Back from my hiatus

As you may have guessed by the lack of posts, I took a few days away from monoblogue. This was so I could visit my parents in Florida over Christmas weekend. If you were wondering about the Christmas Day tornadoes that hit Florida, thankfully the area my parents live in wasn’t affected but areas to the west and well north near the Georgia line were. We got quite a bit of rain along U.S. 27 but no real damage.

Visiting the Sunshine State did lead me to some observations though. I have very hazy and distant memories of going down to Florida with my family to visit my grandparents in the late 1970’s. I remember it being mostly open country all the way down I-75 and U.S. 27 and a little bit built up around Orlando since Disney World had been built (I was there in the pre-Epcot days, let alone all of the other stuff!) But in late 2006 the sleepy little towns along Route 27 are awash in the same commercial and retail outlets found in every other growing area in America as the region’s growth has gone well beyond the Disney complex that sits maybe 10 miles east of the I-4/U.S. 27 interchange. The podunk 4 lane highway that U.S. 27 once was has grown out to 6 lanes in each of these towns.

What I also noticed though is that there’s still a LOT of open space down there. When my parents and I went golfing on Sunday, we drove through an open area that my dad told me was an orange grove a couple years prior. Now it had paved roads, water and electric service, street lighting on one of the streets, and exactly ONE house that was in the process of being built. The rest of the lots were in place but still for sale (some by realtors, other by speculators.) It was a case where infrastructure was already in place before the dirt was turned over to build this house. (It’ll be a good-sized house – my parents were amazed when they realized the 2 story tall building placed there first was just the garage!)

I suppose in some respects Florida reminded me of what some would consider a nightmare scenario for the Eastern Shore – Routes 13 and 50 lined with Starbucks, McDonalds, and retail shops for miles and the personalities of Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, etc. obliterated by the bland sameness of this miles-long retail strip. And, to a much smaller extent than central Florida, we do attract retirees and folks who have the means to telecommute or work from home.

But their area has a personality of its own that’s created by those that live there. My parents are fairly new to their street, but it’s in an established neighborhood where people who are native to Florida mix and mingle with those who are the Sunshine State’s version of “come-heres” as they flocked down from Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other points up north. The key is that everyone’s friendly regardless of their original home. Native Floridians seem to have learned to accept that they’re going to be joined by those who either aren’t accustomed to or willing to follow all of the local traditions and mores, which got me to thinking about home.

At times since I’ve moved down here, I’ve heard the complaints by the “come-heres” about how they aren’t accepted by the natives. I wish some of those who are the subjects of the complaints would sit a spell in my parents’ neighborhood and see how they live and let live because it’s a good example. We seem to have lost some of that when the argument began over whether growth is good or not.

Growth is inevitable. Done properly, it can be good. We may not need a Starbucks or a McDonalds on every block, but a few won’t hurt. The key is not to limit our growth to the residential or retail sectors, because, unlike the Central Florida economy, we need to get our money from good (private sector) jobs we create, not retirement funds drawn down. But more than that, we also need to realize that our attitude of native vs. “come-here” can and should be managed as the growth is supposed to be.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.