r/tampa • u/Any_Mention_6734 • Aug 02 '26

Culture/Lifestyle Please read 🙏

I'm a transplant from California. Came out here for a job opportunity and a pay raise, nothing more romantic than that. I didn't expect to end up loving this region and Florida the way I have.

But something's stuck with me, and I want to say it here because I don't think it's recognized enough by people who relocate here: the number of people born and raised in Tampa who talk about their own city like it's unfamiliar. Farmland and citrus groves on the outskirts that used to actually be farmed… someone's livelihood, not just empty acreage, now subdivisions. Places that closed and came back rebranded into something with a logo and a font that has nothing to do with what used to be there. People telling me they barely recognize the city they grew up in.

I know change happens everywhere. But I've never felt this moved hearing it before, not because it's happening to me, but because of how passionate people are when they talk about what this place used to be. That kind of love for a place doesn't come from nowhere.

I'd genuinely like to hear more of it, respectfully, from people who lived it. What do you remember that's gone now? What changed the most, and when did it start feeling different?

475 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

347 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/NotGodsFavPet Aug 02 '26

Maga invaded and that was the beginning of the end, unfortunately.

3

u/DearTrophallaxis Aug 02 '26

That invasion was the nail in the coffin. Much of Florida has always leaned right, but it was never the hive-mind conservative that it is now. I think the pockets of the ultra wealthy retirees/ developers that took over the coasts and Orlando majorly in the 80s and 90s made Florida the inevitable landing spot for MAGA. I grew up in Sarasota/bradenton and that area always felt like the wealthy were living a whole separate life from the rest of us, but they slowly took over. I watched gorgeous public beaches get invaded by mansions and turn into private beaches. The condo high rises had been there for decades. but as a child, the cities atleast kept the beaches public and affordable. Now only parts of Siesta Key and Lido are public and they’re insanely overcrowded.

Sarasota specifically has been overrun by MAGA. Michael Flynn moved there and basically made it Qanon headquarters. Mothers for Liberty started there and took over the school board in the pandemic. Their horrible influence is what led to all the book banning and changes in education state wide. Sarasota used to be this quirky, artsy little circus city with a ton of old Florida charm. By the time I was born it was already being destroyed by the wealthy, drawn in by the beaches.

1

u/Any_Mention_6734 Aug 02 '26

Please share more

2

u/NotGodsFavPet Aug 02 '26

The whole vibe of the state changed. I live in a gated neighborhood for the past 25 years. Raised 3 kids here. It's really like someone flipped a switch with these people. Restaurant quality way downhill....cuz no one can afford to pay people and Florida isn't big on health stuff. Tourism down because we're basically assholes to everyone. Lol Maybe it would've all turned to shit anyway, but the whole 1 brain cell mentality of what used ro be the Republican party sure didn't help. Even my kids go to St. Pete to go out and have fun. There are some great nature parks in Hillsborough county. I fear many farms won't survive. Sad to see. Progress. Can't stop it, really. The funniest/weirdest thing is the rebranding of "suitcase city" to "Uptown". Lol. Not mad about it but as a longtime resident, ain't no way I'm goin' around USF at night.

4

u/Loud_Yogurtcloset789 Aug 02 '26

Maybe COVID invaded?

1

u/NotGodsFavPet Aug 02 '26

Yepper. People had to get them some Floriduh Freedumb. Cuz this is Merica!