At 6 AM on 12/15 the temperature in Oklahoma City is 18 degrees, with a projected high of 38 today. Nuff said.
Cold weather is a compromise for what you get in return, in my humble Floridian opinion. For example, it was 14 effing degrees up here in DC last January, but I got to see history take place when we, the people inaugurated the first minority president. Florida and Jacksonville have probably milked as much of "but it's not cold here" as they can.
Moreover, weather isn't everything, anyway. DC's weather suuuuuuuuuuucks. Outside of spring, the season's here are like a worst hits of weather: hot and humid in the summer; rainy and cold in the late fall; crazy windy and cold sans snow for most of the damned winter. Nonetheless, it's a great place to live, even if it doesn't possess abundant sunshine.
My father, who still lives in Florida (Parkland,) recently expressed the same sentiment regarding the weather and Florida. He loves DC, but hated the cold, so he was happy to go back to "sucky, but warm, Florida." So, I offer you this challenge: imagine a Jacksonville that
doesn't just have a temperate climate going for it. Or Florida, for that matter.
Use me as an example. In theory, I'm of the demographic you'd like to attract. I'm an educated professional who straddles the business and the creative class. I'm not ideologically driven one way or the other on most issues. I don't commit crime. I spend money in stores, cafes and bars. I like museums, parks, cycling, forums, etc. I'm a ardent believer in New Urbanism. And I'm a native Floridian, born and raised.
So, consider this:
I had to leave Florida to find the lifestyle I needed. "It's not cold there" wasn't enough to keep me, and I
hate the cold. My first pit-stop was Atlanta, where I found a very vast business class of professionals, if not exactly the culture (the slogan of that city, outside of the High Museum of Art, should be "Atlanta: where smart people live cheap.") Nonetheless, Atlanta had ideal, brilliant weather. If climate were the only consideration for people, we'd all live in temperate, dry Atlanta, no? 9 months of pretty awesome weather, punctuated by 2 hot months and one kinda-sorta cold month.
But DC is the bee's knees. There's always
life on the streets, always something to do, and there's not a need for a car (indeed, one can live in suburbia and still enjoy the Metro, the "fake downtowns" and the connectivity.) So, the weather sucks. So, it costs too much. So, there are too many goddamned Chipotles. Nonetheless, I took all my intellectual capital here, because outside of the weather, there's a lot here that doesn't suck.
When Florida gets their act together, and realizes that perhaps mere climate isn't enough to attract more than the lowest common denominator, what an amazing state that will be. I'll totally move back for "DC on the St. Johns."
