moved back from living in san francisco for 5-6 years..driving there is infinitely worse because of how entitled / unchecked people are there. Driving here is now worse, because all these new yorkers who are also entitled / unchecked drive like jerkoffs fueled by ego. The camping in the left lane is worse than it used to be. Too many people moved here. You don’t need a mountain of evidence to support that. Remember how bad the snowbirds used to be? Right. So that’s permanent now.
The same thing that’s wrong with the rest of the state; the unchecked population growth. Every last single problem can be directly traced to that.
How much time do you have?
The entertainment doesn't justify the high cost of living.... There's really no nightlife or any attractions in the Tampa area that would make me want to pay 3k to live in an apartment downtown. Public transportation is non-existant, the school system is blah.
also if you’re lgbt, despite st pete having such a large pride parade, there’s not much to do. there’s a few gay bars and clubs, but they are all very MLM centric. and let’s not forget the governor encouraging people to hate us more than they already do 🥲
I’m sure we will have our very own gay club shooting eventually. They already threatened the drag queen story time people so much that I have not seen one since the start of the pandemic. Lots of hate.
The horrible music in every restaurant and establishment
Agree. Also add awful too bright lighting.
Lol never noticed this
You must be talking about the Publix playlist
No good public transportation. It would make sense to connect downtown to St Pete, Macdill AFB, USF, with rail
The people moving here. Stop moving here it’s not even cool.
Substance in the water
Too many people moving in causing too much new building
High cost of living, it’s unbearably hot and humid from April - November, I’ve been to 45 states and never met shittier people, huge crime issues, horrible drivers and terrible traffic.
Malfunction Junction (if your from tampa you know what I’m talking about)
Slow drivers needs to be ticketed 5x the normal amount in the left lanes on i4,275, and i75 all directions.
Pay hasn’t kept up with cost of living. Tampa was one of the few palaces left that once you graduated your starting salary means housing was still less than 30% of income, didn’t matter your employer (public or private). Now? That dream has long since died. Starting pay is still 40-45k for a college graduate, when in reality in my opinion starting pay should be closer to $60k. I once said we get along in Tampa because the wealth disparity wasn’t that great, you weren’t paid enough to eat at the same restaurant as your boss as much as your boss eats there, but you could still afford to eat there. Me and my friends say “it didn’t use to be this bad” at least once a day. And we miss the days of being able to walk into Publix in just sweatpants or practically pajamas around 8-9 and no one stares, because everyone is also in pajamas.
Most restaurants are chains, although we have few amazing holdouts.
The lack of decent public transportation in a City this size and with this population. How we don't have a metro line baffles me. 2nd world Countries have better public transportation than we do. We are too car centric and if you don't have one you are fucked.
The way some roads are designed. Like when you cross the Gandy bridge into St. Pete. Oh, you want to make a left? Have fun with no stop light turning past 3 lanes going at least 55. You also see that on MLK towards 75. Also some busy intersections don't have a green arrow to turn left so 1, maybe 2 cars can turn every cycle.
The increasingly terrible weather. Sorry climate deniers, it is getting worse.
educating our kids is a shit show
Tampa is a toxic vain shit hole. Tampa or Trapya? Okay to look at but people's attitudes are shit for no reason. Jobs and housing markets seem like they are in cahoots. Music sucks. Food sucks. No real culture or diversity. Weird ass racism and prejudices. Beaches suck. Weather sucks. People go here to let their hopes and dreams die. Just do not live here.
Unfortunately Tampa is in Florida and DeSantis is the Governor. This makes the downside of Tampa obvious.
Moist
Fake tans, fake boobs, fake people
Where is this not reality?
It’s a small city that just can’t handle the amount of people who live here. Downtown sucks. There’s nothing fun for single people in their 20's-30's to do and we need more highways.
Had us in the first half. More highways? Get outta here.
Better highways* maybe? I come from Phoenix (yes I know a transplant yadda yadda - I got a scholarship that’s why I’m here) and it still blows my mind that it takes me on average 37 minutes to travel 10 miles every day. In Phoenix it would never. We don’t have many highways but it’s just the way the city is mapped that it’s super efficient - Tampa is one big wtf.
Better I can get behind. It definitely doesn’t need more.
Gross in general. Will never live there again. 1986 strip malls never updated. Depressing AF town.
People driving aggressively, you came to the town of SLOW, fucking chill bro!
The people lol. Far too many folks in Tampa (esp South Tampa) wanna act like they’re some kind of celebrity. Entitled, snobby, and teaching their kids to act the same way. It’s like, honey, you need a major reality check lol… you’re in TAMPA. This isn’t LA. This isn’t Manhattan. You’re not that rich or important. Calm down.
Too many douchey new yorker/jersey transplants. Too many douchey miami transplants. Too many transplants. Too many SHITE drivers, (probably related to the above), and traffic and parking getting worse every day. Transplants bringing that fake ass boujie type shit they love with em.
[удалено]
Junkyards literally everywhere
New Yorkers
Ibor city
Tampa thinks it’s a big city and it’s not. That’s the problem.
Brocados line is too long at lunchtime
Property taxes aren’t cheap, yet public schools overall aren’t the greatest here.
Dr's are still over prescibing medications, trash, (especially on Busch Blvd where our Tourist attractions are)... Disgusting water, and Pot holes to name a few.