Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.

Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.

One of the first signs Barb Carter’s move to Florida wasn’t the postcard life she’d envisioned was the armadillo infestation in her home that caused $9,000 in damages. Then came a hurricane, ever present feuding over politics, and an inability to find a doctor to remove a tumor from her liver.

After a year in the Sunshine State, Carter packed her car with whatever belongings she could fit and headed back to her home state of Kansas — selling her Florida home at a $40,000 loss and leaving behind the children and grandchildren she’d moved to be closer to.

“So many people ask, ‘Why would you move back to Kansas?’ I tell them all the same thing — you’ve got to take your vacation goggles off,” Carter said. “For me, it was very falsely promoted. Once living there, I thought, you know, this isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all.”

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    5·
    9 months ago

    I grew up here and swear to God I almost want to run for governor with the slogan “Make Florida Freaky Again” We are not built for this conservative imbalance. We have churches and strip clubs, a strong tradition of tolerance and acceptance of, well, freaks. Circus people, drag queens, swingers. I grew up hanging out with drag queens and old gay dudes in leather and punks and skinheads at the same concerts. And even our version of the absolute scourge of racism, while nasty as fuck, we don’t really have as much geographic segregation, I’ve never lived in a “white” or “black” neighborhood, they are often majority one or the other but not homogeneous and it’s block by block. It was way, way too violent when I was young but that had already gotten better before this sudden turn to the fascist side. How the fuck did we get here? How can anyone, with a straight face, say drag queens don’t belong here? In two years a pivot from my kid’s middle school teacher doing a drag performance at the teacher and student talent show, to this being an unimaginable affront, contributing to the delinquency of minors or something? What state do they think they are in? Go to Alabama, assholes. It’s you who are destroying our heritage.

    Sorry, this rant has been building a long time.