Positives
Gainesville is a great city to live, work, and retire in. I love many aspects of Gainesville, including the:1. Nature, biodiversity
Even on my first visit to Gainesville, the two lane roads winding through green ravines immediately reminded me of the Appalachians. Since living here for a few years now and exploring through hiking, I have learned that there is immense biodiversity of plants and animals (and people!) in this region. Gainesville sits on the edge of the Georgia plateau as it crumbles towards the Atlantic, exposing rich, ancient sediments that support the area’s vast biodiversity.
Hoggetown waterway in Ring Park, on a hike. Photo by Amber Lee.
2. Diversity of people
I love that Gainesville celebrates people of all kinds, with county supported events for people of different gender identities, races, and heritages, and also many family events. The mix of people here in this University town for decades has strengthened the region’s collective identity and gender/race relations. Last year when Black Lives matters and All peoples lives matter became a chanting call across the nation, Gainesville had already addressed these issues years ago and stood united to stop violence in all forms, instead of pointing fingers at any one race.
Data and chart from City Data at: https://www.city-data.com/zips/32609.html.
Street art found on a hike. Photo by Amber Lee.
3. Weather
The climate here is nice and you get at least three Florida seasons of a warm Spring, a really hot, muggy Summer, and a tepid Fall; with a few freezes coming through in the Winter. The climate isn’t too harsh and tends to stay very temperate, except for a few hot, stale windless months during late summer. If you’re a gardener, you'll enjoy Gainesville's climate where you can easily grow year round with a greenhouse or diy plastic sheeting hoop houses.
Sunset over Gainesville school. Photo by Amber Lee.
4. People I’ve Met
The people of Gainesville are really great. I’ve met wonderful neighbors and professional contacts here. One such group of great people is the Writer's Alliance of Gainesville (https://writersalliance.org/). Gainesville has several great meet up groups for almost anything you'd be interested in and also has many extra supports and events for families and children.
Gainesville by drone. Footage by dronepilotastro@gmail.com.
5. University Influence
The university influence is seen everywhere in city business offering variety and quality; overall city cleanliness and safety, and green spaces planning.
The University of Florida football Swamp arena. Photo by Amber Lee.
6. Cool vibe here overall, like Asheville
Negatives
I’m not going to detail much on why I don’t like my city because I think every city has aspects that are unliked or unsightly. I also don’t like to focus on the negatives in life. If you're looking to move to Gainesville, make sure you check the crime maps because unfortunately there are some not so nice parts.
What I don’t like:
- Lots of petty crimes, robberies, burglaries overall in the city. Someone attempted robbery on my brother Jason years ago at a bus stop by the university - the university is improving security in the entire downtown area including facial recognition cameras and other tracking/ identification methods.
- Homeless drunks begging in the street medians - its dangerous that they're in the street medians and they're everywhere in Gainesville.
I hope this gives you a little glimpse into the wonderful city that I call home. Gainesville is a great place and I hope you'll come visit sometime!
The original challenge is from Writer’s Write.
#amberclee #Gainesville #20postchallenge
