Is Miami Going Downhill? (to live in, place, permanent)

[Alphaman]

We are in the US we speak English here why should I have to learn Spanish? It should be the other way around them learning English.

People are not going to be willing to learn when we are having it shoved down our throats.

[miamiborn]

I am born and raised in Miami Beach back in 58 and I am still a beach boy. The problem is today that you can't swim in the waters my mother used to let me play in as a kid. Because WE HAVE LET these politicians put their pocket books and wallets before our health. Does anyone care to know how much sewerage we are dumping right off shore?!? We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our fear for speaking up because the moment any one of the few non-hispanics open our mouths you are labeled a racists. I have to laugh at it now because the city government here in Dade County is THE MOST CORRUPT IN ALL THE NATION. My hats off to all you corrupt, scumbags that ruined my BACKYARD. My children ran out of this place as fast as they could when they became of age, I have sand in my shoes or else I would have followed.

[purpleorange]

Originally Posted by robertobaggio

I can't wait to move to Miami. What is your master in? I have a master as well in Electrical Engr and can't wait to get out of Silicon Valley, the most pathetic place ever when it comes to social life.

MS in Network Engineering

Originally Posted by robertobaggio

The proximity of the US to Mexico and Central America should impose its "educated" citizen to learn Spanish, just like educated Mexicans and Central Americans speak English.

One of the biggest problems here is that most of the immigrants that come here are not educated. Therefore they do not speak English. There are so many that they are able to live their lives without having to learn it, therefore they all continue to speak Spanish and impose that on everyone else. That goes for most minimum wage jobs, so in most stores in many areas only Spanish is spoken.

Please realize that we live here and know what we are talking about. Being an outsider doesn't really give an individual all of the tools necessary to make a statement; only to make assumptions.

And by the way, Spanish is my first language.

[mariecug]

Sorry, I had a degree, with a high GPA, and tons of experience when I moved to Miami. I couldn't get a job to save my life. I finally got a crappy job because of the one person I knew in Miami.

Miami is truly who you know, and they couldn't give a rat's a-- what your GPA was.

It works in the other direction too - people doing jobs they are not qualified for and would never get in any other city because of who they know!

IMHO - achievement and merits HAVE to count for something or otherwise you have chaos and corruption.

[MelanieDawn]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

Looking at a map shows it to be mostly in Central America.

Open-minded? OPEN-MINDED? How would you like it if you went back to the city you were born in and raised in (In Italy?) and found everyone there speaking Korean and all the signs were in Korean? People would come up to you and speak in Korean and wander why you wouldn't learn Korean. When they found out you were born there and STILL didn't speak Korean they would tell you that it was really your fault for not learning Korean.
That's how we Miami natives feel about the language of the invaders. So pardon me if I don't seem "open-mnded" enough for you.

Montreal is part of North America. May I suggest you speak to them about "english-only"

In any case, I was born and raised in this city, though I have lived and visited all over the world as well. The US is one of the very few countries in this world that do not except its educated citizens to speak more than one language. This is appalling for a "first world" country and something I have talked about for years. It is unfortunate that you and I have been left behind the international community by this country's arrogance in "english-only", but that is not the fault of the people from all over the world who now call Miami "home". Moreover, it is not just Miami. ANY large city in this country is multilingual. Look at New York, cities in Texas, California, New Mexico... And it isn't just Spanish... look at ChinaTown for instance.

Seriously... perhaps if some of you put as much energy into learning a second language as you do complaining on this board, everyone would be a lot happier.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by MelanieDawn

Montreal is part of North America. May I suggest you speak to them about "english-only"

Yeah I thought about that when I made the post. I went to Montreal back in 1986 and had a little trouble getting around. It was still easier than many parts of Miami though. Even though they didn't speak English they didn't have the Miami attitude so it was still easier to communicate with them. Oh, and if I had planned on being there for more than a week I would have made an effort to learn basic conversational French, unlike some of the people who have lived in Miami for 20+ years and still need a translator when they show up for their court hearings.

Seriously... perhaps if some of you put as much energy into learning a second language as you do complaining on this board, everyone would be a lot happier.

I do just fine in Japan and China but I refuse to learn a FOREIGN language to get by in an American city.

[Zandrah]

The problems that seriously hit Miami proper back in the 80's are spreadding but yhea it's been going down hill sence the 80's.

The influx of people who hit the shores on rafts in combination with Miami Vice and the big push to increase tourisim and industry in the area hit all at once and things went all side ways.

Am I the only one who remembers that Miami : See it like a native campaign then watching as the developers stepped in and all the cool native things went bye bye almost over night to be replaced by trendoriffic clubs upscale shopping and various other tourist trappish type things?

Or how about the tourist who came looking for drugs thanks to Miami Vice and our lovely reputation? I seriously remember these idiots asking people in the bathrooms of any public building anywhere near the beach where the best place to score was. And I'm pretty sure that's about the time I started to refuse to go to any tourist infested place in town.

I have no clue what drugs the powers that be are on but they realy lost it when they went from building more hotels and clubs to actually incouraging people to move in to the city.

Miami is over populated thanks to these brainless twits. Too many people and not enough resources. I mean come on look at the increased water restrictions over the years? We always had those seasonal water restrictions when I was a kid but man they weren't like they are today.

Oh yhea they got big companies to move in to town and those companies braught loads of people in and those people needed homes... before long appartment buildings were springging up in the weirdest places and sence these new residents had big company jobs (most locals worked in the service industry)that ofcourse meant more upscale shopping was needed....

In the mean time people are still driving on the same roads my grand parents and in some cases great grand parents drove on. Oh they may have been repaved (or not) but they haven't had any major upgrades made to deal with the increased number of cars on the road.

And Miami becoming a bilingual city to accomodate the immigrant population truly iirks me because I grew up speaking Spanish and German at home among family and a select group of friends but we spoke English when we had guests and we spoke english when we were in public. Now I live in The Netherlands in a city where most people speak English and I could actually get away without having to speak dutch but guess what I speak the language out of simple respect.

We had a big Cuban population in Miami before to 80's and they spoke English outside their homes... It wasn't untill after that we suddenly had these people who refuse to speak english wich led to all this foolishness.

[Michael Di Meo]

Speaking a language in public should be an individual choice.
I would never demand that a unilingual English-only mainstream American learn Spanish. It is up to them to decide if they want to learn it.
Same goes for someone who speaks Spanish only in Miami.

People need to stop preaching to others how to live their own lives, because people tend to try to control others while ignoring their own problems.

Obviously making the choice to be unilingual in Miami brings with it special challenges, but it is up to the individual to decide how they will handle it. But those individuals need to stop blaming others for their own problems.

I love it here. I can speak any language I want to in Miami. I say hello in Italian in Miami (Ciao come va, etc, etc) and I love it. It's the only US city where I can speak French to a shopkeeper, and it does not cause problems. They might not understand, but that's another story. No one has ever said to me "dude, we're in the US, speak American". In NYC or others, it would cause problems.

I would leave Miami if it became more English-speaking, but that's just my personal opinion. When I came back to the States after many years away, I wanted the least mainstream American big city *not* dominated by the Anglo-American culture (because I don't care for it), and I have found happiness in Miami where people understand where I am coming from, unlike most other large US cities. Montréal is probably the one in NAm that comes closest to the Latin feel of Miami. I think Miami works great for people from Southern Europe, and I hope more continue to arrive.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by palermodude

No one has ever said to me "dude, we're in the US, speak American".

Dude, we're in the US; speak English.

I would leave Miami if it became more English-speaking, but that's just my personal opinion. When I came back to the States after many years away, I wanted the least mainstream American big city *not* dominated by the Anglo-American culture (because I don't care for it),

It's that kind of sick self-loathing attitude that erodes American culture. Instead of being proud of the greatness of American culture and wantingto add to it by becoming a part of it (great melting pot) you and others with that attitude want to tear down our culture and add to the Balkanization of America.

[island mermaid]

LOL, when I was in school I had to take 4 yrs of English! The only "American" I had to take was in the form of a History class!