Comparison and Contrast Essay

There are many similarities and differences between the city of St. Lucie , located in Florida , and the city of Queens , located in New York . In spite of this, there are more noticeable differences than similarities between St. Lucie and Queens . Some of the similarities are the restaurants, the stores, the radio and television stations, and the job selection. Some of the differences are the pace of the cities, the weather, the layout and design, the age group, the places for kids to hang out, and ethnicity.

In St. Lucie and Queens , the majority of the fast-food restaurants are the same. Some of the fast-food restaurants are: Mc. Donald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most of the stores in St Lucie and Queens are the same. Some of the stores located in both cities are: Kmart, Walmart, Circuit City , and Staples. The radio and television stations in both cities are the same, however, the channels on the television are different and they show different syndicated shows, and the stations on the radio have the same type of music; the station 95.5 in St. Lucie is similar to the station 103.5 in Queens because they both offer dance and pop music, and the station 102.3 in St. Lucie is similar to the station 97.1 in Queens because they both offer rap music. The job selection in St. Lucie and Queens is similar in that they both have similar careers, such as: police officers, firemen, Private Investigators, and Lawyers.

The pace of St. Lucie and Queens in regard to the speed in which people go through their day is different because in Queens, it is more of a city atmosphere with a higher degree of people, which gives the city more traffic, and the city has a younger age range, which makes the people able to move about in more speed. St. Lucie is a slow-paced city because the population is not as great as Queens , the majority of this city has retired senior citizens who are not in a rush to go anywhere and are too old to walk faster than the younger citizens, and St. Lucie has more county space than city space.

There is a great difference in the weather in St. Lucie and Queens . The weather in St. Lucie is mostly hot and very warm; rarely does it get cold. St. Lucie basically has one season all year round, which is summer. The weather in Queens is cyclical, having all four seasons. When it is snowing and is 25 degrees in Queens during Christmas, St. Lucie is sunning and is around 80 degrees.

The layout and design of St. Lucie and Queens is a great deal of difference. St. Lucie's layout is with the use of unequal shapes and spots of grass with houses on them, having names on the streets, the majority having no sidewalks and most streets having very few lampposts. In Queens , the layout mostly has equal blocks of houses with grass and sidewalks, the street signs are numbered, and every street has a lamppost.

The age group in St. Lucie and Queens is different mainly because of the difference in weather and the laid-backness of St. Lucie. Most people, who retire, move down to Florida because the weather is perfect and Florida has nice scenery.

Although both of the cities both have places for kids to hang out in, such as arcades, parks, and fast food places, the places in Queens are only a walking distance, bike ride, or bus ride away, making it quicker to meet at those places. St. Lucie, on the other hand has no places like these which are a walking distance, or bike ride away, nor is there any city busses for the kids to travel on to go places. The only way for kids to get to places in St. Lucie is to ride with a family member or someone who has a car.

In Queens, there is a wide range of ethnicity, such as White, Black, Spanish, Asian, Japanese, and Indian. However, in St. Lucie, the majority is just White, Mexican, some Black, and rarely any Asian's or Japanese. I believe the reason is that most of the ethnicity in Queens is because the majority of people go there for the wide- range of job selection and New York is the business state. There is not much ethnicity in St. Lucie because most of the land in Florida is farmland and there is not as many jobs and businesses available, yet they are increasing each year, and so is the population.

In conclusion, even though there are some comparing aspects of St. Lucie and Queens, the majority of them are contrasting. I believe Queens in a great place to live if you like having all four seasons, the different varieties of people, wide-range of job selection, fast paced atmospheres, and the majority being middle-aged people. I believe St. Lucie is a great place to live if you like warm weather, slow paced atmospheres, a small ethnic group, and the majority being senior citizens, who honk at you for staying two seconds too long at a stop sign, and who you always try to pass on the road for being too darn slow.

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This page was created on May 18, 2004
Last updated on May 18, 2004