Everything You Need To Know About St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2022
- This place is exploding. But it's also becoming just for the wealthy.
This is not going to be a welcome relief to the sprawl and growth stories in Florida. Generally, it’ll be a somewhat pleasant look at what it’s like to live in the St. Pete/Clearwater area, but that doesn’t mean this area is perfect. It’s a really nice part of the state. But sprawl, a cost of living spike, homelessness and crowding is changing this place every single day.
St. Pete/Clearwater area is part of the Tampa metro area. It’s all on a long peninsula just west of Tampa. There’s about 500,000 people here. I’d heard it has very nice beaches and is otherwise becoming a pretty nice place to live.
So on day 9 of my trip to Florida, I went there to spend a couple of days.
I’m going to show you what parts of St. Petersburg look like, and then we’ll go to Clearwater. We’ll also meet someone who lives in the area and talk to him about what things are like here these days.
#florida #moving
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The best video on this topic!
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AS A SANDOLOGIST MYSELF I MUST SAY YOU MISSED THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME....HAVING WALKED BEACHES UP AND DOWN BOTH COASTS AND A CURRENT RESIDENT OF ST PETE.......CLEARWATER HAS THE BEST SAND ANYWHERE.....ITS SUPER FINE AND WHITE......ALMOST LIKE BABY POWDER.....NOT REALLY BUT WHEN YOU COMPARE IT TO OTHERS.....EVEN FINER THAN HERMOSA OR MANHATTAN BEACH......AND IT REMAINS COOL TO THE TOUCH......EVEN IN THE BLISTERING SUN.....IT HEATS UP BUT NOT EVEN CLOSE TO NORMAL......CLEARWATER IS AS YOU DESCRIBED BUT THE SAND ALONE IS WORTH THE TRIP AND YOU CANT REALLY BE A SANDOLOGIST WITHOUT KNOWING THE CLEARWATER SAND :-)...
Land of the Newly Weds and nearly Deads , Florida is over rated ,
omgg!! I was there this week too and didnt see you!!!
I was at clearwater beach and didnt see you!!! what time did you go!! I went in the afternoon!!! I came back home to l.a. yesterday!!!
as a Florida Gulf Coast resident, watching tourists feed seagulls is one of my favorite beach activities. Feed one and he calls all of his relatives.
im also a resident in that area, its funny asf to see that
Yep I made that mistake in 77 when I lived in Treasure Island. Don't feed your donut to seagulls
@@markdinkel-uh2je 😀
when my daughter was 10 years old were were at the Reddington Beach; My daughter went to put a piece of cheese in her mouth & a seagull came between her hand & her mouth (there was less then a 10 inch space between her hand & mouth) as the seagull went by he snatched the piece of cheese out of her hand. Thing was we knew about the seagulls my children having been born here and I having moved here in 1988 we knew not to feed them. You’d have a whole bevy of seagulls 50 to 100.
As a Dunedin resident, I would say this is a pretty fair breakdown of the area. This area really is the best metropolitan region in all of Florida. I hope it never changes or goes downhill. This really is a special area. I think when most people think of Florida, what they're envisioning is the Clearwater St Petersburg area.
Downtown Clearwater is sleepy because of Scientology. Locals who love spending time in downtowns go either North to Dunedin (super lovely, truly) or South to Largo. The city tries really hard to get people invested in downtown, but it's a battle that they are losing, as the COS continues buying up more property.
You are so very right about how "blah" Clearwater neighborhoods are. Your footage of neighborhoods looked spot on from my experience of nearly a decade living there. I'd guess you were driving on Keene, but you could have been anywhere! You can find some nicer neighborhoods buried here and there, but mostly it's what you saw. The pricing for 50's-70's era ranch homes with varying levels of up-keep is astonishing.
I was so glad that your guest mentioned Honeymoon Island, because that's where families in Clearwater go, not Clearwater Beach. Yes, you pay to get in, but you don't have to hunt for parking that you may have to pay for anyway.
Largo is trash. Downtown Clearwater if scientologist disappeared could turn into a ybor it's a nice strip but will never happen. But largo is got to be the most disgusting city I have ever seen they don't have a downtown lol
You are 100% correct about the church of Scientology. Clearwater missed the boat on that one. They could have easily been Dunedin.
I almost accidentally went to work there. My mother-in-law said to not go to see the movie they wanted me to come back to watch. That was 1985.
@@christinemarlo5672 in the 70's they used to drive around in vans picking up people to go watch a movie. The author of their book was alive back then & advertised it every day on tv. 🤔
I live here in Clearwater I don't see downtown struggling for attention
Nite life has changed we have a much classier crowd is all, and construction is being done for our downtown.
Nick, I watch your videos just to hear your song of the day. You never disappoint! 🤣 Thanks
St Pete native here- been following the channel since 2019! So happy to see you come to town and definitely agree with your take and Greasy films guy. Too many investors destroying this place. We need to take it back. We do not need to be another Manhattan or Miami!!
"Rich" is a relative term, a 3br 2 bath house in Los Angeles is $2m...sell it and move to St Pete and buy that $300k house is probably happening as well.
As person who has lived in Pinellas for over 30 years and has multiple properties I can assure you you CANNOT get a tenant out in 2 weeks. Truth is it takes about 60 days to get a non paying tenant out. This changes if the tenant causes property damage. But then again this is also up to your rental contract. Rule 1 DONT FEED SEAGULS. Such a tourist thing to do. Might as well wear a fanny pack too...You should never feed any wild animals. You don't want wild animals to be reliant on humans feeding them. You failed to mention that Pinellas county is one of the safest counties to live in with the lowest crime in the state. I appreciate your review of the area but your view on the area is jaded. You cannot get a feel for a place in a week. St. Pete has the highest crime out of all the Pinellas county cities. Downtown St.Pete is very hipster and has the most homeless. You failed to go to the south side of St. Pete. From the sunshine skyway bridge to north about 30 blocks. Also should have covered the skyway bridge!
Pinellas county has reached its max as far as areas to build homes. (I am a home builder) So investors come and over pay for a property, winning the bid. They will buy up properties and put in condos. The only way to stack more people in the county is to build homes up. I dislike this as traffic is already bad. You have 3 million people living in the tri-county area, then add in the traffic from vacationers who are not familiar with the area. It's no LA traffic but were only a few years behind that.
You are 100% correct about Pasco and Polk counties. They are drug infested, meth and fentanyl, with pain pills probably in 3rd place. As far as service industry people affording to live here they can 100% do it. Florida generates insane amount of money off tourism. Tourists eat at the restaurants along the local beaches. A good server can make 60-80k a year at a beach restaurant. I does not cost anything near that to afford a home. An average mortgage in the area is 1800 for a 3/2. Someone who makes 60k a year is roughly 5k a month. Id say at 28% taxes they bring home just over 3500 a month. It would be tight but someone could afford a house here(bigger home than needed as a single person living in a 3/.2). Now add the income of a spouse or roommate. FL is one of the cheapest states for power. $.08 pre Kw at the time of this comment.
Now compare the cost of this beachside living to places like California. Reason I compare Cali to Florida is because both states have huge amounts of beachside properties. Florida also does not have a state tax.
You 100% missed out by not going to Clearwater Beach. They are rated #1 in the country for their beach sand. You should have known better beach sand expert...
You definitely missed out by not going to Clearwater Beach Nick.
That is not correct that server can make 60 to 80k a year. I'm sure there are positions that afford that but most people working at restaurants or small businesses live off of 600$ a week. I live here too in Harris Park. There are drugg addicted bums everywhere.
It's turning into a cesspool here honestly.
@@joegoliver3 You are 100% incorrect. I'm currently remodeling the home of a lady who is a server on Clearwater Beach. She makes over 60k a year.
Yeah.. this guy is definitely a tourist with a you tube channel trying to build on misinformation... it's what people do now.. they read something somewhere without researching it and blurt it out on you tube... and idiots believe them.
Thanks for doing this video Nick! You were on point about what’s going on here.
Tara I told you tomorrow! Meaning TODAY! Just for you 💋
@@NickJohnson lol it’s all good I’m glad you enjoyed your stay.
Another great video on the Florida series, which I am thoroughly enjoying Nick (more and more)..you have a unique style and format that is appealing and efficient at giving true portraits of places, including the local guests you interview >=> Thank You!
- and I have to comment on the few, subtly sly yet eloquent and respectful smirks you get after long poker face sections during interviews : one of a kind ;)
I saw tons of museums when I visited downtown St Pete a couple weeks ago. It’s beautiful there. Art installations everywhere. Lovely place.
The arts & crafts museum is amazing 👏
Never miss a video Nick!! I'm a traveling homeless man. I get a lot from your work. Thank you ❤️
I live in unincorporated Clearwater on a Dead End (perfect name for it) street with 4 inhabited, very old houses (the rest are vacant) and no street sign. It's zoned commercial and residential but Clearwater would very much like it if there were no residents. We were warned if our house was to burn down we could not rebuild. I keep waiting for a county employee to drive by in an unmarked vehicle loaded with molotov cocktails.
🙏💜😞
That’s sad!
I lived there for a short time. My favorite place I've ever been. Thanks for the video. Good memories
I love your videos, you have a fun tone to listen to and I like that you show the real aspects.
I lived in St Pete for 8 yrs from 2000 to 2008 on 4th St coming off the Howard Franklin Bridge. Apt Row... My rent was $530-740 when I left. Now my nice 1br is $1700! It was nice back then. I left cuz my job moved to TN and I was sick of Hot weather and lightning!
OMG! There are hellacious lightening storms there! Scared the hell out of me!
Homelessness is rising at an alarming rate all around Tampa Bay. I have seen a lot more “stealth camping” popping up around the area also. The people saying our homeless problem isn’t as bad as our west coast should wake up because it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing homeless everywhere like the west coast due to our housing crisis. The income levels are not rising in Tampa Bay to satisfy the real estate growth in this area. Eventually this area will see the effects of the insane rate of real estate growth that is happening vomiting all over the streets. That is just facts that is happening at an alarming rate. You can close your eyes to what’s happening now but eventually we will see it on such a large scale that you won’t be able to close your eyes to it anymore. I have been living here for over 25yrs. I have never seen homeless on the scale that I do now all over Tampa Bay. The cost of living is out of control here and it is only going to continue to get worse. I am thankful I have a house and didn’t have to deal with all this insanity. If you can’t house your worker ants then don’t be surprised when you don’t have enough of them to do all the work for all your fun you moved here for. It’s just sad that our beautiful city is going to be destroyed because of people not understanding how this area operates. Take away the ability to have your worker ants and we will see how much longer you enjoy things when you can’t get service at your favorite restaurant or get someone to cut your grass, etc. because no one can live here anymore that will work in those industries & the ones that couldn’t leave are littered on the streets in tents just like the places you ran away from after destroying your areas. 🤬
Thanks for pretty much summarizing the entire video 😂
@@NickJohnson I wish people would get that message but all they see are the beautiful shots of the not so bad “bad areas” and no tents on the corners and the beautiful beaches and they think that’s not to bad. But they’re bringing their problem here because they do not fully comprehend how our areas economy actually works. It’s breaking the heart and soul of Tampa Bay apart. It’s really sad. Come! Visit! Help us pay the taxes to keep this beautiful area running so you can keep coming and visiting. But go home! If you don’t want to contribute to the area, which most of the new transplants don’t, then go home and clean up your area. They just want to come here and enjoy all the benefits and beauty. It’s not going to stay that way when no one here is working in the industries that make this area amazing. I know I’m not alone when I say that the people that have lived here all their lives and the ones that have been here for a very long time are really worried that our area is going to be destroyed.
I recommend buying one of the new condo's downtown starting at $2m and up you'll be so high up that you can't really see the homeless they'd look like ants.
@@josephimperatrice5552 Excellent point. Remember most people would leave Florida if air-conditioning was outlawed. If I were homeless I'd try to get to San Francisco. Very consistent year round weather not too cold nor hot. Plus the city puts the homeless on a salary (no work necessary) and you pitch your tent any damn where you please. Many more benefits too numerous to go into.
Thanks for NOT mentioning Pass-A-Grille (my favorite). I retired after decades of work in Orlando, and moved to St Pete. I was able to take advantage of the housing bubble burst earlier in this century, and spent only $100K for my 3/2 property in 2012. Shockingly on my block of 1000 +/- sq ft homes, some are selling at $475K! One across the street from me is renting for $3000 a month! Unbelievable.
I love Pass a grille, I always dream of being able to move my family there.
Fantastic video.Glad that I waited so I could thoroughly enjoy it.
Congrats! I've lived 44yrs of my adult life near the beach in a Florida tourist town and you are the first two men I've ever heard discussing quality of beach sand. Oh BTW, nice vid though I was hoping you would have showed us where those homeless people have been hidden.
It's good that they are hiding the homeless!!!
Go to Williams Park,that’s where homeless live
I lived in St Pete during the 90’s and it was a huge retirement community. We were the only hispanic family at our school during that time.
I came in the 90's too ,and I am hispanic, we are more hispanic than you think. I love St Petersburg
Two if my latino friends grew up in St. Pete but they got pushed out to Pinellas Park or Ruskin.
oh i live here currently and my whole life, weird to read as now hispanics are everywhere here
@@Gabster1990 yeah it’s crazy how so much changed in 30+ years.
Another outstanding video, as always. Thank you, Nick. Please keep up the AWESOME work 🙏
I lived in Pinellas Point, 1 mile east of the Skyway Bridge. It is beautiful there. It's a bit south of St. Pete's hood. My favorite beach is Pass-a-grille beach. Its usually not too crowded there. I am back up north. I miss the Florida weather.
Clearwater Beach 🏖 s our favorite here! Only downside is there are many old old homes that are really small for the money it’s definitely expensive to live for rent or housing to buy what we really need is affordable houses to buy that are for the average family we love the laid back vibe here
Ill be in St. Pete this weekend so this video is perfect timing. Im super excited
Have fun Dan!
@Original Entity I was going to say the same. I moved away 4 years ago, but Thursday nights it was only $10 admission. Probably higher now tho with inflation.
My rent in Sarasota for a 500 sq ft apartment was $1,320 in 2020 then when it was time for renewal was $1,800. It's the same in St. Pete... Florida is crazy expensive to for renters. Needless to say I moved to the Dallas area.
Same thing happened to me in 2020. We left area too
I grew up in Pinellas County and lived in both St. Pete and Clearwater for many years. Pinellas County has nearly 1 million people packed into that peninsula, as someone who grew up there I do feel like you missed a bit regarding some of these other places like Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Safety Harbor, etc. St. Pete is the place to be though and every time I go back I love it even more as its changed so much for the better with so many cool things to do. It has however gotten really expensive to live there and unfortunately locals are feeling the hit of the high costs of living there. St. Pete is the next Austin, whether we like it or not that is the future for the city. The secret is out!
Clearwater has some nice areas however it is mostly a suburb or the beach. The Scientologists have bought out downtown and like a parasite have latched on and kept it from growing into anything decent. Thats why all the action is on the beach there. Tampa Bay has great infrastructure at least regarding the roads so its really easy to get around the area by car. Sure sometimes you'll get stuck in traffic but nothing like similar sized metro areas like Seattle, San Diego, Denver, etc.
There have always been homeless here especially in the winter. You used to see them all over downtown St. Pete when it was a pretty dead and boring downtown. Now you really don't see as many and thats even counting that they are more out of sight now. I think like you said they are moving to the outer areas like Pasco County. I'm actually happy they don't just let homeless and drug addicts have free reign of the cities like west coast cities do.
I left Pinellas County in 2015 and moved to the Seattle, WA area when it was a much nicer and affordable place than it is now. The main thing that St. Pete and Clearwater lack are decent paying jobs and opportunity. You really have to work hard to just get by in Florida because of it mainly being a service industry based economy. All these newcomers moving in with remote jobs and with out of state money do not realize or experience this. Its always been a bit of an ugly side to the area as young people more often than not move elsewhere after high school or college to find better pay and jobs. When I left Florida I was making about $13/hr which wasn't bad for the time, that is the level of low wages you deal with there. Sub $20/hr is pretty normal so even though its much cheaper than may large metro areas in the US you do earn less. Until that changes its going to be a struggle to live there without an advantage.
The next thing will vary by person but the other major reason as to why I left is the weather. It is oppressively hot and humid for 7 months of the year at least. I'm talking walking from your home to your car at 7am and already sweating just from 30 ft of walking. You usually will get a break at least Nov-April but there will still be pockets of heat during that time. Its something that is amazing when you are on vacation and can do all the cool things there are to do in FL but not where you are just trying to random daily things.
I do miss the Tampa Bay area and its the only place in Florida I would live however not sure I want to deal with that weather again and the lack of pay and opportunity are a concern especially after getting used to being middle class in Washington state (even though that is going away too). The one things I'll say is St. Pete and Clearwater are on the up and up and that isn't changing anytime soon.
Comment of the month!!
People like you get a kick out of the schit you do to the homeless,
All of this!! Actually looking to move to Seattle if a job offer comes. Looks like a major homeless/crime issue in certain parts. I would still move though...lol.
@@sureok1196 there are nice areas around Seattle and still plenty of opportunity out here. Big bonus for having some of the most amazing natural scenery in the country. Also the weather doesn't really have many extremes. Rarely gets too hot or cold here.
Well said.
Thank you for this video. While living thrre I saw alot of places I have been too. Ate at danced at and drsnk at. Sooo LOVED my time down there!!
Honestly I love it. I don't live directly here, but near enough to have gone many times. It's a nostalgic place for me, and looks beautiful. I can't say too much about it since I've never lived there, but seems like a good place to reside.
I grew up in St. Pete and it used to be run down and cheap. Prostitutes walking down 4th street. Now there is a Chipotle and dog bakery there and the house are all worth twice as much. Even the hoods where the drug dealers live have white couple shopping house with their realtor. It’s good for the economy and the city is much prettier, but it’s not the same shabby little city on the water that it once was. Wish I woulda bought like 3 houses there back then. I’d be so rich
G'day Nick, I love your videos... Regards, from, Adelaide, South Australia 🇦🇺... Thanks for taking me around America 🇺🇸 🤠... Cheers 👍
This is so cool. I watch Sky News Australia so I’m glad to see Aussies are interested in us too ♥️
@@AH-xf6cp - You are welcome 👍
Nice timing with the release of this video, I’m gonna be visiting in a couple weeks!
Thank you, very useful insights from a local's perspective. I'm visiting St. Petersburg next week.
Nick... thanks so much for finally doing a video from my neck of the woods (Largo,FL.). Overall, your video was well balanced and well done as per usual. :-) I was glad to see that you at least mentioned Dunedin. Here are few more suggestions if you are ever down this way again... Safety Harbor and the amazing town of Gulfport. Both places to me represent the "old Florida" vibe quite nicely. One way cool thing about Dunedin is that there is a Beatles museum there. The guy that owns it is originally from Liverpool and his collection is so extensive he is re locating it to a much larger venue just to be able to display his incredible collection of Beatles memorabilia.
...beach sand expert is the most ultimate work ever!! thanks bro!
Awesome Video Nick!
I love Clearwater beach. So many things to do. Beautiful sand and friendly water. Lots of restaurants within comfortable walking distances….
I was there in May of 2022, and it was lovely. Not too crowded. We had a good time.
Living here over the past few years had changed, it usually was a spot nobody really hear about until recently everybody started to go there. It went from taking 27-30 minutes from the east side of the county to the west and vice versa, but now it's taking close to an hour! Honestly they do not have the capabilities at all to handle this growth. If you're moving here go to Sarasota
That's because of population redistribution caused by the scamdemic. Remote workers and retirees are largely to blame for the insane home building over the years. I would throw in city dwellers from cites like NYC and any major city in Commiefornia. Too many left the hell holes they helped create. Luckily, the home building has stopped and no one is moving now.
I fully agree. Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater has outgrown a road-system that basically worked until about 15/20 years ago. Bradenton/Sarasota is a MUCH better place to live.
@@Matt_from_Florida hot take, public transit would be perfect here considering the grid structure of the county. But from what I remember hearing its mostly going to above ground transit because of the geology of the area. Would be expensive and years to build but it can get the people who should not be driving off the roads freeing up some traffic. These PSTA buses don't cut it. Or just live in Sarasota yeah lmao
@@Matt_from_Florida but then I’d have to drive to Tampa for everything…airport, sports, concerts ect. To each their own but even living in Wesley Chapel I can easily get downtown Tampa in 25 min on weekends. Traffic is nothing compared to what it was when I was in Chicago
@@JonahHasHopeRN If they just made a couple *raised* East/West "through" roads that took people 'over' Clearwater/St Pete (without imposing all those people onto the city's traffic)... taking outsider traffic OVER the city and straight to the beach, I think that would help a lot.
Clearwater Beach is my favorite beach in all of Florida! It may be crowded sometimes and there is traffic but it’s such a relaxing place and I always wanna go back when I leave!
Nothing says relaxing like crowds and traffic? Give Fort De Soto Beach a try and see the difference. And not near the parking lots.
I don’t mind it but I definitely think the 4th of July weekends are the worst time to go. We were in traffic for over an hour
No local goes to Clearwater Beach. Smh
I live in Seminole and hate going to Clearwater. There are much better beaches in the area south of Clearwater
Go to Clearwater Beach via Sand Key. Yes you missed a lot by not going there! The sidewalks on Bay Walk along the beach are beautiful. You have north and south C-Beach, both with their own unique vibes. Morning, afternoon, sunset, and night time are all magical in their own ways, and the beaches are clean, white sand, with lots of great restaurants and boat rides! I recommend riding the yellow speed boat! I also like the Tropics Dolphin boat, but beware the alcoholics on the holidays.
You right he miss a lot by not going there ,I live in Clearwater and Sand Key and that part of Clearwater around of Sand Key beach is very modern and developed ,the bad thing about Clearwater is traffic, homes are overpriced and scientology,other than that I like Clearwater
Ocala has already grown enough. I left after all of the roads around me turned into 4 and 6 lane highways.
Every trip to store, dr, schools, etc. takes 3 times longer than when I moved up here from Disney area for the same reason!
A trip to Publix in Ocala used to take me 30 mins. Now with more road it takes me.... Longer somehow!
Hope you liked the beach Nick. Treasure Island is great. 🏝️ 🙂
That's so crazy!! They definitely "cleaned" up Clearwater and st.peet since the early 2000s!! Used to live there back then....
I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience all of Tampa Bay for 11 years before all the rich people decided to take over and push us all out. I live in a smaller, quaint Florida town now, within an hour of everything. Not telling anyone where it is.
► Please, please tell me!
Noooo don't tell
Born and raised in Dunedin. Can’t find any affordable housing for a first time buyer in Pinellas. It’s been a bittersweet few years.
Yeah.youre either in Venice or Englewood...duh
you probably are in spring hill or brooksville
Pinellas county isn’t going to keep being this amazing if people keep moving in and push all the blue collar people out. I see what’s been happening down in Cape Coral where they’re building expensive gated communities and nothing for the average income and now they’re having problems finding people to work in their Publix and restaurants, lawn service and all the service industries. My mom lives down there and it’s getting built up by all the rich retirees that moved down since Trump said it’s the place to be & now they’re all complaining no one wants to work anymore. No one can work there because they can’t afford to live there. The same thing is going to end up happening in St. Pete/ Clearwater. The people moving in aren’t blue collar workers & it’s pushing out families that support these communities being their work force. It’s not sustainable.
And they shall reap..what they sew..hahahaha...on them..serves the rich right..they can do their own Damn work...wait for hours for service...maybe...then..the towns/cities will learn..that they have to have space for EVERYONE!!!!!
@Grace Kelly Well, the county is failing in a lot of areas because of your so called beautiful growth. Just wait until no one that works in the service industries that make up that area dwindle because they can’t live there anymore. It’s starting to happen all over Tampa Bay & it’s not just affecting service workers either anymore. It’s affecting teachers, nurses, executive assistants, medical assistance. The income levels for these things aren’t rising to allot for the massive economic growth. Way to many professionals in our area are actually living in hotels because of this housing crisis and they are looking to move out of the area due to not being able to afford even a one bedroom apartment. We need these people to have a community. It’s not beautiful growth when we don’t have anyone to do all the jobs that sustain our beautiful city.
@@janusofthiswitchscorner727 so well said!!! There has to be more and enough AFFORDABLE PLACES..for the people who service the city...without that..the City WILL NOT THRIVE for long...if the City ONLY CATERS..to the so called RICH
If you can't reinvent yourself, you're out.
@@cfaz6763 It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the fact that we need the cashiers, the medical assistants, the secretaries, the nurses, the teachers, the stockers, the managers of the restaurants and hotels, etc. If we don’t have them we don’t have our tourism and that is the main economy of Tampa Bay. There’s no reinventing that. The place will fail if that economy fails.I guess you don’t comprehend economics of different areas very well. You can’t just reinvent an entire cities economy when it’s as big as Tampa Bay.
My favorite beach is Pass-a-Grille. I've been here since 2007 and downtown St Pete used to be fun when they had Push, Vintage and other dance clubs but those are long gone now.
Thanks, Nick this was a good one. 😆
I just got back with 1 week vacation at Clearwater Beach. There is a lot of growth there. Bad areas are prevalent when you go eastbound into Clearwater
"most of the people coming in here these days are the 'rich' folks, which means the poor folks....have to leave!" hahahahaha I laughed out loud my friend hahahahaha so true so funny the way you said it
Love Ocala. Good choice for the man you interviewed🙃🙂
Beautiful video! Thank you!
All the communities around the beaches are there to support the massive tourism that is Pinellas county. If you keep kicking those worker ants out then the tourism machine that is Pinellas county will fail eventually.
Sure it won’t…there are teens/college kids to fill these positions.
@@PMDoc not enough. The majority of jobs in the Tampa area, especially Pinellas county, are In hospitality and tourism and they do not pay much. Most of the time they don’t even pay a living wage and before this housing crisis people in that industry had to have at least 2 jobs to live barely ok. There are not enough high school or college workers in our area to take on being managers of restaurants and hotels. The people in those positions can’t even afford to live here anymore. That is our whole industry in Tampa. Yes there’s other companies but Tampa is primarily a tourist economy first and foremost. If you don’t have the people that will work in that industry in the area that industry will fail. We are already seeing signs of it happening all over the area. I have lived here for 25yrs and I have never seen so many homeless people, closing businesses or empty store fronts. People that are coming here from other destroyed places don’t see how our area is declining because where they are coming from is now destroyed. This is not sustainable for the economic health of this area.
@@janusofthiswitchscorner727 Brilliant! I think I learned something from you. Is Atlantic city a good example of failed tourism trap by getting too greedy in the short term planning, then screwing themselves over long term? I don't know about this concept much. I remember Atlantic City looking like a trashy dirty place when I was a kid in the early 90s
@@janusofthiswitchscorner727 This is a problem across the country. Wages have been suppressed for decades. Especially for the middle class skilled worker. I live in Washington state on the East side and I tried picking up fast food last night(and I live in a big city)and the place was closed at 7 p.m. Not enough staff to keep it open. I went to another place and got something. On the way home I saw a Burger King which has been short staffed for a while. They don't even have the lobby open anymore. Not enough staff. They raised their starting wage again. $16.00 an hour. I blame the Amazon effect for part of it. We had to plants locate here. Their starting wage is $14.00 an hour here, but they have benefits and a 401k plan, paid vacation. So that Burger King job with no benefits is just not working for people anymore. People need retirement benefits and medical coverage. I see help wanted signs everywhere. Plus still having Covid around does not help. Young people can't get booster shots as the CDC wants them to wait until the BA 4&5 one is ready. They said too many booster shots for the young 18-20 somethings increases their risk of heart inflammation. So there goes that demographic that normally fills those positions. Plus they still don't want to come home and infect Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa. And rents are so high that the wages are not enough to pay the skyrocketing rents.. It should get better with time. And if wages and benefits get better. It should improve. Plus telecommuting jobs are increasing. 😊
Florida is only for millionaires. Affordable housing is nonexistent.
I’ve lived in FL my whole 32 yrs and its a beautiful state and it used to be nice but were drowning in excess ppl, cost of living, crime, and construction! Im moving to NC in Aug!!!!
It all happened for me back in 1977 and to this day I still say it was the best thing for me as a result of mom and dad divorcing you see dad moved to Florida because thats were his Parents had already retired to so dad would fly me down from Michigan on my Summer break from school to be with him and I could also bond with the Grandparents while I was there so that's how the whole Love affair started for me and St.Pete.👍❤🙂
In 2006 when my property taxes went from $1,400 to $6,300 in one year for a 3/2/2,.....I got the hell out of NE St. Pete
I live on treasure island, and we do have homeless. There’s about 2 dozen that sleep on the beach, the beach walk, and hang out in front of the Walgreens on gulf blvd. so, the beaches do have homeless.
Another great video Nick. I'm vicariously taking a vacation through your Florida footage. Will you be adding your new songs to your Amazon MP3 album?
There's a Million People who live in Pinellas County without adding the snowbirds.
Retired last fall and spent the winter in FL and significant time in St. Pete in my campervan. Spent many days parked along the water enjoying the views. Love FL with no humidity.
Great video... I lived in St Petersburg for about 5 years . This video makes me miss it..
My wife Elsa and I were there back in late June. Beautiful but way too many people - over crowded! Traffic and construction was awful.
Thanks for doing a video of St.Pete ! Lol you didn’t have to lump us in with Clearwater 🙃 that city has it’s own story to tell. If you ever decide to visit again I can let you in on some hiddenGems that would make your next visit even more interesting, lots of History here some great some shameful. We have very desirable areas and some less than but the bad isn’t that bad. Thanks for showing off our beautiful City and hope you decide to visit again
Wow amazing
Nick, I would love to see a series like this in Connecticut to see how you feel about my home state.
Maybe one day!
Thank you for sharing and great video.
Id be visiting as an baseball fan for four days for my 10th year anniversary working an occupation. This will be my 1st time checking in this part of florida and cant wait.
One of the best places to live St Pete, there are many things to do here and don`t need money for bike rides, going to the beach at sunset, nice weather all year round, meeting friends for drinks at a bar or club, there are hundreds of things to do here, if you do not like the city life then move to the country, if you don`t like tropical storms then move, and if you don`t like seeing a homeless person once in a while then do something to help.
Yeah he’s right, I definitely see crazy stuff every day
Moved to Florida for the weather and the beaches. Paradise to me coming frim Mn. When I moved there I was told to stay away from South Dt Beach. Very dangerous area. Also wirjed there. Told not to go next street over. Also told definately don't go there at night.
It's where my birth mother that I just learned about after 54 years and my half sister lives. No worries won't be moving there soon as they let me know and not so many words... I'll remain the mystery girl as it looks
Nick, I appreciate that you visit a place yourself before commenting. You and your guest did a great job explaining the area. I have family that absolutely love it there. I lived there for eight years. I realized I was paying a premium to live there, but really didn't use the amenities or like the crowds. So, I moved out of state to a less dense area in 2022. I'm much happier.
Cool 👌 mike
Love the raw honesty
When I visited St Pete the centre was very sketchy, around 4pm. Was a strange vibe and felt like trouble was around the corner.
You should do a video on Palm springs California the nicest part of CA in my opinion I would love for u to experience it it's really nice💯💯💯
Noted Josh!
Please do a video on Bradenton! South of st Pete north of Sarasota we always get overlooked!!
Close but no cigar mike
@@NickJohnson love all your videos keep it up man! Big fan
One thing to know is that mid county used to be your more affordable option. I grew up in Largo in between Clearwater and St Pete, 3rd largest city in the county and have been here for 32 years and it's even here it's getting crazy. It's not just house prices. The home insurance market is a mess. They are doubling and tripling rates, dropping people left and right, won't cover your roof If it's over 10 years old. Etc
Can you review ocala and surrounding areas? Aka marion County
Decades ago two St Pete businessmen purchased all the land along St Pete's downtown waterfront and removed all the old stores. In their place they built a wonderful park. St Pete's waterfront has been voted the #1 city waterfront in the entire US - and it deserves this.
A little bit of trivia, the film "Spring Breakers" with Selena Gomez was filmed on St Pete Beach. The Director paid prostitutes & strip dancers to be in the film (and show their assets) to make it appear like St Pete Beach was a real wild party. Any other day the median age is probably closer to "50", and the beach is very quiet.
Out of all the months i don’t go to the beach my favorite city youtuber is there.. great
I’ll always love the gulf coast area from Tampa down to Ft myers.. beautiful area with very little riff raff
A few years ago on the south side of St. Pete, maybe 5 mins south of central downtown, me and my family moved into an apartment and within a month of being there we were given a 1 month notice to move out because the building was bought and was gonna be remodeled. Us moving into the apartment was already a desperate move so you can imagine our pain lmao. Luckily we found a place that works and rent is only $800 but thats probably gonna change once we renew. Its expensive to be poor lol.
Where do you live now? My boyfriend and I are a few years out of college and moved to an apartment in Pinellas Park from Lakeland. We went from 15-1600 a month for a spacious 2/2 in lakeland near our college to now paying almost 1900 for rent and utilities for a 1000sqft 1/1.
We knew the increase would hurt, but we lost our apartment to a fire and didn't have the option to look more because we graduated right after and had to move for our jobs. Best part? Month by month was 2200 which was required if we wanted the option of looking for a house we knew we wouldn't be able to afford or wouldn't be able to win bids for. A friend if mine was just out-bid by $100,000. You read that right.
Everyone is struggling. If we are hurting and have solid degrees, everyone without that luxury is struggling even more. It's depressing.
$800 is so cheap
The spectrum of people who are homeless covers such a wide range. Those that are homeless because they overextended themselves financially and then lost their jobs and homes, to those that have drug and alcohol problems and maybe mental issues and couldn't hold any job no matter how low the cost of living was. The sheer numbers of all these people seems to defy an easy solution since the causes are so varied.
Nick, I have been taking my two kids and serveral girl friends to FL for years! My parents are snowbirds from Indiana. They have owned two homes since about 2005 in Pasco county. Every spring break, I would take my children and whoever I was with to their home ! I finally met a woman after to move down here with! I divorced in 2002 and didn't meet her till 2013! We finally married each other in 2016! It took me a couple years to talk her into moving down here from Indiana! We bought our home on November 16, 2018 in the Jungle Terrace neighbor hood at 200k! We since refinanced to pay everything off! Four years later we still love it!
I was a volunteer State Park Ranger at Honeymoon Island. Definitely the best beaches and trails. A great nature center. Places to eat and enjoy the views. Take the ferry to Caladesi. Honeymoon Island is a slice of Old FLorida. Unadulterated. At least it was when I moved back to Michigan in2016. Florida is being ruined by overdevelopment. Has been for decades. One good hurricane and it all falls down. Bobby Hicks wrote about it in his music. He was not a fan of developers.
Loved Bobby Hicks.
@@poindexterx2514 He loved Florida and taught me so much. I met Chief Jim Billie through him. Amazing people.
Love honeymoon island! Quiet and beautiful
@@Youmaydisagree shhhhh lets keep that between us
5:11 *There are far worse things you could be!* It's amazing isn't it, how *different* the sand from beach to beach is (and how those types of sand have remained consistently the same for my entire 59-year life!). You'd think the ocean would simply mix it all together.
Pretty good view and review of the great St Pete area, I may be selling my little single wide in a coop park that the HOA is only 90 dollars a month, very cheap living for this area. I am looking at going back to Tennessee after living in St Pete for 34 years
what park is it? $90 the monthly fee plus tax plus utilities?
There's a pretty bad area just around Clearwater. The people literally stand on the corners selling Crack or pieces of waffle if ur a tourist. U drive with ur windows up
The thing I appreciate about Pinellas county is the police do a good job at keeping the homeless off the street. Unlike Tampa where there are homeless panhandling at every major intersection and nobody does anything about it. Same with Orlando, homeless at every major intersection begging for drug money. Probably make more money than the average American.
I actually am leaving DTSP/St Pete Beach after 8 years here. The vibe of downtown was slowly changing and it accelerated hard during COVID. The art/creative scene is definitely going to be going by the wayside with the increased prices. St Pete Beach has become ridiculously unaffordable mostly due to STR.
St Pete is turning into Tampa. The housing market is about to inversely blow up as it’s primary driver is tourism and traffic is insane with minimal public transportation unless heading to DT/Beaches. Planning my move to Mexico now.
isn't mexico dangerous?
@@1MinuteFlipDoc only if you piss off the cartel. Much more likely to be a victim of random violence in the US. Some 19 year old kid was just blown away in Tampa over the weekend because he was drunk on his birthday and tried to get in some ransoms car. Person “feared for their life” and blew the kid away.
In Mexico you can't call the police tho🤣
@@CGarrett call the police for what? And yeh you can call the police in Mexico. It’s when you are out and about generally driving single cops will loom to shake you down because gringos don’t know better.
Been in St Petersburg 45 years and it was a quiet beautiful place that you never had to lock the doors. Now you have to be more careful. The seagulls will steal food right from your hands if you're feeding them. TFS 💓🐞💕
Nick, you're 1 of my favorite travelers but you were only 10 minutes away from Clearwater Beach, 1 of the most scenic beaches in Florida and didn't stop! Go back, spend a few days on bike or foot. The nautilus bridge over the channel coming in from gulf blvd, the mansions of Bellaire Beach and Sand Key Beach is stunning! There's dolphin sanctuaries, white sand, bike trails, good food, boat tours etc. The new bridge into downtown is also nautilus and charming Dunedin is just north. Come back and me and Toni will give you a tour and buy you a beer. 🏖
Ok next time!!
I love living in St. Pete! Ricks Reef is one of my favorites! Next time you take a trip you should go back downtown and go to a bar called thirsty first! Best burgers EVER!!! Yes, st. Pete is expensive but I wouldn't live anywhere else!
Noted ❤️❤️
I just don’t know now… As I read these comments, I’m very concerned about moving to Clearwater. I wanted to be near the beach, although I am a Floridian but I am blind and there’s a beautiful complex called clearbay Terrace for the disabled and elderly. It sits at the end of N. Betty Ln.… I think… I am and I am on the waiting list as of now. I lived on my own, now living with my brother and I want to go… Maybe I should try Dunedin and see if there’s a place similar.
I’m hoping that you’ll cover South Florida (Hollywood Beach, in particular). It’s quite different than South Beach to the south, and it’s great for families.
You mentioned Tarpon Springs, and that’s worth an afternoon, if you like Greek food. There’s a large Greek community here, and the food is amazing.
Estero Island is another small town family beach area. Lots of Mom and Pop restaurants, as well as the cheesy t-shirt shops. Fishing is good, and you can rent a sailboat or fishing boat for the day.
Used to hang out at Clearwater beach by the pier & Watergate hotel. Drank at the Pub👍 don't know if they're still there?
I don't know where you heard that a landlord can kick someone out in 2 weeks but I can tell you it's not true. It takes about 3 months to legally evict a tenant through the court. But most of the things you're saying is right on.
You can evict ANYONE in FL anytime!! Look it up!!
You're correct. But it takes about 3 months to get them out through the court. Try it
Hey Nick love your videos! My only “beef” is with that guy you had on commenting about cost of living in certain areas. Yeah everywhere is way more expensive than ever in Florida but his idea of what “1%’s” are in terms of income is way off. 1% are not buying/living in downtown St Pete or even St Pete Beach. Dude needs to realize that middle class income these days is 500K thru 1.5Mil for the average “family. Welcome to poverty compliments of non-preparation and inflation
We moved from upstate NY to St Pete in 78 to early 1980, so my mother could be with her father who was very ill. He passed and we returned to NY. My father worked at a business called Pet Dairy down there, can’t remember if it was in St Pete or Clearwater. I wonder what grandfathers’ old house would go for today, or if it is even around any more. We do t have any records of the address for me to check unfortunately. I still remember celebrating Christmas in 79 in a pool with some new Star Wars figures. It was definitely weirding four year old me out. I was used to cold and snow around Christmas time.
I'm from Albany and now live in Clearwater.
Prior to 10-12 years ago, St. Pete had a rather sizable homeless population that was growing. It also started to attract groups of young people who would fight, steal and get rowdy near the new cinema that was built downtown. There were numerous assaults by the homeless as well. Once more developers came in, the police became more aggressive with ridding the area of the homeless. The city initiated fines on feeding the homeless. Consequently, St. Pete became known as the second "meanest" city in the nation to the homeless population.
@kodi wizard You yes YOU are the reason LOCALS want to leave. You are definitely not from here huh? Go back home.
During the 1960s and early 70s Clearwater was still a bustling downtown area with three movie theaters, a huge indoor mall, clothing and shoe stores, restaurants, post office, library, churches, banks, outdoor concert/event venues...but that started changing when Scientology showed up and began buying up the downtown property. People (including myself) avoid the area now and that's what the Scientologists want, I suspect. I wish Clearwater's elected officials could hear the comments, "Downtown Clearwater seemed very boring...I did not go over to Clearwater Beach," "Clearwater proper was just so blah to me, did I miss something"? and "I avoid Clearwater."
Agreed those scientlogist are super weird
My good friends are Scientologists and they are wonderful people. I am blown away how people pretend to be "non-discriminatory" and then bad mouth Scientologists. Imagine if someone said that about Jews or the Muslim buildings on Belcher Road. It would be an outrage. Shame on you.