Why Is PBC'S Lake Okeechobee region so poor and dangerous? (Lake Worth: crime rates, homes)

[FLGulfcoaster]

I try not to talk negativley about places but Palm Beach County's cities by Lake Okeechobee are crazy.

Belle Glade has high murder rates, aids rate, and 32.9% of its people live below the poverty line.

Belle Glade Camp (unincoporated city) has a whopping 62.1% povery rate

Pahokee, South Bay, and Canal Point also seem to be in poor shape.

How did these towns get this way?

[TriMT7]

Agriculture based economy, far from anywhere tourists tend to go, and actually, far from the rest of civilization in Palm Beach County = poverty. Poverty = higher incidences of all of the above bad things you mentioned. Imagine Immokolee over on the West Coast.

At least it makes SENSE. What I'm curious about is how a place like RIviera Beach remains crappy surrounded by so much wealth to the East, North and South, and why portions of formerly sleepy little beach towns like Lake Worth turn into Meccas for illegals and gangs.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Agriculture based economy, far from anywhere tourists tend to go, and actually, far from the rest of civilization in Palm Beach County = poverty. Poverty = higher incidences of all of the above bad things you mentioned. Imagine Immokolee over on the West Coast.

At least it makes SENSE. What I'm curious about is how a place like RIviera Beach remains crappy surrounded by so much wealth to the East, North and South, and why portions of formerly sleepy little beach towns like Lake Worth turn into Meccas for illegals and gangs.

It all goes along with history, income, or who was here first. In terms of Riviera Beach, those areas are very old and many of the original inhabitants were poor workers. As you know the area were City Place is now was once very poor and crime-ridden until it was remodeled. Riviera Beach is like that except without the remodeling.

Lake Worth has turned into an immigration hot spot largely due to the incredibly affordable housing. Also, Lake Worth Corridor, the non-beach portion, actually has the most Hispanics wheras the city of Lake Worth is a mixture of Hispanics, Haitians and other black immigrants, and a couple of leftover old time Floridian whites.

[luckysnap]

If anyone answers this question truthfully, they will be branded and warned not to be confrontational.

[FLRich]

I don't know about that..I often worked out there, I moved from Florida in 2006 (THANK GOD!) but spent most of my work day driving around the North East and South Side of Lake Okeechobee.

If you are not from the area then you can't understand why, you would need to visit. ALL OF Lake Okeechobee is not poor and Dangerous but much of the south part is, Pahokee, BelleGlade etc, and parts of the North Okeechobee itself may be a bit poor but not Dangerous but outside of PBC, mostly Martin and Okeechobee Co.

The South end is all farming and I mean 100% farming, sugar mostly but some other things too. Mostly migrant hispanics and local african americans but the economy has changed and even minimum or less than minimum wage workers are out of jobs. Equipment and machenery has taken many jobs away, weather conditions going up and down over the past several years has killed off crops so there is very little for workers to hand pick, and many farmers have been too poor to plant as much as they have in the past due to fertilizer costs and fuel costs. Fuel to power the machinery and petro products are also used in Fertlizer so that price has gone up too. Drug of choiceis coke and crack dealing so you have a lot of violence due to that.
Most of the south end was wiped out in the hurricane of 28' I think ? Not sure of the year but tens of thousands were killed in the floods when the levy broke and many were burried in mass graves. Remember that it wiped out everything so I would not be surprised if society in that area is just further back because of it.

The north end, is rural and not as swampy so most of it is cattle farming with a lot of citrus farms too. It's old family farms and some corporate farms. Wages and income from the cattle industry has always been higher so the average income and home is much nicer than in the sugar area on the south coast of the lake. Land is of much better quality and flooding danger is not as bad as it is on the south end. It's still rural but not as behind the times as Pahokee and Bell Glade. Drug of choice is a bit of pot but a lot of Meth manufacturing for distribution, drug violence is very rare since dealing in the area is not the intent just the rural manufacturing process.

I also forgot to say if you are not from the area the entire region is fully covered in Mosquitos about 10 months of the year along with various poisionous snakes and the Florida Pet...Aligator. The Mosquitos are out day and night and quite ofen swarm at night, just opening the door to your car can bring in countless dozens of them in a matter of 5-6 seconds in the summer. Horribly hot and humid in the summer with severe storms almost daily during the summer months. You need to be a special person to want to live out there out of choice, consider it the wild west of Florida.

It's not a matter of race it just happens that there is a large minority population out there, actually makes them the MAJORITY so it's not race. It's just the land, it's very difficult life out there on Florida's last fronteer so it's poor and with poverty comes violence. Don't worry the rest of the country is becoming just as poor now, the violence will come to you too sooner than later. No state, community or person will escape this thing people call the recession which is BS, we are headed for a DEPRESSION if not already in one. Washington is just afraid of saying the "D" word in public for fear of the panic it will create and most of us are just stupid not to know on our own that it is here. Watch the news if you don't see it tonight you will see it tomorow night, violence is increasing EVERYWHERE!

[Ovaranai]

I agree with the writer above. Unfortunately, we are seeing more states becoming poorer. We hardly see a middle class anymore "Sign of the Times". All we see is more drugs, crime, violence and unemployment. Hey, we are suppose to be the richest country in the world - What happened!! Back in the Northeast, you never saw the likes of crime, violence, etc. Now we are seeing it more and more. You can't go into a city without seeing conditions, housing deteriorate. It's so sad....

[jmarcus8]

The glades communities used to be thriving rural agricultural/fishing communities until the development of the everglades agricultural area and subsequent subsidized corporate monoculture machine took hold. Sugar runoff then polluted the lake and killed the catfish industry. Businesses that were supported by the small farmers left town, as did anyone else who could. Leaving the farmworkers and the recent migrants to work the fields

[StarlaJane]

There used to be a thriving vacation/high-income population in the Lake Okeechobee area until a natural disaster (I think it was a hurricane ~50 years ago) which caused mudslides and catastrophic destruction of those beautiful lake homes. Since then, no one has wanted to buy in the area and the land is worth only its agricultural value. Moreover, as above stated, there has been serious pollution of the area due to agriculture. In fact, if you read all of these posts together, you will notice that everyone has something to contribute (i.e. several negative factors are involved in the lack of development in the area). The only people who live there now are (as above stated) the agricultural workers, and only b/c they have to live there in order to make a living. The high crime rates have to do with the lack of opportunities, which has led to a sense of despair and futility among the workers/population.

[marcs2]

during the great depression there was great poverty. it was not accompanied by an increase in crime. it is culture driven not poverty driven.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by FLRich

I don't know about that..I often worked out there, I moved from Florida in 2006 (THANK GOD!) but spent most of my work day driving around the North East and South Side of Lake Okeechobee.

If you are not from the area then you can't understand why, you would need to visit. ALL OF Lake Okeechobee is not poor and Dangerous but much of the south part is, Pahokee, BelleGlade etc, and parts of the North Okeechobee itself may be a bit poor but not Dangerous but outside of PBC, mostly Martin and Okeechobee Co.

The South end is all farming and I mean 100% farming, sugar mostly but some other things too. Mostly migrant hispanics and local african americans but the economy has changed and even minimum or less than minimum wage workers are out of jobs. Equipment and machenery has taken many jobs away, weather conditions going up and down over the past several years has killed off crops so there is very little for workers to hand pick, and many farmers have been too poor to plant as much as they have in the past due to fertilizer costs and fuel costs. Fuel to power the machinery and petro products are also used in Fertlizer so that price has gone up too. Drug of choiceis coke and crack dealing so you have a lot of violence due to that.
Most of the south end was wiped out in the hurricane of 28' I think ? Not sure of the year but tens of thousands were killed in the floods when the levy broke and many were burried in mass graves. Remember that it wiped out everything so I would not be surprised if society in that area is just further back because of it.

The north end, is rural and not as swampy so most of it is cattle farming with a lot of citrus farms too. It's old family farms and some corporate farms. Wages and income from the cattle industry has always been higher so the average income and home is much nicer than in the sugar area on the south coast of the lake. Land is of much better quality and flooding danger is not as bad as it is on the south end. It's still rural but not as behind the times as Pahokee and Bell Glade. Drug of choice is a bit of pot but a lot of Meth manufacturing for distribution, drug violence is very rare since dealing in the area is not the intent just the rural manufacturing process.

I also forgot to say if you are not from the area the entire region is fully covered in Mosquitos about 10 months of the year along with various poisionous snakes and the Florida Pet...Aligator. The Mosquitos are out day and night and quite ofen swarm at night, just opening the door to your car can bring in countless dozens of them in a matter of 5-6 seconds in the summer. Horribly hot and humid in the summer with severe storms almost daily during the summer months. You need to be a special person to want to live out there out of choice, consider it the wild west of Florida.

It's not a matter of race it just happens that there is a large minority population out there, actually makes them the MAJORITY so it's not race. It's just the land, it's very difficult life out there on Florida's last fronteer so it's poor and with poverty comes violence. Don't worry the rest of the country is becoming just as poor now, the violence will come to you too sooner than later. No state, community or person will escape this thing people call the recession which is BS, we are headed for a DEPRESSION if not already in one. Washington is just afraid of saying the "D" word in public for fear of the panic it will create and most of us are just stupid not to know on our own that it is here. Watch the news if you don't see it tonight you will see it tomorow night, violence is increasing EVERYWHERE!

+1....One of the best written/even keel posts I have read on here. Crime is moving outside their cities into yours!

The Palm Beach Post just did an article on the poverty of Belle Glade and the "GENERATIONS" of families on welfare/public housing benefits. Political corruption and the constant "gimme more" attitude has doomed the area for decades.

BTW alligator has 2 l's.