Miami.... is the end near? (Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens: condos, credit, hotel)

[The Floridian]

To those of you know Miami and spend time here, how do you make sense of the city, the people and the Latinos? Are they different here than where they came from? 1 in every 3 cars is a new BMW or Benz. Foreigners speak no english driving new Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Young New York City 20 something guys walking around acting like they own the city, and yes, they are also driving new BMWs. Who are these people? Are they living off credit or Mom and Dad? And the Latin Americans; what a slap in the face to their people.... they spend big $ on a new car, designer clothes, trying look good and their 3rd world country amigos suffering a lot more than us US folks.... and the don't seem to feel any shame about it. The Latin Ladies (in Miami) from wherever the came from; they are nothing like what I've experienced in Colombia, Panama, Chile, Brazil, etc. In elevators in Colombia, people speak Buenos dias, tardes, noches. Elevators in Miami, they look down at the floor and say nothing.

Comments?

[bale002]

Money illusion. For almost 3,000 years, it works every time.

[cuba libre]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

To those of you know Miami and spend time here, how do you make sense of the city, the people and the Latinos? Are they different here than where they came from? 1 in every 3 cars is a new BMW or Benz. Foreigners speak no english driving new Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Young New York City 20 something guys walking around acting like they own the city, and yes, they are also driving new BMWs. Who are these people? Are they living off credit or Mom and Dad? And the Latin Americans; what a slap in the face to their people.... they spend big $ on a new car, designer clothes, trying look good and their 3rd world country amigos suffering a lot more than us US folks.... and the don't seem to feel any shame about it. The Latin Ladies (in Miami) from wherever the came from; they are nothing like what I've experienced in Colombia, Panama, Chile, Brazil, etc. In elevators in Colombia, people speak Buenos dias, tardes, noches. Elevators in Miami, they look down at the floor and say nothing.

Comments?

I used to live on Brickell Avenue in the middle of that Latin sillyness. My elevator rides were spent listening to HIspanics jabber away without any regard for the gringo. Probably three quarters of the people in my new building on Brickell spoke Spanish as a first language and about a third of these people knew little or no English - and they were living in $500,000 one bedroom condos and driving BMWs.

My building was probably 75% Hispanic, 20% New Yorker and 5% "other", includiung the few Midwesterners like myself and the Indian programmer dude down the hall from me. He was pretty cool.

As for OP, "the end" of Miami, I would gladly welcome a powerful Cat5 to raze this city of its terra cotta shingles, its slime merchant speculators, and its non-English speaking population... That would be the only way I would come back. I miss "Miam-a" Miami...

[MPC2000]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

I used to live on Brickell Avenue in the middle of that Latin sillyness. My elevator rides were spent listening to HIspanics jabber away without any regard for the gringo. Probably three quarters of the people in my new building on Brickell spoke Spanish as a first language and about a third of these people knew little or no English - and they were living in $500,000 one bedroom condos and driving BMW's.

My building was probably 75% Hispanic, 20% New Yorker and 5% "other", includiung the few Midwesterners like myself and the Indian programmer dude down the hall from me.

OK, and your issue is what again? Miami's been hispanic for God knows how long. all those cubans have been making moves to move on up(they're republican you know) so why hate on them. For the most part they probably work for the money if they have lamborghinis(sp?)....and BMWs....Hispanics are becoming the majority as the years pass by so you might as well assimilate and start learning some spanish becuase it was never asked of us to learn English. I can speak English, but I'm in the Northeast. don't get mad at their jabber just like I don't get mad at the arabs or indians who speak their languages up here in the northeast, nor the Asians who speak their language as well as the Slavs who do the same.

seriously, this is the U.S. and there are many cultures, if you don't like it I don't know what to tell you....to each their own.

and yes the women aren't the same as their Latin-American, Carribean counterparts, but what do you expect them to be ? subserviant like the women in South/Central America and the Islands?

get serious!!!

oh and for the suffering of our amigos in the 3rd world countries......Hmmmmmm. I've heard complaints about remittances and so what's the problem now?

[cuba libre]

Originally Posted by MPC2000

OK, and your issue is what again? Miami's been hispanic for God knows how long. all those cubans have been making moves to move on up(they're republican you know) so why hate on them. For the most part they probably work for the money if they have lamborghinis(sp?)....and BMWs....Hispanics are becoming the majority as the years pass by so you might as well assimilate and start learning some spanish becuase it was never asked of us to learn English. I can speak English, but I'm in the Northeast. don't get mad at their jabber just like I don't get mad at the arabs or indians who speak their languages up here in the northeast, nor the Asians who speak their language as well as the Slavs who do the same.

seriously, this is the U.S. and there are many cultures, if you don't like it I don't know what to tell you....to each their own.

and yes the women aren't the same as their Latin-American, Carribean counterparts, but what do you expect them to be ? subserviant like the women in South/Central America and the Islands?

get serious!!!

Not a single person in my building was Cuban (that I knew of). Almost all of the Hispanics in my building were South American.

Spare me the "assimilation" speech. They - the newcomers - are welcome to learn English just like generations of immigrants before them did.

[The Floridian]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

I used to live on Brickell Avenue in the middle of that Latin sillyness. My elevator rides were spent listening to HIspanics jabber away without any regard for the gringo. Probably three quarters of the people in my new building on Brickell spoke Spanish as a first language and about a third of these people knew little or no English - and they were living in $500,000 one bedroom condos and driving BMWs. My building was probably 75% Hispanic, 20% New Yorker and 5% "other", includiung the few Midwesterners like myself and the Indian programmer dude down the hall from me. He was pretty cool. As for OP, "the end" of Miami, I would gladly welcome a powerful Cat5 to raze this city of its terra cotta shingles, its slime merchant speculators, and its non-English speaking population... That would be the only way I would come back. I miss "Miam-a" Miami...

That about sums up Miami, and dead on comment, but if you can develop a liking for foreign languages and an interest in people fromm other cultures, Miami can be a fun place.

[cuba libre]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

That about sums up Miami, and dead on comment, but if you can develop a liking for foreign languages and an interest in people fromm other cultures, Miami can be a fun place.

There is no wiggle room for "college brochure diversity" when there is just one, big, Hispanic mono-culture.

[Cougar Beach]

Originally Posted by cuba libre

There is no wiggle room for "college brochure diversity" when there is just one, big, Hispanic mono-culture.

Do you consider white non-Hispanic also a mono culture? Are people from Ireland, Finland, France, New Zealand and everywhere in between pretty much interchangeable? What about people from Spain? Portugal? Are Brazilians Hispanic like Spanish people?

I don't think you'll find many Argentinians who share much culture with Dominicans or Cubans. They have very different accents, use different idioms, and have had completely different experiences. Does Buenos Aires really pretty much the same culture as a Chiapas, just because they nominally speak the same language?

And do African Americans, Haitians, Brazilians, and non-Hispanic whites count, in Miami?

Are you aware of your tendency to paint with a broad brush, always looking for simplistic answers, the more cynical the better? It's like political ideology: you just choose a system that gives you a warm fuzzy, and then you follow it religiously. It save the effort of thinking deeply, and it relieves you from ever having to consider nuances. There are no shades of gray. Miami sucks, end of story. The Hispanics in Miami won't learn English, end of story. Obama is a moron, end of story. It's all so easy. It's so much easier to be wrong than it is to be right. There's an infinity of wrong answers. Any time you catch yourself thinking in absolutes when the subject is society and culture, you can be pretty sure you're wrong.

[Marlin331]

Miami-Dade County is only about 60% "Hispanic", and a substantial percentage of those "Hispanics" were born in the United States and speak English as their first and/or best (or even ONLY!) language. Out of those "Hispanics," only about 40-45% are Cuban or Cuban-American; the rest are Venezuelan, Colombian, Argentinian, Nicaraguan, and from other countries. The "Hispanics" of Miami come from a diversity of backgrounds and socioeconomic levels, so much that I feel I must put the word "Hispanic" in quotes - it says very little in and of itself. This doesn't even delve into the fact that a full 40% of Miami-Dade residents are not "Hispanic" - and are of diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic levels as well! There is no "Hispanic monoculture" in Miami-Dade County. Maybe you can try to argue that there is one in Sweetwater or in Hialeah Gardens, but in Miami-Dade as a whole? My personal experience and the numbers say otherwise.

[notpro]

ill sum up what my experience living in miami beach was like for a US Army MP fresh out of the military running security for the marlin hotel in 05 and 06. i learned miami is a great one night stand, but a terrible long term relationship. she's a fun ride at first, then she goes nuts...