Rental Car Refunds / Least Safe City / Clearwater Beach #1 Again

Published: Mon, 03/04/19

1. Golf courses closing down and the land being used for additional housing is a growing trend here in Florida. We still have about 1,250 golf courses, the most of any state, but we have lost many in recent years including ones in Boca Raton, Amelia Island and Delray Beach. – Tampa Bay Times

2. While Florida gets a lot of flack for its rapid development, it’s good to know the state takes proactive measures to take land “off the table” in an effort to conserve our natural environment. – Florida Watchdog

3. If you visited Florida between 2011 and 2019, and rented a car through Dollar or Thrifty, you might be owed some money. – Miami Herald

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4. Florida cities Jacksonville and Tampa rank as two of the most affordable major metro areas in which to purchase a home, according to the online mortgage resource firm HSH.com. – HSH

5. Clearwater Beach was recently awarded the #1 spot in TripAdvisor.com’s 2019 Traveler’s Choice Awards for the 25 Best Beaches in the United States. Six other Florida beaches actually ranked in the Top 10, including Panama City Beach, Saint Pete Beach, Pensacola Beach, Siesta Beach, St. Augustine Beach, and Fort Lauderdale Beach. – Trip Advisor

6. Hurricane Michael, which struck the Florida Panhandle in October of last year, is being called by some “the Hurricane Everyone Forgot.” Congress recently bypassed long-term assistance relief for Hurricane Michael victims in the latest budget deal. – NPR

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7. However, Florida state’s own tourism and marketing division, Visit Florida, recently announced almost $1 million in aid to Panhandle communities that sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Michael. – Florida Daily

8. While we’re still talking hurricanes, it’s hard to believe but thousands of Florida homeowners choose to not insure their homes. – NBC6

9. A South Florida city was recently named the third-safest city in the entire country, according to security system review site SafeHome.com. Only Greenwich, Conn., and Parsippany, N.J., ranked higher than Weston, FL. – SafeHome

10. At the other end of the spectrum, you’ll likely never guess which area has the fastest growing violent crime rate in Florida. It also happens to be Florida’s fastest growing area, The Villages. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed five-year changes in violent crime rates in 283 U.S. metro areas that have comparable data to identify, in every state, the area where crime is climbing fastest, and found that The Villages metro area’s violent crime rate shot up by 35.7 percent. Keep in mind this is “metro area” and not necessarily just in The Villages proper. – USA Today

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