Aw man, we have to ramp up the fucked-up-shit factor in this city to match the talents of writers here, I guess. Good art is borne out of living in pain, I suppose.

Have all of you guys at the Stranger considered the same move?

(I liked Tom, for the record. Just joshing all 'o ya)

Aw, I'm sorry to see Tom go - I really enjoyed his writing. Good luck to Sarah Mirk - although the comparison to Amy Jenniges does not bode well.

Say what you will about Seattle - but Florida? Yuck.

Well, at least he'll undoubtedly find sleaze there.

I agree with Tom about the political homogeneity and correctness of seattle, I disagree with him about the lack of hard-boiled sleaze. It's just harder to report on because the locals, in their politically correct demeanor, are much better at keeping their mouths shut about it.

In Florida you get to be governed by not one, but two Bushes. I'm kind of proud that someone who could imagine living in Ft. Lauderdale hates my hometown.

i'm sure it was partly, if not mostly, a salary issue.

As near as I can tell, every single commercial or personal transaction that takes place in Florida is criminal in nature. There's a reason most of your spam originates from there, and Scientology headquarters there, and the sugar "industry" (i.e., one guy) is there, and a Bush is governor. It'll be a fertile field for Mr. Francis. I just hope he doesn't get killed by the Cuban-exile mafia.

Welcome, Ms. Mirk. You're off to a heck of a start. I look forward to much more.

I'm with Tom (though for completely different reasons). Having lived in both Seattle and South Florida, I would pick to live in Ft. Lauderdale over Seattle, and I'm working on making that move happen. No, it's not perfect, and I can name more bad things about the area than I can about Seattle, but I can also name a lot more good things about Ft. Lauderdale than Seattle.

Jean,

well?

Okay --

Seattle has:

Uwajimaya
Good Thai food
Lower humidity
Far less traffic
Better public transport

S. Florida has:

The best sushi I've ever eaten in the US
Better scuba diving
Better seafood
Stone crabs!
Snorkeling
Awesome beach days
Better drivers (crazier, but better -- was hit 0 times in 4 yrs in S. FL but 3X in 3 years in Seattle)
Better opportunities for making friends
Better radio station
Better nightlife
Thunderstorms
Rainy summers and dry winters
Less extreme daylight hours
Everglades
Key lime pie
Robert is Here (awesome fruit stand with the best fruit milkshakes ever)

I could probably think of more things, but the bottom line is every time I go back to S FL, I feel like I'm going home. Everytime I come back to Seattle, I feel like I'm coming back to "that place where my stuff is." I don't think Seattle's a bad place (except for the drivers), it just doesn't match with what I want out of a place to live. And I don't like to see S FL get knocked by people who I'm guessing have never lived there. :)

One visit was enough.

New Times papers are anti-semitic and racist. The Seattle Weakly is the most racist newspaper in Seattle because they will not put Hip-Hop acts on the cover. Seattle Weakly is old Seattle. The Stranger is the only Seattle Newspaper with real news.

fake ids are a horrible, horrible bad idea. your best bet is to find somebody who sort of looks like sarah and conning their id out of them.

also, do not use this id at the showbox because they will know its not you and make you feel like a huge asshole.

Tom shoulda moved to Vegas. They've got enough big city sleaze to build five whorehouses.

Red State idiots like Tom should get out of Seattle. Anyone who could live in a Red State is and idiots. Seattle is the best educated blue State city in the country. If the rest of the country were like educated Seattle people there would be no more wars.

Red State Idiot --

"Anyone who could live in a Red State is and idiots."

Well said, sir, well said. (Yes, that was irony.)

I would propose, though, that Mr. Francis is not moving to Florida because of his own Republican proclivities, but because he wishes to report on corruption, which is far more widespread in this Red State area.

For a journalist interested in wallowing in the devils of human nature, one can't do much better than South Florida. We've got the sort of crazed, megalomaniacal corruption that other areas of the country only dream of -- in their nightmares.

Welcome to my competition, Francis. Looking forward to having a drink.

"Seattle sucks. New York and Chicago are real cities. Seattle is Dubuque, Iowa, putting on airs."

--Dan Savage

Ft. Lauderdale is in a blue county in a purple state. I know several people in Ft. Lauderdale, not a one of 'em is anything like what I'd call a red stater.

One visit is never enough.

Seattle is the best educated city in the country. Anyone stupid enough to leave Seattle to live in a southern red state shouldn't be living in Seattle. It's disgruntled red state types that move here, don't like the social scene and then go on a killing spree. Good riddance to this reporter, don't let the door hit your ass when you leave Seattle.

Duh! It's the weather!!! n cold, ice, snow and less rain than Seattle. A Starbucks on every corner has no appeal. Besides, Bob Norman (NewTimes Brward/Palm Beach star investigative reporter (www.browardpalmbeach.com)shines on my radio show every Friday at 10 AM (EST) 7 AM PST www.wwnnradio.com and click in listen live.

seattle may be more pc, but ill venture to say ft lauderdale is a lot more gay. and whats that say? liberal, neater, better looking and a lot better designed living spaces!

Tom is probably a closet racist he belongs in Florida. Anyone who can't stand the politically correct atmosphere in Seattle is probably a closet Kyle Huff who can't get laid either. If Tom had a shitty apartment that was was a characteristic of both recent killers. Bad apartment, disgruntled about the social scene, felt they didn't fit in...Tom sounds a lot like what Newspapers have been writing about the killers. I'm glad he's gone. The Stranger doesn't need losers like him.

this jibberish is out of control. racist watch? yikes, the insanity is thick. all i know is tom francis is one hot piece ace. i mean it!! and i'm glad he is now residing in a place where people don't have their thumbs so far up their asses that they can actually smell their own farts. come on guys, do you all really need to think and feel and talk the same? booooooring!!! i do agree though, florida has some trash. i'm glad tom is movin down to help clean up. i feel safer already.

If Mr. Francis felt that "there wasn’t enough traditional, big city, hard-boiled sleaze to report on in Seattle," he need only have traipsed down the corridor to mis-managing editor Bradlee Steinbacher's office, gazed deeply into Bradley's dodges, et voila -- le sleaze!

At least, Josh, it sounds as if you actually give a damn about the quality of the writers you hire, whereas Bradlee will devotedly spend hours (at work) reading online movie reviews of disenfranchised locals (until said local blocked little Bradlee's IP address) while continuing to assign the lion's share of what passes for film criticism in the Etranger to his drinking and coke-snorting buddy, the fat, illiterate asshole Andrew Wright, who's known as Andrew Wrong to anyone with an informed opinion. Now try investigating that untold story!

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