That is pretty funny. But I do hate to tell you that your neighbor may be correct that some locations outside of Florida are not experiencing sea level rise. Satellites show that the amount of land mass in the world has actually grown since such measurements have become possible. This is because of many factors, but mostly because erosion continues to deposit sediment in coastal areas. There are also areas where coastal areas are rising faster than the seas because of subterranean forces pushing up on them, not to mention volcanoes and even people like the Chinese creating "artificial" islands. And then there are places it appears that the sea is rising faster because long time landmarks used to measure the tide in the area have been sinking.
We have friends and family who are long time residents in Florida. My aunt and uncle have lived on a canal that goes directly to the Gulf of Mexico in Ft. Meyers for the past 40 years. I asked my uncle if the sea level had risen noticeably on his property in the last 40 years. He said maybe a couple inches, but he really couldn't tell for sure. In pictures they have showing their dock and sea wall there is no noticeable differences.
Two years ago, we stayed overnight in St. Augustine Florida which was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States. It is of course directly on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. In almost 600 years we were told that the tidal gauges and land marks indicated about a 2 foot sea level rise.
Satellite data shows that the rate of sea level rise has not increased in the last 80 years yet there is a lot of clamoring for cash by politicians to help mitigate for “climate change” for coastal cities in Florida. The politicians claim that climate change has been making the periodic flooding they have been experiencing for the last 600 years in St. Augustine worse recently, but no hard evidence has been presented that I am aware of.
Erosion and plate tectonics are always active, land masses are always moving in all directions over time. So making measurements at any fixed point isn’t necessarily accurate. So yes, there may be an impression of the sea rising but it couldn’t be localized to one area.