Interesting demographic shift... (Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Davie: motel, home, luxury)

[fauve]

People living clandestine lives in the margins of society don't buy Lexus SUV's and $500,000 homes in luxury gated communities.

Actually, I believe this would have been very possible during the '03 - '06 housing boom when banks were giving loans without vetting.

[big mean bear]

Originally Posted by fauve

Actually, I believe this would have been very possible during the '03 - '06 housing boom when banks were giving loans without vetting.

Pembroke Pines = one big loan. Be careful though. Whenever you undermine a pillar of Hispanic success like Pembroke Pines or any other Hispanic-dominated middle class area, you subject yourself to tremendous scrutiny.

[fauve]

Originally Posted by big mean bear

Pembroke Pines = one big loan. Be careful though. Whenever you insult or undermine a pillar of Hispanic success like Pembroke Pines or any other Hispanic-dominated middle class area, you subject yourself to tremendous scrutiny.

I don't intend it is an insult or an undermining of Hispanics when I say that people obtained loans for which they weren't vetted. I don't think there was any intention on the majority of the people who attained these loans (legal or illegal) that they would not pay them back, or that there was not even an ability to pay them back, perhaps other than those caught in the early part of the cycle. Now, what we see are people who intended to sell within 5 years or so as a natural part of their life cycle (promotion, rising/shrinking family growth, etc.) being caught in loans that they never counted on adjusting, in homes that are inappropriate for them and are dropping in spiraling value due to other neighborhood foreclosures. That Hispanics heavily occupy Pembroke Pines and Miramar, which are seeing high levels of foreclosure, is more an indication of the timing of their purchase, rather than a judgment of their character.

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by big mean bear

Pembroke Pines = one big loan. Be careful though. Whenever you undermine a pillar of Hispanic success like Pembroke Pines or any other Hispanic-dominated middle class area, you subject yourself to tremendous scrutiny.

Scrutiny from whom? The fact that there were many Hispanics living in houses that have gone through foreclosure shouldn't be particularly offensive to anyone.

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by fauve

I don't intend it is an insult or an undermining of Hispanics when I say that people obtained loans for which they weren't vetted. I don't think there was any intention on the majority of the people who attained these loans (legal or illegal) that they would not pay them back, or that there was not even an ability to pay them back, perhaps other than those caught in the early part of the cycle. Now, what we see are people who intended to sell within 5 years or so as a natural part of their life cycle (promotion, rising/shrinking family growth, etc.) being caught in loans that they never counted on adjusting, in homes that are inappropriate for them and are dropping in spiraling value due to other neighborhood foreclosures. That Hispanics heavily occupy Pembroke Pines and Miramar, which are seeing high levels of foreclosure, is more an indication of the timing of their purchase, rather than a judgment of their character.

Good post; I agree.

[PBCboy]

For some reason most of the lower end areas of Broward County don't attract Hispanics like in Dade and Palm Beach.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Why not move to NYC, compelled? I live in a beautiful, urban neighborhood, don't need a car, and commute less than 15 minutes door-to-door by subway to Wall Street. Why move to NC for a job in the financial industry when you can move up here for the real thing? Cheap $200,000 cookie-cutter houses aren't everything, you know. If you want to stay in the suburbs, I would recommend staying in Fort Lauderdale because suburban Raleigh, Charlotte, and Atlanta - in my opinion - are pretty monotonous and "vanilla".

I'm not moving anytime soon and I was born there, so I'm plenty familiar with it. I personally would go nuts out here if it wasn't for it's "Latinness" or even "Floridaness" that makes it different. Those areas are just a variation on a theme.

Lots of interesting discussion on here though.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by fauve

Regarding the teenagers you hear at the movie theaters - many of them were born in this country, identify as Americans and so would not fall in this category.

That is the assimilation process that I think will be interesting to watch.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by big mean bear

Neither is there a large percentage of people living in poverty in Pembroke Pines. There are always people who live in the margins of our fabulous lives, and these people (however few) might have a big impact on poverty rates if they are uncounted. So, even though the illegal population of Pembroke Pines is probably negligable, given the small number of people in poverty there, these few uncounted people living in poverty might have a drastic effect on the poverty rate.

There are five areas with any significant presence of illegals in Broward County.

1. Downtown Davie
2. Broadview Park/Chula Vista in SW Ft. Lauderdale
3. Margate
4. Some sections of Pompano Beach.
5. Weston

Your point would probably be right in all but the last. Pembroke Pines seems to be mostly 1st generation Hispanics, and I have acutally met quite a few people from there of "Hispanic" heritage who can't even speak Spanish.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by big mean bear

You can't draw conclusions that are only based on numbers. You have to get out to "see" and "feel" the area as well. Not to throw a monkey wrench in your well thought out idea, but did you consider that the percentage of "Hispanic or Latinos" in both Pembroke Pines and Holly-hood might be severely underrepresented, just like it is across the country? Given that the percentage of Hispanics is probably double what the census will admit -- and most illegals are Hispanic and also live in poverty, also given (per your stats) that there is less than half a percentage point separating Hispanic and white-non Hispanic poverty, WHAT IS YOUR POINT?

I even capitalized the "H" in Hispanic so crispy isn't offended...

Pembroke Pines feels like any typical, busy American suburb and most of the scummy parts of Hollywood actually tend to be overwhelmingly white with a few blacks and Hispanics sprinkled in here and there. The highest Hispanic concentrations seem to be east of US1 or in the better inland sections.

My point is that the poverty rate actually undercuts the percentage of "white people", while in most places the poverty rate for Hispanics is more than double then their non-Hispanic counterparts. That's my only point. I just wanted to see what people would make out of it.

Hollywood is actually nicer then I ever remember it being. A lot of sections that used to be dumpy aren't anymore.