A tour of the "no speakie English" ghetto (Miami: city hall, houses)

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Isn't Kendall ghetto and third-world looking?

I think the complaint most people have when they say West Kendall is ghetto, isn't the homes/apartments, its the mentality of the people is ghetto in some way.

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

You put street views of mostly solidly middle class/estabished areas of Miami. 80% of Hispanic people do not live in those areas. The larger the trees, or the more the trees, the nicer the area in Miami, and the more acculturated/assimilated the area is (rule of thumb). Post 1960's Hispanics have a habit of eradicating vegitation in Miami. Hence, Hialeah, Sweetwater, Westchester, Flagler, and West Miami, as well as Doral. That review of Doral by Forbes was lucicrous.

We could both get into a picture race on here, but I trust that you know what I'm talking about. The "newer the area", you will hear less English spoken and see fewer trees (as well as more cars parked in the front lawn).

"Cuba Libre" have you ever been anywhere in Latin America , well I have many times and Hispanics do like trees and green landscaping as much as any other ethnic group .. your ignorant generalizations are incorrect and it was not post 1960's Hispanics that eradicate "vegetation " ( learn how to spell ) .. it is recently arrived post 1980 Cuban immigrants .. I have many Cuban friends that live in Coral Gables and Pine Crest who have beautiful landscaped gardens and yards and they are all "first wave" 1960-1970 professional educated Cuban Americans .. and in fact they are the ones that tell me the more recently arrived Cubans are the ones that are big on the burglar bars and the paved over look as it was apparently a status symbol in Communist Cuba ... by the way we have many non-Cuban Hispanic friends in Weston and Parkland up in Broward and all have beautiful landscaping and also comment on the nasty burglar bars and paved over yard look in Miami Dade !!

Is "lucicrous " a new word .... you sound like Mike Tyson ?

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

I think the complaint most people have when they say West Kendall is ghetto, isn't the homes/apartments, its the mentality of the people is ghetto in some way.

I agree 100% ... most of Kendal is actually pretty nice .. it is the amount of "ghetto culture " especially within young Hispanic males that I do not like .

[EnjoyTheSilence]

Originally Posted by Rock Newman

I agree 100% ... most of Kendal is actually pretty nice .. it is the amount of "ghetto culture " especially within young Hispanic males that I do not like .

Actually, Doggiebus hit the nail hard on the head with that post. "Ghetto" isn't just about the outward appearance of any particilar place -- it's the people who live there. Many parts of Miami are ghetto, rich, poor and middle class. As for Kendall, I have found many people to be ghetto there, even in more upscale apartment/condo buildings and what you'd think would be normal, middle class suburban neighborhoods. To me, describing someone as ghetto is more about lack of class, lack of respect, loudness, an affinity for the street/thug culture, coupled with ignorance....Kendall has plenty of these people.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by crisp444

About the walls and bars, that is a Mediterranean thing, and it became popular in the New World with Spaniards/Portuguese/Italian/French immigration. Barred windows aren't necessarily an indicator of a bad neighborhood in areas populated with people of Latin heritage. In fact, I can tell you that even in the poshest neighborhoods of Madrid and Rome, elegant apartment buildings and mansions have barred windows at the street level. Many people spend thousands of dollars on decorative bars, and the you see them sometimes in even Coral Gables as you have said. I personally HATE the standard burglar bars you see in working class areas of Hialeah and don't like to see them in nice neighborhoods. If you live in a nice neighborhood and want decorative ironwork, at least make sure it looks good!

Yeah, I remember visiting my grandparents house in a small village in Portugal when I was 11. No window bars, but there was a tall stone/cement wall around the property (with broken glass on the top, lol). Just about every house had a wall of some kind.

When I went to Peru recently, Lima, the nicer homes in the Miraflores district went as far as to have electrified fences!

[Leovigildo]

it's the people who live there. Many parts of Miami are ghetto, rich, poor and middle class.

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Bcreass

You hit the nail, but I'd like to expand your concept.
A ghetto is a place inhabited by people that share very specific features, notwithstanding money, class or education.
For example, if you have a gated community inhabited mostly by Jewish doctors that hate dogs and don't smoke, that's a ghetto too.
If you have a neighborhood inhabited by English speaking I.T professionals that hate kids and cigar smoke and that only buy Whole Foods and that jog everyday, and that don't want to hear any Spanish around or have Junk Food joints around, that's a ghetto.
I think that the US is mostly a "ghetto", since they have money, space and resources to create communities that cater to the specific tastes of their inhabitants.
For example, here in Barcelona we don't have many ghettos because the only distinction we make in Real Estate is price, and we don't have space.
There were guettos during the Middle Ages because society was far more restrictive and certain grups were forced to live in certain areas.
We have heterogeneous ghettos of very rich people, middle class or poor people, but that's about it.

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by BCreass

Actually, Doggiebus hit the nail hard on the head with that post. "Ghetto" isn't just about the outward appearance of any particilar place -- it's the people who live there. Many parts of Miami are ghetto, rich, poor and middle class. As for Kendall, I have found many people to be ghetto there, even in more upscale apartment/condo buildings and what you'd think would be normal, middle class suburban neighborhoods. To me, describing someone as ghetto is more about lack of class, lack of respect, loudness, an affinity for the street/thug culture, coupled with ignorance....Kendall has plenty of these people.

You're correct that there is a "ghetto" mentality, but this is not particular to Miami. There are plenty of trashy, ghetto, obnoxious people in middle class suburbs in Southern California, Atlanta, North Carolina, metro NYC, etc. In my experience, these people make up only a small minority of Kendall's residents.

[EnjoyTheSilence]

Originally Posted by Leovigildo

it's the people who live there. Many parts of Miami are ghetto, rich, poor and middle class.

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Bcreass

You hit the nail, but I'd like to expand your concept.
A ghetto is a place inhabited by people that share very specific features, notwithstanding money, class or education.
For example, if you have a gated community inhabited mostly by Jewish doctors that hate dogs and don't smoke, that's a ghetto too.
If you have a neighborhood inhabited by English speaking I.T professionals that hate kids and cigar smoke and that only buy Whole Foods and that jog everyday, and that don't want to hear any Spanish around or have Junk Food joints around, that's a ghetto.
I think that the US is mostly a "ghetto", since they have money, space and resources to create communities that cater to the specific tastes of their inhabitants.
For example, here in Barcelona we don't have many ghettos because the only distinction we make in Real Estate is price, and we don't have space.
We have heterogeneous ghettos of very rich people, or poor people, but that's about it.

When people in the US refer to the word "ghetto" though, they are usually referring to a certain kind of culture, namely street/urban culture, not necessarily an actual place. I know the term originally refers to the Jewish people in WW2, who were required to live in a certain section of a city.

I've heard both people (collectively and individually) and places referred to as "ghetto" here.

[crisp444]

Leo, "ghetto" is often used as an adjective in the US to mean cutre, chungo, cafre, etc.

[tallrick]

The lowest class people, Cubans or otherwise eradicate all trees other than sickly palms. It boggles my mind as they expose their yard and then build illegal additions, house tenants in sheds, etc. My parents house has two of these homes filled with dirtbags who complain about trees and called Team Metro. Yet they had illegal multi-family units, chickens, substandard illegal additions, business at home (one had a hair salon). I had to really push Team Metro to do anything but in the end they cleaned up the violations for a while. Now the illegal stuff is back and I am waiting to see if those idiots stir up trouble again.

Go to a more affluent area and see how many trees are there. A friend who is a realtor judges an area by how green the grass is and how much tree cover there is.