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Things have probably changed a lot in 30 years.....not that I lived here back then, but I've noticed a change for the worse even in the space of 5 years.
Now, the problem isn't a few old Jewish/Cuban people in Impalas. If it were, I'd be the last person to complain.
Fast forward to present day Miami: now the problem is generally jacked up, reckless morons driving powerful pickup trucks, Honda Civics or Accords and Nissan Altimas....speeding, cutting people off, weaving across 4 lanes of traffic, running red lights and tailgating. Road rage here is also a major problem....I even had a gun flashed at me once, just for signaling to allow some idiot on W. Flagler Street to pull out.
I have driven in many places Leo and Miami is by far the worst place I've ever driven, put it that way.
I hate to say it but yes Miami is by the far the city with the worst drivers in the US ... Boston and Los Angeles which are pretty bad are like kindergarten compared to Miami .
Re: people charging the elevator before letting people exit:
UH...how is a subway like an elevator? LOL
People HAVE TO GET ON since the train will LEAVE....and do.
Meanwhile, you won't miss your elevator it's going NOWHERE.
The fact that you live in Vero Beach and constantly post negatives about South Florida tells me that you are either very bitter or have way too much time on your hands .... not much to do in Zero Beach I guess ?
Judging from your post, you must be one of the other more "polite" hispanic groups. FYI- Cubans do have a more "mediterranean", gregarious style of communication, much like Italians or Spaniards. People that are from a more indigenous background tend to have a more reserved demeanor. I think the complaint about Latins being rude has to do with people from any background who do not have education. Cubans have lived here since the sixties alongside Anglos with very little problem, it's only in the last fifteen years that there has been a decline, with people from different countries coming for economic reasons and not political reasons. It's lack of education that's the problem, not Cubans (since they are on average much more educated than the other Latinos in Miami).
Sorry , but the Cubans that have come here in the last ten - fifteen years are not much more educated than other Latinos ... the Cubans who came here in the 1960's and early 70's may fall into that catagory ... but not what is coming over now , those are strictly "chusma " ... my Mother in Law is Cuban American so I get the scoop from her . Undesirables from all nations have come here , but the wet foot dry foot Cubans are a breed apart .. sorry guy that is how I see it .. they are nothing , I mean nothing like the original Cuban immigrants who were and are solid people .
You obviously don't know Miami that well. You sound like you are too busy jaunting from coast to coast and hob nobbing in Europe to know 'what is what' in Miami anymore. There are different reasons why many Hispanics and Creoles refuse to speak English in Miami.
-Utter refusal due to ignorance and/or arrogance (see Brickell, South Americans)
-Lack of basic language/writing skills, making it hard to learn English via a book or a class.
-Shame from non-English speaking peers for venturing outside one's culture to learn a language.
-Living in complete, destitute poverty where learning English in order to make more than $5 an hour is a low priority.
You sound like a bitter hateful person ... let me see so if all of a sudden the US was ruled by a dictator and / or we went into a Great Depression type scenario and several EU countries agreed to allow millions of us to immigrate ... hmm .. so we as couch potato, American Idol , Springer , reality show , rap hip -hop music lovin and overweight bastions of intellect would immediately learn German , Dutch , French , Italian or even Spanish
( Spain is a member country of the EU ) we all know here that is absolute BS ... we would look to maintain our cultural ties , would naturally search out fellow Americans , live in American enclaves continue to listen to American music and try and take as much of our lifestyle to these EU countries .. I have been in large American ex-pat communities in Costa Rica , Panama , Puerto Rico and Guadalajara Mexico and have met loads of Americans that after living in these countries for years still could not speak jack *@# of Spanish !!!
Cuba libre .... you are pretty ignorant and I disagree with this refusal to speak English BS ... my issues with some not all but some Hispanics are with courtesy and the presence of the "ghetto culture " which I despise ... again I can give a hoot if someone does not speak English .. that is their loss as it an Americans loss not to speak a second language .
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
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I hope you guys don't turn this into another CUBAN bashing session.
I agree about the driving here. It makes me sick. And I've driven in Europe, NY, and Peru.
I have seen every single nationality be rude, push and shove. I have seen a lot of humility from the less educated, while they are still pushy. It's not just about Cubans.
You can blame Cubans for some things just like you can blame everyone else for a lot of things.
It must be very frustrating to hate your own people too.
I hate to say it but yes Miami is by the far the city with the worst drivers in the US ... Boston and Los Angeles which are pretty bad are like kindergarten compared to Miami .
Driven in both and driving in Boston again in a couple of weeks. Boston can be pretty hairy at times and traffic in LA is a nightmare, but driving in either of those cities isn't as stressful as driving in Miami. Heck, even when there isn't traffic, driving in Miami can be an absolute nightmare and a test of nerves, in terms of resisting the temptation to get out of your car and give some of these maniac drivers a knuckle sandwich.
I hope you guys don't turn this into another CUBAN bashing session.
I agree about the driving here. It makes me sick. And I've driven in Europe, NY, and Peru.
I have seen every single nationality be rude, push and shove. I have seen a lot of humility from the less educated, while they are still pushy. It's not just about Cubans.
You can blame Cubans for some things just like you can blame everyone else for a lot of things.
It must be very frustrating to hate your own people too.
I wasn't bashing or blaming Cubans....I was bashing Miamians, whether Cuban or non-Cuban. Like I said in another post, this city just tends to attract some very bad people who have no sense of respect or common courtesy.
You know I know someone that actually went to a grocery store, and the people (2 or 3 can't remember the exact number) at the deli counter wouldn't help them, the people at the deli counter said no speakie english to my friends. My friends were like ha, someone would hire someone that doesn't speak english for the deli counter? So they went to the customer service counter and asked for the manager, when they told the manager that the people behind the counter couldn't understand them because the deli counter people didn't speak english. The manger said, they speak english! I was surprised but these people wouldn't lie, so I know its a true story. This actually happened in a white area actually. So it does happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock Newman
I agree with you on the refuse to speak English thing ... I think some of us are getting carried away here .. I have never met a Hispanic who refused to speak English to me ... as I am of Italian heritage and can pass for Hispanic ... I am often spoken to in Spanish in Miami .. that does not really bother me.. as 99% of the time I say nope do not speak Spanish and they will say "sorry " and revert to English ... it is as if I was in Montreal and I was spoken to in French , that would not bother me either . I have found that when a Hispanic person did not speak English , it is not because he refused it is because he simply did not know how .... there is a difference between being an A*@# hole and refusing to speak English and simply not knowing how to do so .. I have to agree with Crisp here and agree that this issue has been overblown here and some of our white american countrymen themselves are being intolerant and inmature . The Spanish thing does not bother me one bit as we are in a free country and you can do as you please as long as you are not breaking the law .... what I do hate is the ghetto , hip hop , reggaetton mentality regardless of language .
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BCreass
I wasn't bashing or blaming Cubans....I was bashing Miamians, whether Cuban or non-Cuban. Like I said in another post, this city just tends to attract some very bad people who have no sense of respect or common courtesy.
Not you directly but if you go back, it's in black and white.
Last edited by vpcats; 05-16-2009 at 06:02 PM..
Reason: well....maybe grayish. My screen looks a little grayish.
CRISP, WOW! it is obvious you either fail to see or do not want to admit the shortcomings of Miami in general. Everytime BCreass or someone else makes valid points based on observation and of course, general observation because not everyone is rude, you are quick to give examples how other cities are the same in that aspect, or deny it happens, at least to you, or you just don't see it.
But, hey that is great if you are willing to look the other way, or ignore the negative aspects of Miami, it just makes it that much easier to live here and continue to accept the substandard services, substandard manners, and diminishing quality of life.
My parents moved to South Florida in 1977 and I was born in 1985. I grew up there and lived there full-time until 2003, when I moved to Boston for college. Since then I have lived in Madrid and New York, where I am now about to enter my final year of law school. Ever since I have left, I return three times per year to visit my family and friends in Miami-Dade and the Keys.
I remember when Andrew decimated South Dade. I remember when most souls left downtown after 6:00 PM were seemingly homeless people and drug dealers. I remember when much of Lincoln Road was boarded up, as many of the old Jewish people who used to live around there and patronize those business had either moved to North Beach/Millionaire's Row or had passed away. I remember hearing about all the violence and crime the drug wave brought with it.
Flash forward to 2009 and many things in Miami-Dade County are better now than ever before. South Dade has picked up its pieces, downtown is being revitalized, Lincoln road is a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare of tourists and locals. Many places of the county are safer than they ever were when I was a child, and most neighborhoods are just as nice. Some are nicer. Places that have gotten better? Brickell, South Miami, Coral Gables, East Kendall, and Miami Beach. Places that have gotten worse? Parts of north and NE Miami-Dade. Places that have stayed the same in safety and "niceness"? Most of central and west Miami-Dade. Overall, I have seen things improve in my lifetime. My parents have lived there for 32 years and don't complain about negative changes either, except for the traffic.
Miami is one of my favorite places in this country. The reason I no longer choose to make it my full-time home is because it overall isn't urban enough for me. It is too spread-out and car-oriented for me to feel comfortable living my day-to-day life there. If Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Brickell, South Beach, and Surfside were all next to each other and not spread apart as they are, I might have chosen to stay forever. I prefer European cities and cities that are most like them (Boston, NYC) and much of Miami-Dade falls short of that. Thankfully, however, it isn't nearly as cookie-cutter and soulless as most of the rest of this country that was built post-1970.
I don't appreciate the snarky responses I get that I don't know Miami and that if I really loved it so much, I would be living there full-time. Some people just don't get that there are reasonable people out there like myself who just disagree with them that Miami sucks and is full of rude people. In fact, I have friends who are bankers, architects, accountants, store owners, and artists - some of whom speak little to no Spanish - who love living in Miami and who wouldn't choose anywhere else in this country. I don't choose Miami, but I certainly would choose it over 90% of the rest of the world.
Even if I thought that Miami had a disproportionate amount of disrespectful, inconsiderate people, I would nonetheless choose to deal with them and live in a unique place than be showered with fake smiles and "how ya doin's" on a cookie-cutter cul-de-sac in Alpharetta, Naperville, Cary, or Sugar Land. Miami doesn't appeal to the run-of-the-mill American. That's really no concern of mine, because run-of-the-mill America doesn't really appeal to me. Live wherever is most appealing to you. If Miami is your personal version of hell, why not leave?
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we all know here that is absolute BS ... we would look to maintain our cultural ties , would naturally search out fellow Americans , live in American enclaves continue to listen to American music and try and take as much of our lifestyle to these EU countries .. I have been in large American ex-pat communities in Costa Rica , Panama , Puerto Rico and Guadalajara Mexico and have met loads of Americans that after living in these countries for years still could not speak jack *@# of Spanish !!!
