How does the friendliness of Miami residents compare to New Yorkers or people from Chicago? (Miami Beach: real estate, houses)

[qwedsr]

Is it an unfriendly city or a friendly city?
Also, could you get a job in journalism in Miami without being able to speak Spanish?
Do you like Miami's diversity?
Are the majority of Miami's problems not as bad in Boca Raton?

[StreetSmarts]

If you read around in the Miami forum, you'll find out the answers to your questions pretty quickly.

But the answers are...

Unfriendly.
Tough to do but possible. But unlikely.
Miami's diverse?
Boca is far better place to live than Miami.

[somebodymiami]

lol miami is the most unfriendly city ive ever been to.

[Chewie_77]

In Miami, people only care about themselves and no one else. Don't except too many nice people down here, most are very unfriendly.

[Your.Decision]

Originally Posted by USASportsBlogs

Is it an unfriendly city or a friendly city?
Also, could you get a job in journalism in Miami without being able to speak Spanish?
Do you like Miami's diversity?
Are the majority of Miami's problems not as bad in Boca Raton?

Miami is not a friendly city. Its unfriendliness doesn't compare to NY or Chicago though. NY is huge and fast paced and people genuinely don't have time to be friendly (it's a big city). Miami is a different animal. People here aren't necessarily flat out rude, but the lack of manners, respect and consideration for others (especially on the road) van frustrate the crap out of you, along with the fact that people are very fake and stick to their established circles of friends.

Diverse? I do not consider Miami to be as diverse as NY. Miami is predominantly Latin (South and Central America) and Caribbean in terms of prevailing culture. Although Miami Beach is diverse, the rest of Miami-Dade really is not.

Miami is basically great if you are selfish, or simply want to live in a city where you are under no moral obligation to care about others or your community as a whole. Miami seems to attract such people, regardless of race. If you get off on 'laissez-faire' living and driving, Miami may just be for you.

I'll break it down like this: in New York, people are often rude (or let's call it impersonal) because they have to be. In Miami, people are rude because they want to be and they can get away with it. In Miami (as a man), it's all about owning the biggest set of b**s and asserting yourself, or get walked all over.

[doggiebus]

I wonder if the problem has to do more with locals staying here in my vs. other cities like NYC or LA being much more transient in its population. When people grow up and stay in one place, they are usually surrounded by friends and family they have know for years and so have no real desire to go out and make new friends.

It also takes time to make friends in any city one moves too. So people have to give it a couple of years actually. They say two years to make a group of friends is the average length of time. You have to also be proactive in getting involved in groups to meet people if you are not still in school. This goes for any city.

Journalism jobs, yes it is possible to work in that field without knowing spanish still. Many in that field don't just work in Miami, they do stories in Broward and Palm Beach too where you need to know spanish even less. With the way the economy is here, I don't know if the jobs are there, so that should be more of a concern for you than the language issue.

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

I wonder if the problem has to do more with locals staying here in my vs. other cities like NYC or LA being much more transient in its population. When people grow up and stay in one place, they are usually surrounded by friends and family they have know for years and so have no real desire to go out and make new friends.

I dunno, don't think Miami is different than many other places in that respect. Though I'd maybe go as far as to say that Miami suffers a bit more of a brain drain than other places.

[Robyn55]

We didn't have a lot of friends when we lived in Miami (everyone our age was working too hard). But the friends we had were friendly .

Forget print journalism. In Miami - in Florida - anywhere. In the unlikely event that you got a job - you'd probably earn less than someone who cleans houses (my SIL's sister was laid off from the Palm Beach Post a few years ago - and - even then - she was making less than my housekeeper). As for other types of media - if you don't speak Spanish - I'd probably forget about it. OTOH - it isn't too hard to learn Spanish if you have a mind to. I spoke pretty good Spanish when I lived in Miami (8 years in high school and college and some travel). And my husband learned fluent Spanish after about 2 years of private lessons.

I'm not sure what you mean by diverse. The metro area is (I think) majority Hispanic (although there are different flavors of Hispanic) - with a substantial black (both African-American and Haitian) population - and a dwindling number of non-Hispanic non-black people (my husband and I are in the latter category - and we moved to NE Florida 15 years ago). In terms of friends - I think people tend to stick with people who are like them. Everywhere. Except in those decorating magazine ads where there's a group consisting of one of everything gathered around in a fancy kitchen nibbling appetizers that normal people will never make in their own kitchens in their whole lives. "People like them" can cross cultural lines though. If you have a special hobby or activity you like - whether it's growing bonsai or running marathons - you can find friends getting involved in those things.

You didn't mention anything about social stuff. Whether you're male/female - married/single - gay/straight - interested in finding someone who's more than a friend or not - etc. That's an obvious consideration when thinking about moving.

And now - putting on flak jacket - I dislike Boca and most of the area up in northern Broward County and Palm Beach Counties. Too many old people. Too many snow birds. Too many people recently arrived from up north who are a lot more liberal than I am (I've lived in Florida since 1971 and am the kind of person who would put a license plate on my car that said "We Don't Care How You Do It Up North"). Too much bad traffic. There are some good things (don't want to sound totally negative). Excellent shopping. Possibly best waterfront property in the state if you happen to be a boater (and you can get great deals today - my Dad sold his house in Lighthouse Point - 10 minutes from the ocean on a wide canal - for $1.5 million in 2005 - you could buy it now for perhaps $600k - he wasn't a real estate genius - my Mom just happened to die in 2005 - and he sold and moved up here to live near us). You sound young - so I doubt these positives will outweigh the negatives.

My husband and I lived in Miami for 20+ years - and when we decided to leave - we skipped that area and went to NE Florida - which is a better fit for us. If I had to move back to south Florida today - I'd pick Miami. But - if I had to guess - you're probably at least 30 years younger than I am (I'm 62) - and I think priority one is your finding a job somewhere - anywhere you can make a decent living. What kind of background do you have in terms of academics and job history? What can you do? And why are you interested in south Florida as opposed to other parts of the world? Robyn

[JohnLee1]

Originally Posted by USASportsBlogs

Is it an unfriendly city or a friendly city?
Also, could you get a job in journalism in Miami without being able to speak Spanish?
Do you like Miami's diversity?
Are the majority of Miami's problems not as bad in Boca Raton?

***MOD CUT***

Let's break it down.
If you are talking about the City of Miami, in general it's friendly, and even more friendly compared to NYC and most cities. Most of the people I know feel the same way, and I know a lot of people, even tourists know this. If you are talking about the surrounding cities in Dade County, they are nicer than the City Miami. The people here that claim or feel that Miami is unfriendly is because they are suburban people, because everyone know Miami is way nicer and more friendly than most major cities.

You could land any job with knowing any Spanish but you definetly have an advantage like everywhere in the world knowing Spanish. Some jobs though do prefer someone who speaks Spanish like everywhere else, and not just Spanish, it's the you know more than one language.

Miami is, regardless of what people on here say, one of the most diverse cities in America. You can look it up if you don't believe me. People here claim or say that Miami isn't diverse because they don't like Latins, or they don't like the fact that Latins aren't the minority here, they are the majority, but there's plenty and many of everything here. From every race and ethnicty, it's the truth and it's fact.

What problems do you speak of? If you are talking about the City of Miami you can't compare a major city with a suburban suburb. If you want to compare Miami's suburbs in Dade County, well there's Miami Beach which is a unique and one of a kind suburb, it's the best so I won't compare Miami Beach because it isn't fair. But on the rest of Miami's suburbs in Dade County, they are definetly a lot better than Boca Raton. They are more organized, have more options and have everything better. Another great thing and something that you should always think about because it's really important is that they are in the backyard of Miami and Miami Beach. You never have to drive far, you don't even have to drive, you can take the metro-rail or take the bus there, even a cab if you want to get fancy and won't have to spend a fortune.

[PsychDoc]

I like Miami. But the people tend to be unbelievably rude and self-absored. People in NYC are much nicer. Neither Miami nor NYC can compare to Chicago when it comes top niceness of the people.