KRAMER: Hey, I’m on first and first. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the nexus of the universe.
Oh I know, we don’t exactly advertise our street system in the brochures. I guess I should say, I don’t understand why residents have to ask ask directions or get lost, unless they’re dealing with one of the, like, 3 odd streets (Tyrone, Haines Road… uh I can’t think of anymore… I guess Arlington, Burlington, and Dartmouth, because they interupt the numbered streets). There’ve been plenty of times it took me longer to get somewhere because I didn’t know that a particular street didn’t go through because of water or the interstate or something, but I can still see in my head a map and exactly where that address would be.
I worked at a gas station, and always tried to explain the grid system, and would usually be answered with a blank stare. I don’t know if they were shocked at something so logical (maybe they were used to streets like in the posts above) or they really couldn’t comprehend what I was saying.
Yeah, people aren’t dumbasses because they don’t know about the grid system, but once it’s been explained it’s fairly easy to navigate.
No, unfortunately, they are the Tampa Bay “Bucs.” Like I said earlier, naming a team after a body of water seems ridiculous to me.
I’d agree with you if the team were the Tampa Bay Desert Camels or the Tampa Bay Ocelots or the Tampa Bay Arabian Horses or something. But c’mon. The Bay is right there, it is a place, and buccaneers belong there. It’s a good name.
Albuquerque’s streets are numbered that way and it’s entirely sensible. If Nashville’s are like that too, good for them.
No bearing on the Athens intersection though, and if you don’t see the difference you haven’t thought it out sufficiently.
The weird intersection in Athens GA was not the intersection of Street X NE and Street X SW or something useful like that. (Athens streets are also not laid out in a nice NS vs EW grid, either!)
Silly-ass street just made a huge freaking loop without getting a rename, intersected itself, and there was nary a clue on the signpost as to which of the four strips of asphalt leading away from intersection might be the one headed back into the loop northbound, which one the one headed back into the loop westbound, or leaving the loop southbound or leaving it eastbound.
And, speaking from experience, it doesn’t help if your pot pipe is still kinda warm at the time. :smack:
I’ve lived in Pinellas (St. Pete and Clearwater) for about 3 years. One of the things I’ve observed:
No one from Pinellas county can find their way around Tampa.
No one from Tampa can find their way around Pinellas.
No one wants to live in Pinellas and commute to Tampa, because the sun in your eyes both ways will drive you insane.
And I agree about Tampa being something of a cultureless suburban wasteland. I’ll take the small-urban feel of St. Pete any day.
You really need to see more of Tampa. Have you ever been around South Howard?
Seconded, substituting Ybor City.
Oh, Ybor is not included in the rant at all. I’m not big on clubbing, but Ybor has so much history and awesome architecture and neat little shops. I like it during the day. And I confess, I’ve been to the Castle and the Orpheum once or twice.
Since we’re complaining about street naming conventions, I must mention, as an Atlanta resident, Peachtree Street. Namely that there are hundreds of them. Everywhere.
Oh I know. My mom got totally lost because of that (not that she has a great sense of direction anyway). We ended up a county or two away and then got horribly confused by Constitution St, Constitution Ave, and Old Constitution (or something like that)
I have been in the SoHo areas and around Bayshore Blvd, and there are definitely some cool areas (including Ybor in small doses), but they just all seem so spread out. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Tampa, just not as much as I like Pinellas.
Oh, come on. No there aren’t. There’s Peachtree Street, Peachtree Avenue, Peachtree Court, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Boulevard…
Philadelphia, for me. I was once trying to find my way out of the City of Brotherly Love in a more-or-less northerly direction. After driving for seemingly hours, constantly running into Wissahickon Avenue, I ended up at the junction of Wissahickon Avenue and Wissahickon Drive! :smack:
Now, I cannot stay lost in Philadelphia, though I can reliably get lost. I simply realize that no matter what I do, I’ll end up on Wissahickon Avenue, and simply follow that out of town. 
Another Floridian, voting for St. Pete. It is best newspaper in Florida. Hands down.
I’ve never forgiven Tampa for allowing Hernando de Soto to land. They could so easily have stopped hi, but nope- “C’mon in, Mr. D, we’ll watch your boats… you lookin’ for the gold it’s just over those hills, go til you see that humpbacked Indian and the Co-Cola sign and then it’s just over the crick”. I blame them for all the Indians torn up by his dogs or subjected to his diseases, and then I blame Tampa for the deaths of the innocent guys in the de Soto expedition (for while I detest their leaders and their racist exploitative mission, I do support the conquistadors).
Look on the bright side: the asshole not being there meant he didn’t know you were late.
Queens. Just try telling a guy you live “near 30th.” 30th what? There’s like six of 'em in one place!
I think we have a winner here.
That was Bradenton! They’re not even in the same county!
Please, Tampa has enough problems without having to shoulder Bradenton’s offenses as well. Seriously, all the other Suncoast municipalities hate Bradenton too, and deservedly so. It’s an enormous, bloated parasite, shamelessly battening on Sarasota’s modest prosperity to compensate for its own woeful lack of civic identity. Even the most zealous St. Petersburg partisan will readily concede of Tampa (and vice versa): “At least they’re not Bradenton, thank God.”