Let's compare Miami in 2007 to 1957. Which is better? (Hollywood: condo, attorneys)

[Cougar Beach]

Originally Posted by MoverandShaker2004

I think life EVERYWHERE was better in '57 than 2007, not just in Miami. People were happier. However, I don't think "oppressed people" such as blacks, Jews, and homosexuals are happier now than they were back then; THAT WAS ALL THEY KNEW. Racism, segregation, and discrimination still exist. The only difference is that today it is not state sponsored.

Blacks were happier when they were treated worse than people's pets? Homosexuals where happier when they were likely to lose their job and get beaten up if anybody found out? Jews were happy to be restricted where they could live and work?

You've just justified slavery. Slaves were happier when they didn't have to worry about paying rent, right?

Originally Posted by MoverandShaker2004

Were the orthodox Jews on Miami Beach ever oppressed??? They owned the beach back in '57 and they still continue to own the whole strip and live in enclaves of extreme-conservative wealth. Gimme a break! The Jews' tight knit families might give off the impression of oppression, but in fact they seclude themselves from mainstream society.

Oh yeah, that's right, the Jews control everything, don't they?

Isn't it funny how you, obviously a white non-minority guy, knows what's best for everyone? Who needs a Constitution? You can just assign everyone a caste, and they'll live happily every after.

Moderator cut: Personal Attack I guarantee you that blacks were not happier when they were treated like animals. Why don't you find a black person who lived through that era and ask him? Why do you think people were willing to risk their lives to end the system?

Black and white water fountains? Sounds great, eh?

[Cougar Beach]

MoverandShaker2004, to help you with your empathy, I recommend that you read Griffith's Black Like Me. In the late 50's, the author artificially darkened his skin and traveled around the Deep South (of which South Florida was a part at the time). If you think blacks were happy, you'll learn something new.

[gypsy girl 1]

I was born in Miami in the mid fifites, my mom said they had to drive to the hospital on a dirt road. I lived there until the late eighties. I was 13 years old in 1967, and went to my first rock and roll concert The Jimi Hendrix/Are you Experienced tour. I went to over 200 concerts. All of the best bands used to come to Miami. Do they still? That's what we did as kids (teens) there. I was a hippie an original. I still am. I feel like any body from any other era is just playing hippie. My vote for the best time ever in Miami would have to be the late sixties and the early seventies. We hung out mostly at Geynolds Park in North Miami. But I did go to the Grove alot too. The hippies in the Grove/Peacock Park, seemed older and wiser, like they knew something no one else did. I used to love going there. VW Micro buses everywhere with flower power and big neon flowers painted on them. Big school buses all painted with peace and love, and hippies everywhere. That was the scene. But these Grove hippies were the first sell-outs too. They were the first Yuppies. Mostly they came from well to do families and were just playing hippie. They went from being hippies smoking pot, to Yuppies doing cocaine. They needed material things, like they grew used to growing up I guess. I left in the late eighties in search of a place in which I could hear English spoken again. I held out as long as I could, seeing that Miami was my home.

[Leovigildo]

I left in the late eighties in search of a place in which I could hear English spoken again.
------------------
I thought that hippies didn't care about language. I thought that their only language was the language of love. Peace, Brother..

[Leovigildo]

Of course Williams as well as others who testified in Miami were seeking federal dollars for the community. But the immediate gratification of large amounts of federal money prevented reflection on long term implications for the future of the city. The great infusion of federal dollars, along with the millions of Cuba dollars lying dormant in Miami since the forties, combined with vigorous new Cuban middle class, to set off an explosion of entrepreneurial activity in this city such as has never been seen anywhere. Almost overnight businesses sprang up everywhere. There were at least a dozen Cuban newspapers printed in 1960 and they recorded the swift Cuban economic development. On December 30, 1960 the first Cuban theater opened at 313 West Flagler. It was called Teatro Flagler and its first show was the French film "Este Cuerpo Tan Deseado". A Cuban employment agency opened at 223 N.W. 3rd Avenue and in December, 1960 on Miami Beach at the Old Raleigh Hotel, Mr. Abraham, the old owner of the Dulceria Mignon del Vedado in Havana, opened what might be the first Cuban restaurant in the Miami area. "We have Cuban food" Mr. Abraham announced and we speak Spanish." At seventeenth street and Biscayne Boulevard where the Revolutionary Headquarters would eventually be established, there was even a man selling Cuban liberty bonds.

More significant than these first openings, however, was the dramatic transformation of Southwest Eight Street. Within two years, according to the City Directory, between Southwest Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Avenue, twenty eight street shops changed ownership from American to Cuban.


The other side of this story of is that the late 1950's Miami was in po or economic condition. The city had the highest rate of V.A. and F.H.A. foreclosures in the country, and Eighty street was actually a shabby row of businesses trying to survive in a deteriorating neighborhood. Also, those who were living here before the Cuban migration benefited economically from the influx too. As Antonio Jorge and Raul Moncarz have pointed out, the influx of money and economic activity had a multiplier effect which overflowed from the Cuban community to the general economy, and small businessmen selling appliances, furniture, clothing, used cars and other necessities of middle class life, shared in Miami's new prosperity.

The major source of the economic stimulus for this activity came from the federal government. In 1960, the fiscally conservative Republicans contributed four million dollars in benefits to the refugees, but by 1961, under the Kennedy administration, expenditures on Cuban refugees increased to $2.4 million a month. By 1976 from this source alone (Cuban Refugee Program) over 1.6 Billion dollars were injected into the Cuban community. In addition, traditional disbursement sources such as the Small Business Association, began targeting the Latins also. As Professor Raymond Mohl has pointed out, of the one hundred million distributed by the SBA in Miami in the early 1970's over half went to Latins.

Overshadowing all government expenditures was the investment made by the CIA. Through front organizations such as the Zenith group at the University of Miami the CIA pumped over 100 million dollars into the Cuban community in the early sixties.


This massive influx of federal money from various sources far dwarfed normal public spending in the city.. For example, in 1959 the budget for the City of Miami expected no government funding and planned to spend a total of only $19,000,000 for the entire year. As a result of this commitment, the American government created the largest refugee relief program in the history of the country and in doing so, transformed the city of Miami economically, demographically an politically.

[Leovigildo]

O let the soul her slumbers break, Let thought be quickened, and awake;Awake to seeHow soon this life is past and gone,And death comes softly stealing on,How silently!Swiftly our pleasures glide away,Our hearts recall the distant dayWith many sighs;The moments that are speeding fastWe heed not, but the past,—the past,More highly prize.

[ray1945]

My family moved to Miami from NJ in 1951, when I was in second grade. I remember being shocked that there were only 3 television stations - back in Jersey we had 13.

Miami in the fifties was a great place for kids. There was very little traffic and we were free to roam the city on foot or on our bikes. I grew up in the Kinloch Park neighborhood and we would ride our bikes down LeJeune Rd to Matheson Hammock in the summertime. Or walk to the Gables. Or catch #11 bus to go downtown. I did all of these things on my own or with friends when I was in 6 -7 - 8 grade.

A favorite Christmas tradition was the giant Santa Claus on the downtown Burdine's --- and their annual roof top 'amusement park'.

[ray1945]

Originally Posted by Leovigildo

Of course Williams as well as others who testified in Miami were seeking federal dollars for the community. But the immediate gratification of large amounts of federal money prevented reflection on long term implications for the future of the city. The great infusion of federal dollars, along with the millions of Cuba dollars lying dormant in Miami since the forties, combined with vigorous new Cuban middle class, to set off an explosion of entrepreneurial activity in this city such as has never been seen anywhere. Almost overnight businesses sprang up everywhere. There were at least a dozen Cuban newspapers printed in 1960 and they recorded the swift Cuban economic development. On December 30, 1960 the first Cuban theater opened at 313 West Flagler. It was called Teatro Flagler and its first show was the French film "Este Cuerpo Tan Deseado". A Cuban employment agency opened at 223 N.W. 3rd Avenue and in December, 1960 on Miami Beach at the Old Raleigh Hotel, Mr. Abraham, the old owner of the Dulceria Mignon del Vedado in Havana, opened what might be the first Cuban restaurant in the Miami area. "We have Cuban food" Mr. Abraham announced and we speak Spanish." At seventeenth street and Biscayne Boulevard where the Revolutionary Headquarters would eventually be established, there was even a man selling Cuban liberty bonds.

More significant than these first openings, however, was the dramatic transformation of Southwest Eight Street. Within two years, according to the City Directory, between Southwest Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Avenue, twenty eight street shops changed ownership from American to Cuban.


The other side of this story of is that the late 1950's Miami was in po or economic condition. The city had the highest rate of V.A. and F.H.A. foreclosures in the country, and Eighty street was actually a shabby row of businesses trying to survive in a deteriorating neighborhood. Also, those who were living here before the Cuban migration benefited economically from the influx too. As Antonio Jorge and Raul Moncarz have pointed out, the influx of money and economic activity had a multiplier effect which overflowed from the Cuban community to the general economy, and small businessmen selling appliances, furniture, clothing, used cars and other necessities of middle class life, shared in Miami's new prosperity.

The major source of the economic stimulus for this activity came from the federal government. In 1960, the fiscally conservative Republicans contributed four million dollars in benefits to the refugees, but by 1961, under the Kennedy administration, expenditures on Cuban refugees increased to $2.4 million a month. By 1976 from this source alone (Cuban Refugee Program) over 1.6 Billion dollars were injected into the Cuban community. In addition, traditional disbursement sources such as the Small Business Association, began targeting the Latins also. As Professor Raymond Mohl has pointed out, of the one hundred million distributed by the SBA in Miami in the early 1970's over half went to Latins.

Overshadowing all government expenditures was the investment made by the CIA. Through front organizations such as the Zenith group at the University of Miami the CIA pumped over 100 million dollars into the Cuban community in the early sixties.


This massive influx of federal money from various sources far dwarfed normal public spending in the city.. For example, in 1959 the budget for the City of Miami expected no government funding and planned to spend a total of only $19,000,000 for the entire year. As a result of this commitment, the American government created the largest refugee relief program in the history of the country and in doing so, transformed the city of Miami economically, demographically an politically.

How about citing the source of your info.

[Nolefan34]

News Flash: Everywhere was better back in the 1950's! Not just Miami! Everywhere in the U.S. has declined economically since the 1950's. Back then a single income-earner could have fed a family of 5, purchased a decent home, put the kids through college, and saved enough to last through retirement. Today, a dual-income modest family can barely afford a mortgage, car-payment, and insurance costs let alone save for college or retirement. This is no different in New York City, San Fransisco, or Knoxville Tennessee. So lets not pretend like things in Miami are so much worse than anywhere else. Miami was hit particularly hard by the real-estate downturn since it was a high-growth area. But so were Orlando, Tampa, Vegas, California, etc. The areas that grew the most crashed the hardest. Now these areas are depressed and will remain that way for some time.

It may be true that Miami was "better" back then for white, non-Hispanic people who were used to a laid-back, small-town mentality. But Miami today has lots of appeal to other groups, and is far more tolerant of minorities. It is also a paradise for young people with all of the nightlife and South Beach. I know it may be hard for you people to believe, but some people actually want to live in a big city with a fast-paced mentality. Besides, there are plenty of other cities in FL for you to live if you want a more laid-back, family-friendly atmosphere such as Naples, Tampa, Sarasota, Palm Beach, etc. But there is only one Miami, and I'm glad Miami is what it is today.

Also, I do not believe Miami is as big of a "mess" as you people claim. Yes there are vast sections of Miami-Dade, namely Hialeah and Opa-Locka that are very poor slums. But that is no different than Detroit, New Orleans, L.A., New York, etc. Big cities in American tend to have large sections of poor, low-class areas and immigrants, with pockets of middle/upper income neighborhoods. Miami is a completely different place today than 1957, but it is still a great city for different reasons.

One more thing: The guy who commented that the Jews control everything on Miami Beach. The stats argue against you. The Jewish population on Miami Beach has declined something like 80% since the 1980's. There are still a good number of Jewish businesses on Miami Beach, but the businesses usually stick around far longer than the residents. This is true in most cities where a certain ethnic group moves out of an area and a new group moves in. The businesses tend to hang around a while longer then eventually die out. I personally know a lot of Jewish people, and Miami was THE PLACE back in the 60's. Today, its Fort Lauderdale or Palm Beach. I seriously doubt the Jews have 1/10th as much influence as they did back in the 50's, 60's, and 70s.

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

News Flash: Everywhere was better back in the 1950's! Not just Miami! Everywhere in the U.S. has declined economically since the 1950's. Back then a single income-earner could have fed a family of 5, purchased a decent home, put the kids through college, and saved enough to last through retirement. Today, a dual-income modest family can barely afford a mortgage, car-payment, and insurance costs let alone save for college or retirement. This is no different in New York City, San Fransisco, or Knoxville Tennessee. So lets not pretend like things in Miami are so much worse than anywhere else. Miami was hit particularly hard by the real-estate downturn since it was a high-growth area. But so were Orlando, Tampa, Vegas, California, etc. The areas that grew the most crashed the hardest. Now these areas are depressed and will remain that way for some time.

It may be true that Miami was "better" back then for white, non-Hispanic people who were used to a laid-back, small-town mentality. But Miami today has lots of appeal to other groups, and is far more tolerant of minorities. It is also a paradise for young people with all of the nightlife and South Beach. I know it may be hard for you people to believe, but some people actually want to live in a big city with a fast-paced mentality. Besides, there are plenty of other cities in FL for you to live if you want a more laid-back, family-friendly atmosphere such as Naples, Tampa, Sarasota, Palm Beach, etc. But there is only one Miami, and I'm glad Miami is what it is today.

Also, I do not believe Miami is as big of a "mess" as you people claim. Yes there are vast sections of Miami-Dade, namely Hialeah and Opa-Locka that are very poor slums. But that is no different than Detroit, New Orleans, L.A., New York, etc. Big cities in American tend to have large sections of poor, low-class areas and immigrants, with pockets of middle/upper income neighborhoods. Miami is a completely different place today than 1957, but it is still a great city for different reasons.

One more thing: The guy who commented that the Jews control everything on Miami Beach. The stats argue against you. The Jewish population on Miami Beach has declined something like 80% since the 1980's. There are still a good number of Jewish businesses on Miami Beach, but the businesses usually stick around far longer than the residents. This is true in most cities where a certain ethnic group moves out of an area and a new group moves in. The businesses tend to hang around a while longer then eventually die out. I personally know a lot of Jewish people, and Miami was THE PLACE back in the 60's. Today, its Fort Lauderdale or Palm Beach. I seriously doubt the Jews have 1/10th as much influence as they did back in the 50's, 60's, and 70s.