Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have much to say about my impressions here in case anyone wants to listen.
First, Miami is a small city with big city problems.
Second, Miami has an image problem.
Third, it's ridiculously expense to live here.
Fourth: It's not living friendly.
What's interesting to me, is all the things touted to be strengths turned out to be a facade. The strength of Miami is in it's people.
It's a paradox of a city. It sells itself as face paced jet setter type city but in reality it's laid back and relaxed.
Miami has a tremendous amount of potential not being cultivated. It's like the little engine that almost could.
People in Miami don't know how lucky they are to live in such a place.
Everything you could want is here, you just have to go get it, but it won't be handed to you.
I could see Miami one day being one of the fastest growing cities in the US, but the city has to do something to make that happen.
If I was in charge, the first thing I would do is clean up the streets and especially around the tourist areas. Nothing about our homeless problem is good for mental images of Miami taken back home. I'm surprised the tourist board does not put more pressure on the city to fix this.
Second, I would offer incentives for neighborhood businesses to remodel. We have so many very cool art deco type buildings here, that haven't seen a coat of paint in decades. Loose the seedy image on the outside first.
Tax incentives for corporations, and subsidies for landlords plus restructured loans. We have so many vacant buildings that are over priced per sq foot sitting vacant. Make them an offer they can't refuse which will bring long term jobs and make those landlords take the deal.
I would add City of Art to reasons to move to Miami. Just driving around this city is a work of art. I also never knew how well this city was planned and how clean the streets and air are here.
The housing market here needs a major adjustment. 25% across the board would be a good start to bring people here.
The city is going to have to do something on this fear crime thing. The crime may be minor but the potential for crime seems everywhere. City needs to make a tougher stand on this and make these areas safer to walk.
Publix. Publix needs to clean up it's act. Some of those stores are run down, dirty and seedy and over-priced. There's no competition so they can get away with it. Bring in a chain or expand Winn Dixie.
Roads: We need more east west highways and for Gods sake finish Biscayne around downtown. TODAY. We need all major corridors open and running freely.
US1: Parts are a great drive but has holes where it drops to seedy. That's the nerve center for this city IMO. Clean it up from the 120's to downtown at least. Move the hookers and homeless out and launch an urban revitalization project.
Raise speed limits: There is no reason to drive 30mph on a 4 lane road. This will increase tax revenue from Gas tax and move traffic along at a faster pace. Traffic runs too slow here and it takes forever to get across town.
Add toll booth on 79th. The city needs money and if you're in MB, you can afford the 1.50.
I would try to bring up schools in the area and make them known for high quality education nationwide. This could be done a neighborhood at a time. You could start with someplace simple and nice like Miami Shores.
Insurance: Someone needs to stand up and make these guys accountable. We need each other but the insurance industry here is out of control.
State inspections for cars. Not only is this revenue for the city/state but also increases revenue for those who do the inspections.
Cut back on the seedy in Sobe. Make Sobe slightly more family oriented for tourists. No this is not Disneyland, but no parent wants his children to see strippers with clothes. Tone it down some. Got a nakedness urge? Go to Haulover.
The beaches. We don't need more of them but we do need alternative to Sobe. Model them after Hollywood. Boardwalks, outdoor cafes for the LOCALS. Beaches where you can get a 6.00 burger and no shoes are no shirt are no problem. I think something along these lines might work along the Rickenbacker. Virgina beach is a hell hole and the bragg park needs to sweep it's beaches. People go the Bragg for the Key experince without driving to Key Largo. Make it more Key like and cut back from $8.00 to $5.00 on entrance fee.
Open up the bay. There are not enough streets going to the bay that have public access. It's incredibly beautiful over there but you can't get it to it to see it or enjoy it.
Public parks. Miami does a wonderful job on it public parks. They are very well maintain unlike other cities. I would let everyone know how nice they really are here. Get the homeless out.
And last but not least, it's people. They are warm, friendly, polite and respectful. The people of Miami are it's greatest attribute and I haven't seen a single mention of it in the travel brochures.
Miami people are not outraged at anything. They are just in various phases of being slightly incensed about it all. You can tell this by how they honk. They are not really mad at all, just ticked off a little, then they just go on.
I just see Miami as a glass half full. It has problems and those can be fixed if they model it after other American cities. It may be painful to us in the short term but long term the city will grow once again and all of us will be happier to live here.
I could see Miami one day being one of the fastest growing cities in the US, but the city has to do something to make that happen. Not likely with the Everglades on one side and the Ocean on the other, there isn't the space to grow a lot, like places in other parts of the country which are land locked.
If I was in charge, the first thing I would do is clean up the streets and especially around the tourist areas. Nothing about our homeless problem is good for mental images of Miami taken back home. I'm surprised the tourist board does not put more pressure on the city to fix this. They have done a lot already about this issue, if you were here in the 90s you would of been shocked by the tent cities under the highways in downtown. Till downtown gets a make over, they will not push them out of downtown.
Second, I would offer incentives for neighborhood businesses to remodel. We have so many very cool art deco type buildings here, that haven't seen a coat of paint in decades. Loose the seedy image on the outside first. Like this idea, it needs someone to spire head this though. Like they did in NYC.
I would add City of Art to reasons to move to Miami. Just driving around this city is a work of art. I also never knew how well this city was planned and how clean the streets and air are here. Many would say the city was NOT planned right, in respect to the lack of east west highways. The Ocean breeze does help to keep our air clean.
The city is going to have to do something on this fear crime thing. The crime may be minor but the potential for crime seems everywhere. City needs to make a tougher stand on this and make these areas safer to walk. I don't know how they are going to deal with this, but I agree it does need to be dealt with. Look crime can happen any place, unfortunately we have many people that live here that will take advantage of an opportunity if they see one. I was sitting at a traffic light one day, when I watched these two guy walk down a row of parked cars trying the door handles on both sides of the cars. They didn't care who saw them, but if a door would of opened, I bet they would of stolen something out of it.
Publix. Publix needs to clean up it's act. Some of those stores are run down, dirty and seedy and over-priced. There's no competition so they can get away with it. Bring in a chain or expand Winn Dixie. There is a new chain coming to South Florida called Aldi I believe, so hopefully they will expand past the two stores that are opening by January.
Roads: We need more east west highways and for Gods sake finish Biscayne around downtown. TODAY. We need all major corridors open and running freely. Well since they didn't plan years ago for the growth we have had, they didn't put in the east west highways that we need today. Sadly this will not happen with out some major eminent domain which the county has done for roads like the 826 in the last few years. Some crazy commissioners want to extend the 826 even further west into the Everglades and then down to Homestead. Hopefully this will never happen.
Raise speed limits: There is no reason to drive 30mph on a 4 lane road. This will increase tax revenue from Gas tax and move traffic along at a faster pace. Traffic runs too slow here and it takes forever to get across town. I so agree, sadly though I don't think that will help you get across town any faster.
Add toll booth on 79th. The city needs money and if you're in MB, you can afford the 1.50. The city doesn't need money they need to use the money they have wiser.
Insurance: Someone needs to stand up and make these guys accountable. We need each other but the insurance industry here is out of control. This is a Tallahassee issue, or maybe a national issue.
State inspections for cars. Not only is this revenue for the city/state but also increases revenue for those who do the inspections. We had this back in the 90s but they did away with it not sure why. Maybe someone knows why they did away with it? As much as I hated it, I think it was good.
Cut back on the seedy in Sobe. Make Sobe slightly more family oriented for tourists. No this is not Disneyland, but no parent wants his children to see strippers with clothes. Tone it down some. Got a nakedness urge? Go to Haulover. I don't think the idea should be tone down SOBE maybe make another part of Miami more family friendly, maybe up near the FB
I agree with a lot said. Well thought out. But I disagree with the car inspection. What a pain in the neck that was. Air pollution is not a problem here and old cars are few and far between. People here keep their cars for only a few years and "update" them continuously.
Interesting observations, thanks for taking the time to write. It's interesting to see small changes in how you view things compared to your earlier post about 2 weeks ago. Look forward to more.
While I am in general agreement with many of your points, there are two I can't agree with:
(1) car inspections: since when is increasing city revenue with make-work projects a desirable thing?
(2) Make south beach family oriented: This would have the effect of cutting tourism to Maimi in half. Agree however that there is a general need to improve the roads/parks there and crack down on crime and rowdiness.
Publix. Publix needs to clean up it's act. Some of those stores are run down, dirty and seedy and over-priced. There's no competition so they can get away with it. Bring in a chain or expand Winn Dixie.
Don't worry, many Winn Dixies are the same. It really depends on the neighborhood more than anything else.
Add toll booth on 79th. The city needs money and if you're in MB, you can afford the 1.50.
I do not see why anyone should give this city more money, plus, 1.50 adds up quick for the daily commute.
State inspections for cars. Not only is this revenue for the city/state but also increases revenue for those who do the inspections.
Good grief, why in the heck would I want to pay the gov to inspect my car? Again, the gov does not need more money, it just goes into a hole. If there is no real reason for it besides money, it should not be done. The gov is not a profit making entity.
Cut back on the seedy in Sobe. Make Sobe slightly more family oriented for tourists. No this is not Disneyland, but no parent wants his children to see strippers with clothes. Tone it down some. Got a nakedness urge? Go to Haulover.
Jeez, I am so sick of everything turning into some family oriented affair. There are places up and down the coasts of Florida for families, leave Miami beach alone. If someone has a problem with Miami beach, perhaps they should go to the other hundred places available to them.
The beaches. We don't need more of them but we do need alternative to Sobe. Model them after Hollywood. Boardwalks, outdoor cafes for the LOCALS. Beaches where you can get a 6.00 burger and no shoes are no shirt are no problem. I think something along these lines might work along the Rickenbacker. Virgina beach is a hell hole and the bragg park needs to sweep it's beaches. People go the Bragg for the Key experince without driving to Key Largo. Make it more Key like and cut back from $8.00 to $5.00 on entrance fee.
This is something I could agree about all day long. I do not understand why Miami restricts itself so much on this.
Miami has been overwhelmed by third world types who brought the same personality aspects that made it the third world to Miami. I am not knocking immigrants or turning this into a political rant, but I really do not understand many people who left a place, then turn around and act the same way, thus creating similar conditions to the one they were fleeing from.
We have State inspections in Texas. What a pain that was but it did sell tires, light bulbs, tuneups, mufflers and kept Limo tint off front windows making driving in the city appear safer.
I hate them too but it did generate revenue which trickled down from manufacturing and through the supply chain and eventually back into the local economy. It also sold more cars when the old clunkers wouldn't pass which generated sales tax for the state, plus it grew business in the auto recycling industry and even the scrap metal business as well.
Personally, I think I should do more to be greener and protect the environment and if it's 40.00 a year to get my car inspected to make sure I'm doing my small part, I'm willing to pay it and particularly if it improves my quality of life.
If for example the state would take the money from state inspections and allocate it to paying for overtime and night crews to fix our roads, that would make getting to work easier for all of us, plus create jobs which would allow them to buy my goods and services.
Or if they took that money and applied it to a job training program for the homeless that would be worth my $40.00 as well. The homeless here don't need a handout, they need a reason to feel good about themselves and a job would certainly help.
Some of your points are good but I think it would work more in a state like Texas where I saw more old cars. I almost never see a car blowing out smoke from its tailpipe here. The "green thing" is not an issue here. When we had inspection here it seemed like a money-making scheme. Just a way of making money and some of the inspectors were also found to be dishonest (like the skycabs at the airport). I sure didn't see any benefit to it. Just wasted my time and wound up spending money without seeing any benefit to it for me. It could be that lately I am just tired of paying for things that I never paid for before like Sunpass, extended hours for parking at meters, new toll booths. I am paying too many extras for just driving around and still things haven't gotten better regarding traffic etc.
Agreed Loggerhead, they nickel and dime you to death here. We rented a car for our first visit, they charged us a Tire tax and a bunch of other nonsense kinds of things. The car was 119.00 but after they got through with me in was 50% more in "Misc".
I think Miami is in a bit of a quandary. They sell "excess" like Las Vegas and are not known for cracking down on small time crime. The relaxed nature of the lifestyle transcends into the the police department is my take on it. All those skycaps would not have been caught if if was just a few of them.
It's almost like there should be two rules for Miami, one for the tourists and one for the locals. The tourist can cross the line but the locals better walk it in order to make the city more livable. It's an interesting problem how you balance both. Petty crime here seems to slide more than other places.
In Texas the penalties were steep for those who issued Inspection stickers to cars that didn't qualify I think is was 10,000.00 or 5 years in Prison or something. Those inspectors walk the line for the most part, that much I do know.
I agree, I want to see tangible changes for my money but I'm guessing because of the attitude here the money either goes towards the grandiose like Marlin stadium or get's mysteriously lost in re-allocation or earmarks like most cities. We won't solve that problem here on city-data but I do think it goes back to making the politicians accountable.
Yeah traffic here blows. I went to Doral yesterday and it was 3 hours getting back home. I was considering getting a room. My take on the traffic is that there are not too many cars, it's that they cars move too slow here. Raise the speed limits so we can get on down the road.
My son commented last night that he didn't feel like there were many fatal traffic accidents here because people don't drive fast enough to kill themselves. Personally, I find the best part of Miami traffic are the local TV traffic reporters. At least the weather is nice while you're sitting.
I disagree with your speed limit comments. Anyone that wants to drive over 30-40 miles per hour needs to get on the Turpike or the Palmetto. Speed limits should never be that high in a place where there are pedestrians.
The traffic problems we have have nothing to do with speed limits. We just don't have enough expressways.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At least the weather is nice while you're sitting.
