WHY is Miami such a CHALLENGED city? (Orlando: house, wages)

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by Lusiphur

Not really. Certainly not by "major city" standards. In fact, it tends to fall in the bottom/middle of any roundup of large cities.



I don't understand this. Maybe you meant that success is measured by wealth and vanity? In which case, that's pretty much everywhere. Success is usually measured by wealth because there really aren't any other good shorthand metrics for judging success. And people who are successful tend to be at least somewhat vain, since it's impossible to achieve any serious level of success (no matter how you measure it) without self-confidence that borders on ego-mania.



I keep hearing this and I have no idea what it means. I've never had someone be rude to me because I was new. But I'm also not the kind of person who expects a red carpet be rolled out for me just because I've arrived. Miamians tend to have very strong bonds with their in-groups, and that can seem exclusionary to some. But the way I see it, it's ludicrous to expect that you show up and everyone just falls all over themselves to welcome you in.

As for why this is, Miami was, for a long time, a very remote and isolated city. It's only very recently that it became a destination to move to, and not just a place to go party over a long weekend. So there's not a lot of experience here with long-term transplants.



Says the poster complaining that they aren't automatically entitled to be welcomed with open arms just for moving here? How about some specific examples of entitlement that you've experienced.



This is partly because that's the case in any large city, and partly because of a high immigrant population. A lot of us came from places where "survival of the fittest" was literally about survival. It's hard to shake that kind of upbringing.



Again, I'll respectfully disagree. It might not be visible to you, because you seem to have purposely set yourself off from the community, but there are a large number of community organizations that foster a good bit of local pride. It may not be as visible, because of the withdrawn and stratified nature of Miami, but it's there.



The labor market is actually quite terrible, and the workforce is not great. Two reasons for this - few well paying jobs means that the most motivated and talented employees tend not to stick around; and the city's history of being made up largely of discriminated and oppressed minorities means that there is a lot of post-colonialism and racist baggage here. It's getting better, but slowly.

As far as uninspired, if you're in management, it's YOUR job to inspire your employees. If they're still uninspired, that's YOUR failure, not theirs.



See my comment about the legacy of racism and colonialism. The short answer is good schools take time, money, and commitment, and unfortunately a lot of people don't want to give any of those things to schools primarily attended by brown kids. There are some excellent schools in the area, but they tend to be in wealthier neighborhoods. Big shocker, right?



Poverty, as a result of racism and discrimination. Really, those last two things go a long way to explaining a lot of Miami's ills. The same can be said for many majority-minority cities - Atlanta, Detroit, Newark, St. Louis, etc. Any time you concentrate a disadvantaged group into a small area and then go out of your way to neglect them, you get poverty. Any time you get poverty, you get crime.

Also a transient population and high levels of low-rent tourists, combined with a heavy social class divide, means more crime.



Racism and discrimination.



I'm getting kind of tired of writing this out, but racism.



The road infrastructure (at least from the point of view of maintenance) is actually quite good. Miami has some of the highest-quality roads in the country. Traffic is largely a product of explosive growth. The city has grown and changed tremendously in the last decade, and drivers and traffic patterns have not kept up.



See above - Miami was a very small place up until a decade or so ago. People haven't quite gotten used to the growth yet. And I will say that there is definitely a certain carelessness and lack of thought for others that's part of the Miami experience.



When you can find me a local government that ISN'T corrupt, I will be able to answer.



All major cities have sprawl. It's what happens when you try to fit a lot of people into a limited space. But in Miami's case it's worth because the growth happened so quickly that people just haven't been able to adjust yet. It'll get there.



Compared to what? It's actually quite good compared to most major cities.



Racism.



Really, most of Miami's problems stem from being a majority-minority city, with all of the disadvantages that brings, and the fact that just 20 or so years ago it was a sleepy little no name hamlet in the middle of a swamp. Combine explosive growth, limited job market, and the legacy of discrimination in one area and you have Miami. But it's changing for the better, slowly. Eventually, it will get there.

Fantastic overview of the area! Really fascinating to read your points and gave me a great understanding of Miami's history and some of the reasons it is as it is, today.

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by BadgerFilms

I agree. Having lived in Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul, only place that has been a problem is Miami.

Also been to New Orleans, Houston, Las Vegas, Portland and Los Angeles and didnt experience that. Never been to the Northeast so Idk maybe the people who think that being a rude jerk are from New Jersey AKA: the armpit of the north. It sure ain't like that in the rest of the South, Midwest and West.

Do not let anyone from New Jersey call it "The armpit of the North." They will crucify you.......LOL


It as been called many things, but never this one.

[Branal]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Doesn’t one corrupt family pretty much run all of Miami political wise?

That is what I heard too.

[Hammocks Bum]

Originally Posted by Branal

That is what I heard too.

So ???

Spill your Guts !

[deboinair]

Originally Posted by Hammocks Bum

deboinair:

There is ALWAYS a BUT...Isn't there ????? That's LIFE !!!!!! It'd be nice you can move out of here..Whiners are a dime a dozen and really NOT welcomed anywhere and that's ~ANYWHERE you go~. Bad Karma, no one needs or deserves .. !!!

I've moved out of that cesspool almost four years ago. lol Just being a good Samaritan and warning people of the worse of their life if they are thinking of moving to Cuba...err Miami.

[Bobdreamz]

Originally Posted by deboinair

I've moved out of that cesspool almost four years ago. lol Just being a good Samaritan and warning people of the worse of their life if they are thinking of moving to Cuba...err Miami.

and yet Miami keeps growing despite your cesspool assessment.....I wonder why?
Surely others moving to Miami have taken note of those horrible Cubans as you say.

[Hammocks Bum]

Originally Posted by Bobdreamz

and yet Miami keeps growing despite your cesspool assessment.....I wonder why?
Surely others moving to Miami have taken note of those horrible Cubans as you say.

I am getting out of ALL the Topics against Miami, B4 I get banned from this place. I am ignoring galore posters on the MEAN time....No need to put up with insanity.

[merp]

A few quick things bc I'm tired.

Air quality, I kind of agree that Miami air is bad. I'm not talking about what the weatherman says, I mean that it can feel and smell bad due to the high humidity and lack of 'real' trees like the large ones you find in a green city like Atlanta. Miami is hot concrete and palm trees.

High cost. No, Miami COL is not similar to other expensive cities because those other high price cities yall have listed have economies and average wages that are way more in line with supporting the costs. Miami is not really a city funded by honest money earned locally.

The OP didn't mean that he wanted everyone to have the same culture. He said that there is a DIVIDE between cultures... as in the people don't tend to mix they just stick together with their own group. And no, the specific vibe that Miami has is NOT the same everywhere. In Atlanta lots of cultures mix and you often see groups of friends from different cultures. It's not the same in Miami.

Miami was NOT a sleepy little hamlet just 20 years ago. That is laughable. It's been a major city my entire life since I was born in south Florida in the late 80s.

[valicky]

Miami's air quality is waaaay better than Atlanta's. I'm talking healthwise - which is what should really count. We have humidity, so does Atlanta but we're, thankfully, not landlocked. All the breezes we have, which also keeps us cooler in the summer than Atlanta, keeps the air here much cleaner.

COL I agree is completely crazy here compared to average wages.

I've been here since the 60's and even in the 80's it was so so so much easier driving anywhere. Keep on building high rise apartment buildings adding thousands upon thousands of residents. 99% of which have cars and that's the result. The highways and streets have barely changed but the population has markedly changed from the 80's to now.

[deboinair]

Originally Posted by Bobdreamz

and yet Miami keeps growing despite your cesspool assessment.....I wonder why?
Surely others moving to Miami have taken note of those horrible Cubans as you say.

Miami is one of the most transient cities in the US. Yes people move to Miami by the droves. They also move out by the droves. So it's basically an ongoing cycle. Somebody moves in somebody moves out. I've seen it towards the end of the 30+ years I lived there.