Did Miami experince major white flight or just huge waves of immigrants? (Cutler Ridge: home, construction)

[FTLkid754]

Something I always wondered was if there was a mass exodus of white non-hispanics from miami-dade or did a huge wave of immigrants from the caribiean and central/south america just flood the area? The reason I ask is because one usually associates "white flight" with rust belt cities and miami is definitley not a rust belt city.

[BornInFL]

It seems like both happened, very rapidly.

[ConeyIsBabe]

YES, both happened in the very early 80s; I was there.

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by ConeyIsBabe

YES, both happened in the very early 80s; I was there.

Yeap.
Agreed.
I was there also.
Sad really.

[florida_guy1234]

"White flight" is definitely not just a Rust Belt thing. Birmingham, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, and on and on...there is definitely no shortage of examples of this occurring in the Sun Belt. Depopulation, however, tends to accompany white flight in the Rust Belt; Sun Belt cities generally continue to grow and prosper, while most Rust Belt cities are generally nothing more than decaying shells of what they were 50 years ago.

In the case of Miami, it was both a massive influx of immigrants and (consequently) a massive outflow of whites. The most dramatic shifts occured between the middle of the 70's and end of the 80's. In 1970, Miami was still a largely Anglo city; by 1990, it had achieved its status as a major Latin city.

[doggiebus]

Both happened. Whites left and are still leaving for the most part. And we had an influx of Spanish Immigrants at the same time. I think whites (non-hispanics) make up somewhere around 17% of the entire county.

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by adam.g.harpool

The most dramatic shifts occured between the middle of the 70's and end of the 80's. In 1970, Miami was still a largely Anglo city; by 1990, it had achieved its status as a major Latin city.

Originally Posted by doggiebus

I think whites (non-hispanics) make up somewhere around 17% of the entire county.

I think mid 70s it was 40(anglo) 40(Cuban) 20(black)
Today----------------->17(anglo) 25(Cuban) 15(black) -------> (you figure out the rest)
Didn't bother to look it up, numbers seem about right.

[mark9989]

I'll take a stab at this. Without trying to start a fight. It's obvious for right or wrong that the whites left bc they saw the wave of immigrants coming. That plus hurricane Andrew. Still, born, raised and still living in relatively the same area of Miami all my life, it's easy to see what happened to the whites, and why and where they decided to stay in Miami. Excluding going way back to when even hialeah was white, lets stick to the areas around where the like Cutler Bay ( Cutler Ridge ) Palmetto Bay and Pinecrest, which are still heavily white. The first white flight was from west perrine ( colonial ) area in the late 70's. It was due to black infiltration. The next wave were the latins-hispanics-cubans etc... that pushed down from the north to about bird road. You could see as the years went by areas of Miller drive ad then sunset drive and then west kendall fall. However for many years east kendall, pinecrest, palmetto bay, and cutler ridge stayed relatively white. But it only takes time, and the constant trickle effect of more and more hispanics to penetrate those areas causing for whatever reason the "flight' effect. Even now, its a constant slow decline of whites. I would say the highest population of whites left are in palmetto bay, gables by the sea, and north/east cutler bay and pockets of Pinecrest. Only bc the mass influx didnt occur. It was rather a constant trickle effect.

What specifically did cutler bay in as far as white flight, was 2 parts. Hurricane Andrew, and within the last 5 years, the cookie cutter home construction that are almost entirely latin owned or rented.

The reason those areas are still relatively heavily white concentrated is simple. Ethnic groups tend to stick together, and massive infiltration has never really happened like other areas. As far as cutler bay is concerned, those folks are mainly working class people who own there business..ie carpenter, electrician, plumbers, landscapers, ac mechanics etc.... It is very hard and scary for those folks to pick up and leave their customers. However, many will have no choice soon. They bank heavily on white customers, bc they claim the hispanics dont hire them.

Anyways, thats my take.

[cuba libre]

All I know is that there are a bazillion hispanics and what seems like very few white people. Maybe the whites like to hide. I saw a white girl working at Pollo Tropical on Biscayne and 36th street - the only one there who wasn't speaking Spanish. Not only did I feel bad for her, she looked like the most miserable person in the world. I think I read that between 1980 and 2005, 250,000 white non-hispanics have left Miami-Dade.

[PBCboy]

20,000 people of all races leave Miami each year. Immigrants fill up that void.