St.
Petersburg is a gorgeous place to live, but it took me a number of years of saving to get out here and be able to afford the higher rent compared to other places in the Tampa Bay area.
Before I got my apartment close to the border to Pinellas Park, I lived in a suburban neighborhood in Brandon. While there are definitely worse places to live in Hillsborough County, I witnessed a lot of crime happening in and around my old apartment complex and I just don’t get that here in St. Petersburg. I was scared one evening when I was taking my dog out for a late walk because he was drinking water late again. A group of men in their 20s were crowded around a car and I saw small baggies of white powder exchanged for cash. The worst part is they saw me spying on them and immediately tried to get my attention. I ran as fast as I could into the woods and lost them after two and half minutes on foot. While I had to walk back to my apartment when I thought the coast was clear, nothing happened with these men and their charges. But being in St. Petersburg is like a dream by comparison. The weather is nice and mild for a large portion of the year, and when you reach the summer cooling season we have a large selection of heating and cooling companies. My HVAC company decided to give me a discount on a service contract recently and I was extremely happy about the savings.