Cost of living is not everything..."Silent Potential" brewing in Miami (Coral Gables: upper-class, real estate market)

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

roger who is forcing you to speak Spanish? don't be so xenephobic! anyways unto the issue the problem is that Miami/metro has lost many big corporations beginning in the early 80s. Anyone remember Eastern Airlines which was the biggest employer with over 10,000 employees? or National Airlines or our banks like Southeast,Centrust etc.?Those corporations brought a lot of wealth to Miami when they were in existance and who knows what Miami would have been like if all of those companies had survived to this day. Instead the biggest employer is now Dade County government.

Even IBM had a presence here, but most fled in the 80's for less expensive areas with a better business climate. Other companies were racked by mismanagement and failed. Funny you also realize that over 1/2 of the employees here work government jobs. No wonder the taxes are so high and we have lost our freedoms. Nothing good ever comes from Dade county government. In fact, every problem I have had can be traced back to them as its source.

[MiamiVice1985]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

Why would rich Americans want to move to Miami where they will be told it is their obligation to learn Spanish and where they will still be treated like a second class citizen. As Compelled to Reply said, they can always move to Palm Beach if they want the positive things of South Florida. Miami is a festering sewer that just happens to be lucky enough to have a nice climate that lures tourists in. The irony will come if (when) communism falls in Cuba and European developers turn Cuba (back) into a tourist mecca. Miami will be left by the wayside in favor of a place that is cheaper and , most likely, has better service.

Ha! Good point -rich Americans move to Palm Beach, etc. to enjoy the good aspects of South Florida without the bad ones. However rich Americans who have lived here here usually live in the few pockets of Anglo American wealth that still exist in Miami today. However "American" these neighborhoods may seem, their residents still have to venture out to places like gas stations and grocery stores where the there is little English spoken, even in the nicer areas.

What I was trying to propose was a "campaign" of sorts in which the government of Dade, or maybe even the City of Miami would actively seek domestic business, mainly from northern states. Similar to what Detroit has been doing for twenty years, the City of Miami or even Dade county could offer tax incentives and preferential treatment to companies willing to relocate here. Get a few fortune 500 companies to set up shop here in Miami and you would have a whole new class of educated, english speaking people in our town. This scenario would probably help even out the statistics/ratios in Miami and provide a big boost to the economy.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by MiamiVice1985

What I was trying to propose was a "campaign" of sorts in which the government of Dade, or maybe even the City of Miami would actively seek domestic business, mainly from northern states. Similar to what Detroit has been doing for twenty years, the City of Miami or even Dade county could offer tax incentives and preferential treatment to companies willing to relocate here. Get a few fortune 500 companies to set up shop here in Miami and you would have a whole new class of educated, english speaking people in our town. This scenario would probably help even out the statistics/ratios in Miami and provide a big boost to the economy.

You logical fool What makes you think Dade county government even wants such a thing as successful business here? They are happy taxing the existing population to such a level where noone has the energy or organization to oppose them. Businesses are much more likely to oppose policies and then politicians that they don't like at some point. That would endanger the current corrupt system. Why risk it when they can jsut tax the tourists and what's left of the middle class? Miami Dade government is not interested in seeing the area prosper. They are interested in just good enough to get by and doing nothing to endanger their positions.

[compelled to reply]

Well Mr. Bacon, it seems that the only thing we agree on is Miami-Dade politics.

[copacetic]

North Americans are still moving to Miami--I am a living example. I am North American and I chose Miami-Dade. I am an early retiree who moved to Dade last year from NYC. I chose Dade over Broward and Palm Beach because it has more character, and is more exciting and dynamic (I am 35, single male). Broward and Palm Beach, and FL's west coast are too homogenous and suburban and boring for me--they lack character. And frankly I don't think they are as pretty as Miami Beach. I did look around up there before buying condo in South Beach.

I've been here 7 months now. I don't feel like I am forced to speak Spanish, and I don't feel like I'm a second class citizen. I like the fact that many foreigners live here. It's something that I got used to a long time ago when I moved to NYC.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by copacetic

North Americans are still moving to Miami--I am a living example. I am North American and I chose Miami-Dade. I am an early retiree who moved to Dade last year from NYC. I chose Dade over Broward and Palm Beach because it has more character, and is more exciting and dynamic (I am 35, single male).

You are retired at 35. Yeah, you're representative of the typical North American. Look, all of the stuff we complain about here on this forum doesn't really apply to the uber-rick. You can always buy your way out of the problems the rest of us have to face. Don't like the traffic? Get a chauffer. Don't like dealing with non-English speaking people at the stores? Get a personal shopper. For most of us who are over 35 and still working (gasp) those aren't options. I'm glad you like it here but really, I think I would like it anywhere if I was able to retire at 35.

[MiamiVice1985]

ha true dat

[copacetic]

rogerbacon, but that's what the discussion above was about--rich north americans vs rich south americans, which ones are moving here? i was simply pointing out that rich north americans are still moving here. i don't consider myself rich but whatever. i live a middle class life. trust me it is much harder for the non-rich to cope in nyc than here. the cost of living here is half that of anywhere in the northeast. that's why i moved down here. having no state income tax is a huge benefit, that was my main reasoning. that remains, and will continue to remain, one of the main reasons retirees will continue to race down here.

[miamiblue]

MiamiVice, your intentions are good, but I think you're just slightly off on your hypothesis. But a good topic of discussion nonetheless. Yes, Miami-Dade needs to attract better businesses (and as others have said, that means an overthrow of local government, etc.) to help attract better paying jobs for a better workforce.

What Miami-Dade needs is LESS rich anyone - money is money, regardless of where you are from it pretty much spends the same. How is it different for a rich North American to spend $1.5 mil on a condo than a rich Venezuelan, Italian, German, etc.? The rich are already in Miami, and have been coming for the past 25 years, and see what we have? Miami-Dade is no longer a place that is possible for average joes to live even reasonably comfortably without a financial crunch. Therefore, you aren't going to be able to keep the quality teachers, policeman, service workers, etc. because why live somewhere where you are constantly competing against and stuggling with the rich? The ones who can get a job elsewhere will do so, leaving Miami-Dade with the ones who - for whatever reason - don't have the qualifications, experience, etc. to pick up and go someplace where they will be paid more equitably compared to the cost of living.

Miami-Dade needs a reality check - which I think it is getting. A community can never be only for the elite, because those that serve the elite will eventually not even be afford to live close enough to serve them. A healthy community is a diverse community, and not just culturally, but socioeconomically as well.

[copacetic]

Yes, there is an income gap problem here, and that usually leads to social problems and the system breaks and has to rebalance. However, I think the income gap in Miami will be particularly persistent though because of immigrants flooding the scene. The income gap is large in Miami but it is way smaller than anywhere in Latin America, where most of the immigrants come from. They prefer Miami.

Also, to reply to an earlier point, I don't think you have to be "uber-rich" to avoid the annoyances of Miami. I think with $5K per month expenditure (including everything--mortgage, property tax, insurance, car, food, etc) you can live very comfortably here without any exposure to the nasty problems. That's around what I spend. Is $5k per month really uber-rich? I call that middle class.