Miami (the truth) (Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach: transplants, condos, homes)

[Hope.Street]

It seems that many of you who have never been to Miami, or have only been here as tourists wonder what life is like in the real Miami. Well, I can tell you that for the most part, it's a big old steamy pile of the good ol' brown stuff.

Unless you like bars, clubs or going to the beach, there's very little to do here. It's not like you can escape Miami and find nice scenery nearby, because The Everglades is just a huge swamp. Besides, if you drive north, it seems like forever before you're finally out of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach sprawl.

Traffic here isn't the problem: it's the drivers. People here drive like maniacs, with no regard for anyone else. Not only is it frustrating, but it's unsafe. The police don't do a darn thing about it either.

While Miami may not look gritty in any way, it is an ugly city, consisting of strip malls, cookie cutter homes, endless parking lots and neighborhoods that are soulless and lack any kind of community spirit. There are few parks, few places to cycle or walk your dog. Miami is one of the most car centric cities in the United States.

My biggest gripe with Miami would have to be with the people themselves. Where are the normal people who don't have hidden agendas? In general, people in Miami are extremely pretentious, rude, self-serving, overly narcissistic and superficial. If you're not like them, you'll find it very hard to make friends. Also, give people in Miami an inch and they'll take a yard, or even a mile....taking advantage seems to come naturally to people here and they do it without shame. There's also the prevailing lack of respect that I have always felt here, from day one. It seems that manners, courtesy and consideration are so alien to the average Miamian.

So I would say to anyone thinking of moving here: spend some serious time here first, to figure out if you can take the (very) rough with the (not so) smooth. Miami is really not for anyone...in fact, it's probably not for most people.

Miami is a place where people PARTY. That's why Miami attracts some of the loudest, most obnoxious, uncaring people on earth. Not everyone wants to party all the time though....Miami is really not for grown ups, so leave it for the 20/30 something Moderator cut: trolling.

In Miami, it's not what you know that counts, it's who you know (or who you f***ed). I guess that's why Miami is so inefficient, because merit and hard work often count for nothing here, meaning that the crap of the crop tend to rise to the top.

Miami gave the keys to the city to a guy arrested for DUI (twice). Decades worth of tax dollars are being used to fund a stadium for the Florida Marlins and the Mayor figured that building a bunch of condos Downtown would help regenerate the area and that people would just move in, despite the fact that Downtown Miami is still a dump, devoid of amenities.

'nuff said...feel free to discuss.

[Diannea16]

Originally Posted by hope.street

it seems that many of you who have never been to miami, or have only been here as tourists wonder what life is like in the real miami. Well, i can tell you that for the most part, it's a big old steamy pile of the good ol' brown stuff.

Unless you like bars, clubs or going to the beach, there's very little to do here. It's not like you can escape miami and find nice scenery nearby, because the everglades is just a huge swamp. Besides, if you drive north, it seems like forever before you're finally out of the miami-fort lauderdale-west palm beach sprawl.

Traffic here isn't the problem: It's the drivers. People here drive like maniacs, with no regard for anyone else. Not only is it frustrating, but it's unsafe. The police don't do a darn thing about it either.

While miami may not look gritty in any way, it is an ugly city, consisting of strip malls, cookie cutter homes, endless parking lots and neighborhoods that are soulless and lack any kind of community spirit. There are few parks, few places to cycle or walk your dog. Miami is one of the most car centric cities in the united states.

My biggest gripe with miami would have to be with the people themselves. Where are the normal people who don't have hidden agendas? In general, people in miami are extremely pretentious, rude, self-serving, overly narcissistic and superficial. If you're not like them, you'll find it very hard to make friends. Also, give people in miami an inch and they'll take a yard, or even a mile....taking advantage seems to come naturally to people here and they do it without shame. There's also the prevailing lack of respect that i have always felt here, from day one. It seems that manners, courtesy and consideration are so alien to the average miamian.

So i would say to anyone thinking of moving here: Spend some serious time here first, to figure out if you can take the (very) rough with the (not so) smooth. Miami is really not for anyone...in fact, it's probably not for most people.

Miami is a place where people party. That's why miami attracts some of the loudest, most obnoxious, uncaring people on earth. Not everyone wants to party all the time though....miami is really not for grown ups, so leave it for the 20/30 something children who are incapable of growing up and who still think they're frat boys / frat girls, while the rest of us are busy being adults.

In miami, it's not what you know that counts, it's who you know (or who you f**ked). I guess that's why miami is so inefficient, because merit and hard work often count for nothing here, meaning that the crap of the crop tend to rise to the top.

Miami gave the keys to the city to a guy arrested for dui (twice). Decades worth of tax dollars are being used to fund a stadium for the florida marlins and the mayor figured that building a bunch of condos downtown would help regenerate the area and that people would just move in, despite the fact that downtown miami is still a dump, devoid of amenities.

'nuff said...feel free to discuss.

so true !!!

[flyers29]

No nice scenery? Unless you're looking for mountains I don't know what's missing, unless you're surprised that there are no mountains in Miami.

[kek1993]

I like living here. I like the transportation system. I don't party, but seems okay here to me, I guess you find what you want.

Yes, the drivers here are scary, even worse than Vegas.

[AmericanGypsy]

Traffic here isn't the problem: it's the drivers. People here drive like maniacs, with no regard for anyone else. Not only is it frustrating, but it's unsafe. The police don't do a darn thing about it either.

It's not a big secret that Florida has the worst drivers. You deal with it after a while. It's not unlike many large cities, the amount of people who think a missing a turn should constitute an emergency on the string of cars behind them is just silly. People here do need to learn that it is possible to go to the next exit and not disturb the flow of traffic. Will it happen? I Highly doubt it. Of corse I also highly doubt the OP has driven in Cities such as Chicago, Dallas, or NY. When I was a kid my parents used to joke about California drivers. They said that the sun fried their brains, who knows why people act stupid on the roads. Personally I think it may have to do with the amount of transplants from all over creation. I do wish that there could be something to fix or help the dumb driving issue.

My biggest gripe with miami would have to be with the people themselves. Where are the normal people who don't have hidden agendas? In general, people in miami are extremely pretentious, rude, self-serving, overly narcissistic and superficial. If you're not like them, you'll find it very hard to make friends. Also, give people in miami an inch and they'll take a yard, or even a mile....taking advantage seems to come naturally to people here and they do it without shame. There's also the prevailing lack of respect that i have always felt here, from day one. It seems that manners, courtesy and consideration are so alien to the average miamian.

So i would say to anyone thinking of moving here: Spend some serious time here first, to figure out if you can take the (very) rough with the (not so) smooth. Miami is really not for anyone...in fact, it's probably not for most people.

OP: Don't spend so much time on craigslist. There are plenty of people with hidden agendas just like any Big City, but if you put yourself in the right situations you will find the people are not as bad as you think. I do agree it is a little harder when you first move here. Miami is a big scene for beauty and class as well as parties and low life's. Join a book club if bars are not your thing. Go paddle-boarding or join a gym. There are even meet-up groups for just sitting around looking at clouds. Try meetup.com I have found plenty of interesting people there when I first moved. Stay active and positive, it will help your self esteem and that in turn will assist you in finding like minded (and interesting) people. There are many charities to get involved in why not help someone (or something) less fortunate? Wherever you live, if you sit around on your duff all day you will never have a good time. So remember to put yourself out there and be willing to sort the "good" from the "not so good", perhaps you will learn that Miami is not so bad, and if not maybe it's time to put in for that transfer.

[Chelito23]

A lot of the complaints from the OP are legit, but I do have to disagree with the comment that there is nothing to do here...there is too much to do here, this is probably one of the most exciting places to live, a lot of people say there is too much going on here.

I agree that there is a certain breed of selfishness and blatant disregard and rudeness to a lot of people here (disproportionatly high compared to other cities), but you take the good with the bad and you just learn to ignore and block out those kinds of people and you value your friends and decent people, who certainly do exist here as well.

Miami, like all places, has its pros and cons. You just have to think about what is important to you and if the Miami's pros outweigh its cons as applied to your lifestlye.

[Shinyfirefly]

I moved out of Miami recently, after living there since birth. I was beyond tired of it, the traffic, the rudeness, and just over all craziness.

OP- I felt the same way you do about Miami for many years, that's why I moved. Maybe you should just consider moving as well?

I agree about there not being much to do in Miami, unless you're into clubs and partying. There's not that many family fun activities, no miniature golf, or water park (that's not ridiculously crowded) the malls are always packed and even going to watch a movie can turn into a nightmare because of how slammed packed everything is and how rude people are in Miami.

I don't completely hate Miami, not anymore, I was born and raised there and since I've been in Ft. Myers I do find myself actually missing it a bit, but I honestly don't see myself ever moving back.

[dadeguy]

Originally Posted by Hope.Street

<several paragraphs of poorly written tripe not worth reading>

'nuff said...feel free to discuss.

does that mean you won't be returning?

[gymbuff]

But I am sure you love the weather. Think about a cookout at 7 or 8 in the afternoon and feeling that delicious breeze.

[unradical]

If you can't find nothing to do in Miami, then you have serious issues. Pretty much anything that doesn't involve cold weather and/or mountains can be done down here or close by.

"INSERT YOUR CITY NAME HERE" are the worst drivers in the world! I'm sick of this argument. Yes Miami drivers are horrible, so are drivers in most over populated areas. This is not a unique problem to Miami.

I've spent a lot of time in foreign countries, and other states in the US, and I always end up missing this place. Yea, you have to take the good with the bad.