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This is very sad.
So I think it has been going even worse since I left Miami. I remember that Labor Day holiday week is the worst time to be in South Beach.
Another problem contributing to the whole situation is that there is not too many white-collar jobs available, not only in Miami Beach area but also in Miami-FLL metro area in general.
I had to move out off Miami because there is no engineering jobs down there. I at least know 25 engineers in Philadelphia - NYC areas that are from FIU and UM. They are native Miamians that could not find any jobs down there.
There are a lot of Fortune 500 companies who maintain their Latin America offices in Miami or Broward County.
The problem?
Besides usually requiring people who are bilingual, their wages are low by American standards.
Which feeds into the problem. The type of Millennials who flock to Miami come to 'party' or enjoy beach life not to be productive members of society. There is a small exception for people who go to do their residency, are lawyers, or work in some financial areas.
Miami is a desirable enough place to live between our weather, natural and urban amenities, it's a unique location in the USA. However, most people are not willing to move to Miami if it means taking a drastic paycut.
And as you point, there is a brain-drain out of Miami. Those who get an education, move out. Usually to the NorthEast, Atlanta, or the WC where they will be paid more inline with their talents. Miami replenishes this loss from international immigration (many of which who end up working in the hospitality industry).
When I meet people from the Midwest or Northeast who resettled in Miami, you can pretty much divide them into two categories depending on age. Those over 40 tend to be successful, who are looking for a second/investment property and those under 30 tend to be here just to party and support themselves through the hospitality industry or for women, sometimes even worse professions.
I agree with the desired goal, just not the means.
I think the means is to attract more young professionals to Miami Beach. Currently Miami Beach is a very polarized place, with the ultra-wealthy and people in the hospitality industry living side by side. There are few young professionals living here, mostly because on the Beach there are few white-collar jobs available and traffic onto and off the Beach is a nightmare. Most young-professionals choose to live in Brickell, and increasingly Downtown over Miami Beach.
I firmly believe Miami Beach is more desirable than Brickell and especially Downtown. We're more walkable, more iconic, more restaurants, more lounges, more clubs, more spas, more things to do, not to mention the Beach.
But traffic is a killer, and parking is expensive on the Beach.
The solution is to create more white-collar jobs on the Beach. The easiest path to this is building hospitals. They're building one on Alton and 6-7th if memory is serving me.
But the other path to this is building better PT to the Beach. Have the Metrorail come to Miami Beach. That way young professionals in Brickell may start to consider Miami Beach, even if their jobs are there, it's no longer a PTA to live on the Beach.
However, this is being opposed by the residents of Miami Beach. Very vociferously. They're afraid the "wrong kind of people" will come to Miami Beach more often, and they don't want them on the Beach. I never rode the PT in Miami but apparently it's free....
I think this is the case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Yes, a bit more from the 'wrong crowd' will come to South Beach more frequently, but even more young professionals will move here, driving demand from the clubs and lounges to play other forms of music.
I don't think the problem is the late call. Brickell has the same late call, it feels safer and classier. It's the music and crowd combo, and while we cannot change what tourists demand, we can increase local demand by building a young professional base that lives on the Beach.
I agree that attracting professional residents is the key to getting Miami Beach out of the "overpriced tourist ghetto" territory we're unfortunately slipping in to. It is so, SO plainly obvious that we need to get the Metrorail or Baylink over to Miami Beach so our city can mature. Unless you can afford the ocean front or South Pointe, traffic and parking makes it not worth living here in Miami Beach for many professionals, and we have to face it--traffic and parking will never be easy in Miami Beach. It's really not the tourists--they mostly stick to Ocean Drive and Collins anyway--easily avoided! It's over-development and over-reliance on automobiles--not at all unique to Miami Beach.
The current Mayor, Levine, tried to fast track the establishment of a rapid transit system on the Beach, but the Commission now has their collective heads in the Lummus Park sand, claiming that the traffic and parking situation is still "manageable" if we take a "balanced" approach (meaning open the floodgates and raise the roads for cars and Uber, put more trolleys stuck in traffic, and have the train stop at 5th and Alton if it gets built at all..."maybe" in 10-20 years when we won't be in office).
Believe me, it's NOT residents--we actually VOTED twice in favor of this! A vocal minority, special interests, who have the Commission's ear. Goes to show that showing up to City meetings really does make a difference! However, most of us are either working or doing family stuff or still on the bus during meetings. And/or, to be brutally honest, discouraged by the lack of progress and not planning to stay here long term anyway. Among the two current Mayoral candidates, one of them is an aforementioned Commissioner, and the other doesn't seem to have much opinion or interest in mass transit beyond the generic "traffic is bad, we really should fix it." So in many ways, things aren't looking up for the Beach right now.
There is a lot of coded language in this thread regarding certain visitors to miami beach causing it to be less desirable to young professionals. The black tourist that miami beach come to the beach to party and vacation very much similar to their white counterparts. Both crowds seem to enjoy hip hop music. They stay at hotels, party and go home. They are usually found on ocean ave and collins. At night they are in the clubs, bars or hotels. They dont interrupt residential life unless you venture into those areas. I can only guess certain people just dont like seeing Blacks in their city (still odd in 2017).
As far as attracting young professionals another poster cited the lack of white collar jobs and low wages. Thats the answer in a nutshell. As a young professional miami beach is severely lacking in those areas. Moving from NYC in the last year i struggled to find a well paying job in my field (software engineering) on the beach. The ones i did wanted to pay me a salary of HALF of what i was making back home in NY. I ended up taking a paycut not severely as what i previously stated but its still a cut. I reasoned the trade off of living 5 mins away from the beach in a beautiful area with perfect weather was worth it. Miami Beach needs to attract white collar businesses offering competitive wages.
Also as a young professional i can tell you we like diversity which Miami Beach lacks residentially. Sure there are diverse tourist but residents trend as older whites and white cubans. Requiring job applicants to be bilingual is a killer to growth and diversity. Miami Beach lacks an urban professional culture. For example after work my colleagues and i could walk into a bar for happy hour or after work specials ,mix mingle and network with other professionals. There is no place to do that on the beach or at least i have not found one. Everything here is geared toward tourist and overpriced. The nightlife is similar coming from nyc i thought the nightlife would be similar. Its not its overpriced and geared toward tourist.
Ive been on the beach a couple of months now. Love how laid back it is but dont know if its the place for me yet.
No, Miami Beach is not like Miami VICE. Mostly because it's not 1987 anymore.
The city has grown considerably and gets massive amounts of tourism every year, also Miami proper has grown a lot in 30 years.
That's why I said I know I'm 30 years too late, I just wanted to know if it still had a sliver of that feel left. Like how LA still kinda feels like all the LA movies.
That's why I said I know I'm 30 years too late, I just wanted to know if it still had a sliver of that feel left. Like how LA still kinda feels like all the LA movies.
Well I can tell you Miami Beach now is nothing like it was portrayed in movies and shows from the 80's. If you watch Scarface or Miami Vice, you see that Miami Beach was quite small, almost quaint. Not so much anymore. It's a bustling city full of people now.
Nope. It's as fascist as ever now and only getting worse. The best thing to do is just go enjoy the beach without patronizing the local scene, then be out. The atmosphere is not very welcoming to all, so you might get a bad vibe.
There is a lot of coded language in this thread regarding certain visitors to miami beach causing it to be less desirable to young professionals. The black tourist that miami beach come to the beach to party and vacation very much similar to their white counterparts. Both crowds seem to enjoy hip hop music. They stay at hotels, party and go home. They are usually found on ocean ave and collins. At night they are in the clubs, bars or hotels. They dont interrupt residential life unless you venture into those areas. I can only guess certain people just dont like seeing Blacks in their city (still odd in 2017).
As far as attracting young professionals another poster cited the lack of white collar jobs and low wages. Thats the answer in a nutshell. As a young professional miami beach is severely lacking in those areas. Moving from NYC in the last year i struggled to find a well paying job in my field (software engineering) on the beach. The ones i did wanted to pay me a salary of HALF of what i was making back home in NY. I ended up taking a paycut not severely as what i previously stated but its still a cut. I reasoned the trade off of living 5 mins away from the beach in a beautiful area with perfect weather was worth it. Miami Beach needs to attract white collar businesses offering competitive wages.
Also as a young professional i can tell you we like diversity which Miami Beach lacks residentially. Sure there are diverse tourist but residents trend as older whites and white cubans. Requiring job applicants to be bilingual is a killer to growth and diversity. Miami Beach lacks an urban professional culture. For example after work my colleagues and i could walk into a bar for happy hour or after work specials ,mix mingle and network with other professionals. There is no place to do that on the beach or at least i have not found one. Everything here is geared toward tourist and overpriced. The nightlife is similar coming from nyc i thought the nightlife would be similar. Its not its overpriced and geared toward tourist.
Ive been on the beach a couple of months now. Love how laid back it is but dont know if its the place for me yet.
I've lived in South Beach going on 3 years and don't notice too many older whites and white Cubans, but it's probably a block-by-block thing. Although they say I'm in the North of Fifth "ghetto" of South Beach, so perhaps that accounts for the more diversity I notice.
Gotta agree with you about the lack of "mix and mingle urban professional" oriented bars and hangouts, though they didn't really arrive in Brickell until after the millennials started moving there in droves (lots of medical and law interns at first). I mean, back in the day that place was dead on weekday evenings, hard to believe the difference a decade makes! Maybe in a decade, but not in the direction we're currently headed in MB. In the end we're nothing like say Seattle where the hip neighborhoods literally can't even hold all the new people moving in to fill all the jobs--there are just plenty of better alternatives (Brickell, Midtown, Coconut Grove, ect) than what MB currently has to offer. In the end it all comes down to money--what people make and what they get out of what they spend, and even our miles of sand and surf won't make up for it.
No, Miami Beach is not like Miami VICE. Mostly because it's not 1987 anymore.
Too funny. Great post!
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