He moved from his mom’s house to South Tampa shortly after I left the city three years ago . I would’ve guessed South Tampa’s relatively cheap based on its appearance , but the fact that he shared a one bedroom apartment with seven other guys tells me otherwise . That’s why we only ever stay in hotels when I come visit .

I wouldn’t call his neighborhood a wasteland , but it also wouldn’t be my ideal location to live .

He’s lived with two different pot dealers and claims the police couldn’t care less about the drugs in the area . He’s told me about break-ins he knew happened at the apartment complex next door , and the time a girl threatened to “have him sliced up” at a gas station . He called it an empty threat , but it still says something about the area .

  

Is this what you’d call an inner city? I’m not sure .

He always tells me there’s nothing to do in South Tampa in terms of entertainment , so we make trips across town to find things to do . 

 

1

 “They don’t want to see the inner-city kids with nothingbetter to do than walk up and down the piss and trash-littered streets .”

There are perks to having a million different worlds stuffed into one big city . It’s not too difficult to find a new one if necessary .

1: http://www.keeppbcbeautiful.org/cigarette.htm, Oct. 4, 2013.