Why do you stay in Jacksonville?

[KenFSU]

Just curious.

Realistically, it seems like everything most of us want in a city -- urban vibrancy, great mass transit, a sense of identity, respect for the past -- is a long, long way off, and that's assuming that the city ever reverses its trend of screwing up every major undertaking it attempts.

Why stay?

What's either a) the reason you can't leave, or b) the silver lining that prevents you from leaving for the greener pastures of a more progressive city that actually likes itself.

I've been here for seven years now, and as optimistic as I was when I first moved here, I'm really reaching that point where I kind of see Jax as a legitimately lost cause.

Absolutely not trying to flame in the least bit, I'm just genuinely curious as to why everyone, especially here at MetJax, hasn't throw their hands up in the air and moved to one of the other 20 or 30 cities in the country that actually seem to doing things properly and moving in the right direction.

[Timkin]

This has been home to me all of my adult life , except for 9 years that I resided in Orlando. I can certainly see why some would deem Jacksonville a "lost cause".  The way I see Jacksonville is a diamond in the rough.  Absolutely endless potential. It is never too late to turn it around. I remain hopeful that it eventually will.

Home is where the heart is.  Mine is in Jacksonville,Fl.

[rainfrog]

I grew up in Jacksonville and always wanted to leave it for greener pastures. I did. I went from never having left the Southeast to extensively exploring most of the continent. A few years later, unexpected circumstances brought me back here. Now I'm older, more experienced, and seeing my hometown through different eyes, seeing its many good qualities and the things that I missed about it and never even realized. I'm now willing and even wanting to give it another shot. You're not going to find a city without problems. I began to see them everywhere I went, no matter what city -- after all, this is a single country with pretty homogeneous ideals and values, even in its best of cities. And it hit me: it's really easy to be picky. It's really hard to accept faults (in a country, in a city, or in people, or in anything) but it's essential to finding peace with one's life.

With the right attitude Jax can be a great place to live. It's in a gorgeous setting, it has a lot of potential, plenty of great people, and plenty of things to keep you busy. If you're not comfortable in the suburbs, it can indeed be several times harder to find your niche here than in other cities, and it might feel like you're swimming upstream, but it can be done. You can find kindred spirits here. MJ is a testament to that. We're like pioneers in a perpetual frontier, but eventually this town's going to grow up, as long as we don't abandon it. Be a part of shaping Jacksonville and it gives you a whole new purpose for being here.

With the wrong attitude, any city can be a lost cause. You will end up gravitating to any city's faults.

[Overstreet]

I have house, long term friends, and a good paying job here.  Why leave?

[uptowngirl]

My neighborhood is vibrant, love my friends here, and well....I travel a lot so can get my fill of real city living while I wait for Jacksonville to catch up.

If you think DT is borning go to some of these suburban neighborhoods on the weekend!

[copperfiend]

My wife and I both have good jobs we like...and a house that is worth less than we paid for it.

[David]

One reason: it's cheap! (especially now)

I love most of the old major northeastern cities and a few on the west coast but cost of living has been one huge factor that's kept me here. My friends in those cities with similar skill sets  have to have 2 or more roommates to keep rent or mortgage from eating up a majority of their income, and that's after adjusting for the cost of living adjustments on their paycheck. They do live in the desirable areas of their respective towns, I’m sure it's possible to find a cheap rental or house in the suburbs, but why move to another city just to live there?

I can live in Jax, travel to NYC and live it up for a week. Or live in NYC and deal with living in a shoebox or making sure I have enough roomies and hopefully scrape enough money for a plane ticket home to see everyone.

Having deep roots also keeps me planted here. If I were someone from a different city with no real attachments here, I could see why they'd want to move on. It seemed like a downtown and urban core renaissance was underway, but that came to a screeching halt a few years ago.  

[fsujax]

The beach, the river, fishing, friends, sun, family, my house, my neighbors, my job, the Jaguars. I could go on and on. I too once left for greener pastures in a much bigger city, but realized Jacksonville really isn't that bad. Whats funny is while I was living in Atlanta, to hear the people up there complaining about MARTA you would have thought it was JTA.

[Garden guy]

This is the cheapest city...everything is cheaper...i can't figure out why rich boys are screaming ..."my taxes..my taxes.."...millionaire boys...i think it's nuts...our republican leaders have lowered the taxes so much that we can't run anything now..so...thanks republicans for running this city into the mud....thanks alot.

[Doctor_K]

This is the cheapest city...everything is cheaper...i can't figure out why rich boys are screaming ..."my taxes..my taxes.."...millionaire boys...i think it's nuts...our republican leaders have lowered the taxes so much that we can't run anything now..so...thanks republicans for running this city into the mud....thanks alot.

Someone needs some serious therapy.  

"Why do you stay in Jacksonville?"

"Because the republicans ran it into the ground!!"

Wha??

For all its faults and shortcomings, this is the place that I have wanted to be for a long time.  Anyone who says "my hometown sucks!" obviously has never lived in Melbourne/Palm Bay/Brevard County.  

So it's all perspective, and it's all subjective.  In spite of it all, I like this place.

[ubben]

I love it here! Go Jax!

[ben says]

because i may go to law school here

[BridgeTroll]

Retired Navy guy here.  Stationed at NAS as a youngster... and NAS again in early 90's.  I have lived in, and visited for extended periods, nearly every region of this country(and others) and many major metropolitan areas.  When my wife and I looked for a place to call "home" after 20 years of travel we picked Jacksonville.

Cost of living was a MAJOR factor in this decision.  Housing, food, utilities, recreation is substantially less expensive than other areas we considered.

At the time... Jville had a great job market with a diversity of industries.  I needed somewhere I could begin a second career.  We also considered it a "diamond in the rough".  We fully expected Jville to blossom...

Climate and nature.

While Jville has served its purpose for us... if things work out... we will likely leave at some point.  Our wants and needs have evolved since moving here and since we are not tied by family to this area we will likely seek another place to call "home" eventually.

[Captain Zissou]

Job and so I can save enough money to move out. 

[Ocklawaha]

Because when you've lived all over the America's and really shake out the pros and cons, Jacksonville's biggest problems are minuscule compared to the next best place!

OCKLAWAHA