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Clearwater Information
Clearwater is a city located in central Pinellas County, Florida, USA, nearly
due west of Tampa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of
108,787; however, according to the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau's estimates, the
city's population fell slightly to 108,687. It is the county seat of Pinellas
County. It is the smallest of the three large cities that constitute the Tampa
Bay area.
Present-day Clearwater was originally the home of the Tocobagan Indian tribe.
Around 1835, the U.S. Army began construction of Fort Harrison as an outpost
during the Seminole wars. The fort was located on a bluff overlooking Clearwater
Harbor in an area known today as Harbor Oaks. University of South Florida
archeologists excavated the site in 1977 after Alfred C. Wyllie discovered an
underground ammunition bunker while digging a swimming pool on his estate.
The area's population grew in 1842, after the Federal Armed Occupation Act of
1842 offered 160 acres to anyone who would bear arms and cultivate the land.
Early settlers included the Stevens, Stevenson and McMullen families, who
claimed and farmed large tracts of land. Prior to 1906, the area was known as
Clear Water Harbor. The name "Clear Water" is thought to have come from a fresh
water spring flowing from near where the City Hall building is located today.
There were many other freshwater springs that dotted the bayfront, many in the
bay itself, which were the reason for the crystal clear water found there.
Originally part of Hillsborough County, the first road joining Clearwater and
Tampa was built in 1849, which dramatically reduced the prior day-long commute
between the cities. The first US Post Office for Pinellas County was built on
the site of the present Turner Steet Dock Park, circa 1859.
During the civil war, Union gunboats repeatedly raided the city's supplies as
most of the able-bodied men were away fighting for the Confederate States of
America army. The city began booming in late 19th century, prompted by Henry B.
Plant building the first passenger railroad line into the city 1888. Clearwater
was incorporated as a town in 1891 and James E. Crane became the town's first
mayor [2]. The town's reputation as a tourist destination grew in popularity
when Plant built the Belleview Biltmore in 1897.
By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning
to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a
city, on May 27, 1915, and made the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke
from Hillsborough County in 1912. Also in 1915, a bridge was built across
Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with modern-day Clearwater Beach. Remnants
of the original bridge still remain as boating hazards in the harbor's shallows.
During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for U.S. troops
destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area,
including the historic Belleview Biltmore and Fort Harrison Hotel, became luxury
barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic regularly stopped for companies of
soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential
enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now
Sand Key, was used as a target for US Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for
straffing and bombing practice.
The worldwide spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology is the Flag
Land Base a.k.a. the Flag Service Organization, located in downtown Clearwater.
It was opened in 1975 when operations of several high level Scientology orgs
were moved ashore from the several ships on which they were formerly located.
These ships themselves were known as Flag.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for a Place...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to think
through what are the most important things to you in an apartment and plan your
search based on those priorities. Here are some things to consider when planning
your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in unit
laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. Studio, efficiency, bed-sit, or
bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest rents
in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a large room
which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually kitchen
facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own smaller
separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom apartments where
one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment. Then there are
two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments often have only
one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two entrances/exits, perhaps a
door in the front and another in the back. Depending on the building design, the
entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside or to a common area inside,
such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments may be available for rent
furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a tenant usually moves in
with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often included in an
apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.