Belle Glade Is Very Depressing... (Miami, Orlando: apartment complexes, high crime, houses)

[-ATLANTIC-]

WELCOME TO A CITY OUT WEST OF PALM BEACH COUNTY LOCATED BY LAKE OKEECHOBEE CALLED "BELLE GLADE" KNOWN AS "MUCK CITY." IT IS VERY DEPRESSING AND THE CONDITIONS OF THE COMMUNITIES AND SOME OF THE PEOPLE ARE BAD. BUT YOU HAVE TO REALIZE THAT IT IS CALLED "HOME" TO SOME PEOPLE AND THEY LOVE IT. BUT THEIR ARE PLANS THAT THEY ARE CUTTING DOWN SOME OF THOSE SUGAR CANES TO BUILD A PLAZA WITH A MOVIE THEATER. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NEW DEVELOPMENT IN BELLE GLADE.

PICS OF BELLE GLADE: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoman4you/2045013554/

[PBCboy]

I have not heard anything about this project, nor have I heard anything about new development there.

Really, Belle Glade is one of those cities without any redeeming qualities. I really wouldn't recommend anyone venturing out there if you have no business there.

[Chelito23]

For YEARS I have heard rumors that the high prices near the coast would spur middle class housing subdivisions in Belle Glade and this would some how save the community. I don't know if that project is the same theme project?

The town is very poor and actually looks like a third world community with people in the streets, run down squalor housing...poor immigrants who work in agriculture don't speak English...a deserted downtown....

Probably for the next boom bust cycle it will be totally changed, but for now it is a small city in the Everglades that is prone to severe flooding, high crime and low paying jobs. Very few people would live there if they didn't have to. Interestingly enough, it has a look similar to the slums in Miami like Liberty City, for example.

[Alphaman]

Some parts of Orlando look like that.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

Very few people would live there if they didn't have to. Interestingly enough, it has a look similar to the slums in Miami like Liberty City, for example.

It's way worse than Miami's slums. That is literally like a third world country out there. They actually have people without electricity or indoor plumbing in Belle Glade. Even in Liberty City almost everyone has indoor plumbing and most have electricity.

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

It's way worse than Miami's slums. That is literally like a third world country out there. They actually have people without electricity or indoor plumbing in Belle Glade. Even in Liberty City almost everyone has indoor plumbing and most have electricity.

Well then if it`s that bad I don`t even think Orlando can top that although some areas around Ivey lane on some of the side roads do look as slummy (Trash everywhere tires and sofas in wooded areas and around boarded up houses, graffiti).

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Alphaman

Well then if it`s that bad I don`t even think Orlando can top that although some areas around Ivey lane on some of the side roads do look as slummy (Trash everywhere tires and sofas in wooded areas and around boarded up houses, graffiti).

Almost every medium to large sized city has a couple of sections like that. And graffiti can even be found in the most upper end neighborhoods.

[Chelito23]

Compelled,

If you have time, you should come down to Miami and take a tour of the areas and see that Liberty City DOES in fact have areas that rival that, just as does Overtown, Little Haiti, parts of Allapatah, Opa Locka (the triangle) and the Unicorporated NW Miami Dade County. Just the same, only scarier looking thugs roaming around...at least out there the people are pretty much country and not thugged out ghettoids. If you ever would consider checking out these places in Miami on a visit, PM me and I can give you some streets to see what I mean...unfoertunately I don't have a digital cam and evenif I did I don't think I would be comfortable driving there and taking pics, I'm not that ballsy.

Trust me, if the mean streets of Miami were better than that, those people would be living here already...and some of the back roads in Overtown are scary, and I don't use that word lightly. The apartment complexes are the definition of squalor, people are basically hanging outside staring passer bys down, drinking, making quick money (use your imagination)...empty lots...bars on any opening to any building...it is a shame. I admit, THESE areas are fortunately not the majority in Miami, thank God. But they do make Little Havana look like the Gables as a comaprison! OH PS this is not a racial thread or anything, this is more a poverty related problem.

Also, you should go visit that town (in case you haven't). It is really a shock for people not from the area (although I am not sure where you are from originally). Other towns that are "agriculturally depressed" are places like Immokalee, that would be another must see on the list of third world towns. It is really a sad little place also. I had a friend who lived there, so I visited maybe 10 times. It is just trailer parks, agriculture businesses and remittance stores and mini markets....and the few homes are of course very poor. There is curiously one "nice" neighborhood....small, but the homes could be in anytown USA and you forget you are in Immokalee for 30 seconds. This is another interesting place to visit...but who knows, it might change now that they are building Ave Maria Univeristy and town about 5 miles south of Immokalee.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

Compelled,

If you have time, you should come down to Miami and take a tour of the areas and see that Liberty City DOES in fact have areas that rival that, just as does Overtown, Little Haitia and parts of Allapatah and the Unicorporated NW Miami Dade County. Just the same, only scarier looking thugs roaming around...at least out there the people are pretty much country and not that thugged out ghettoids. If you ever would consider that on a visit, PM me and I can give you some streets to see what I mean...

Trust me, if the mean streets of Miami were better than that, those people would be living here already...and some of the back roads in overtown are scary, and I don't use that word lightly. The apartment complexes are squalor, people are basically hanging outside...empty lots...bars on any opening to any building...it is a shame. I admit, THESE areas are fortunately not the majority in Miami, thank God. But they do make Little Havana look like the Gables as a comaprison!

Also, you should go visit the town (in case you haven't). It is really a shock for people not from the area (although I am not sure where you are from originally). Other towns that are "agriculturally depressed" are places like Immokalee, that would be another must see on the list of third world towns. It is really a sad little place also. I had a friend who lived there, so I visited maybe 10 times. It is just trailer parks, agriculture businesses and remittance stores and mini markets....and the few homes are of course very poor. There is curiously one "nice" neighborhood....small, but the homes could be in anytown USA and you forget you are in Immokalee for 30 seconds. This is another interesting place to visit...but who knows, it might change now that they are building Ave Maria Univeristy and town about 5 miles south of Immokalee.

I have already been to Liberty City and Overtown. I wasn't talking about the crime as much as the living conditions. I actually went to some of the local stores in Belle Glade just to pick up the atmosphere. I also went to Pahokee a few miles up the road and I saw some guy sit down and spew diarrhea on the ground there. Right off of a major street. Looked like a scene from subsaharan Africa. In Liberty City you won't see that. You will see "this is a robbery" but you won't see somebody taking a dump on the side of the road. Maybe urinating, but not the latter. I'm not saying the living conditions aren't bad by any standards, just not as bad, and yes the crime is way way worse. For one thing, I won't be getting out of my car in Liberty City to soak up the atmosphere LOL!

Immokalee reminds me of a typical migrant camp agricultural town, similar to Belle Glade but not quite the same. Belle Glade has a lot of shantys pained in pastel colors and feels more lively. At it's "nicest" Belle Glade looks like a "typical" area in South Dade (concrete paved lawns, burglar bars, chain link fences, very run down housing with pastel colors, except for some royal palms very few trees), and at it's worst it looks like a genuine third world country. Immokalee has a more bland look.

[tallrick]

The saddest part is that while those rural slums are depressing, they are still outrageously overpriced. Property values are anywhere from 2-10 times what they should be. The bad places around the lake are around the southern part of the lake. Once you pass South Bay it gets more rural, Clewiston is a mix of rural and Mexico. Moore haven is poor but friendly. Okeechobee is full of escapees from bubble towns, and has become a "bubble town" itself. I would not want to see the towns around the lake turn into suburbs of the coastal cities. What I would like to see is the area lose its third world slums and become more rural. While Belle Glade is a dump, at least its surrounded by open space.