Tampa Is Not
Tampa is not home to Disney World. The City does not have a long list of celebrity home owners like Miami. Tallahassee is the state capital. Tampa is not be the answer to the question, “where do northerners come for the winter” because that is reserved for Sarasota or Naples. That answer might also be Fort Myers or Ft Lauderdale, but definitely not Tampa. Tampa is not the high rent district of Florida. The first names for that distinction would probably be Boca Raton or Palm Beach. Tampa is, however, a major seaport and business hub in the middle of Florida’s west coast.
Tampa Is
Big whoop you say. In spite of all the “nots” Tampa is our home now after spending most of our lives in the Northeastern US. We relocated to the Tampa area to escape the punishing cold and gloom of the northern winters. Travel to the northeast was still going to be frequent, either for business or pleasure. A really good airport with easy access was necessary. Reasonable costs of living, including home prices, were a must. For all of those reasons, and more, Tampa was the right place. And we were after all, moving to Florida, the Sunshine State, so easy access to good beaches was important.
Why Tampa
After many years Tampa is still the right place to live. It has a great mix of je ne sais quoi because of its award winning beaches, the lazy rivers, the serene Gulf of Mexico, the good restaurants and brew pubs. We cannot leave out the sports teams and the theater either. Broadway shows are booked at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and the latest and greatest music artists perform at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre. The Rays, the Bucs and the Lightning challenge the best in their respective sports for titles. This year the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in hockey for the second time in a row. The Ray were in the Baseball World Series last year. The NFL Super Bowl was won by the Buccaneers for the first time in a long time. Tampa has also had more time to develop a good plan for growth. That plan is a really good plan because it makes commuting better, job opportunities more abundant and life more fulfilling. The other major cities in Florida have not had the same good fortune. Growth there has overwhelmed the ability to properly respond.
