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I like South Fla as well. People seem to have a need to justify how wonderful it is where they live by denigrating other places. Some of these posts are disgustingly racist as well. It is pretty simple--if you want to live as if in the midwest or deep south--live in the midwest or south. Stay there. If you want to live in a place that legalizes discrimination, where a powerful corrupt sheriff is not in jail, but should be, and where you should have your "papers" on you at all time as if in Nazi Germany, live in Arizona. If you don't like South Fla, just don't go there, but please stop trying to insult the entire population of South Fla just to feel better about yourselves. We that like South Fla also are glad that the naysayers who hate South Fla leave--it's a nicer place without them. They could post their "I hate Broward or Miami" threads in their own boring state forum, but they do not get that feeling of self-serving superiority they get by posting in Florida forums.
If people were just happy and secure with the geographical choices they have made, they would not feel the need to denigrate others who choose to live in Miami and Broward because it is an exciting diverse area with beautiful beaches and a multitude of activities and which draws world reknown figures such as David Beckham to invest in its future. If I had to choose who is wiser--the people who are constantly denigrating South Fla or smart successful people like David Beckham--I'll go with Beckham.
I think a lot of people that live in South Florida or have left are just frustrated with what has become of it, really it's the middle class. If you are wealthy you can afford to mostly avoid all the riff-raff. It has turned into a place where it's really only for the wealthy and dirt poor, not good to be middle class there (exactly how most 3rd world countries are). Yes, it is a beautiful place (within .5 miles of the ocean, canals, inside expensive gated communities). It's just a shame that unlike most places, if you are middle class you can't really have a great quality of life there. Of course David Beckham likes South Florida, he can afford to live in a luxury, gated secure compound on the ocean or bay and doesn't have to overpay for a mediocre home, that 5 blocks away could be a really bad area. If South Florida had reasonable taxes, insurance rates, pay with on par with the cost of living and not an area where all the riff raff move to, it would be a great place.
Your decision to judge entire groups of people based on your assumptions about their ethnicity and skin color is unfortunate. Stereotyping people with racist statements based on your experience as a Comcast employee is ridiculous.
What you see with your own eyes is not racism. I go into 300-400 houses per month, EVERY MONTH!! Saying all "blank" type of people are bad is racist, but saying "IN GENERAL" these type of people live like this based on real life experiences is not racism, it's fact.
I am not racist. Let me ask you a simple yes or no question. If zip code X has a 10 times higher crime rate than zip code Y and zip code X is 75% Lions, 20% Tigers and 5% Bears, while zip code Y is 5% Lions, 70% Tigers and 25% Bears, is it discriminatory to say Lions tend in general to commit more crimes?
To say all Lions are bad would be discriminatory, to say Lions tend to commit more crimes would be based on fact and not discriminatory.
What you see with your own eyes is not racism. I go into 300-400 houses per month, EVERY MONTH!! Saying all "blank" type of people are bad is racist, but saying "IN GENERAL" these type of people live like this based on real life experiences is not racism, it's fact.
I am not racist. Let me ask you a simple yes or no question. If zip code X has a 10 times higher crime rate than zip code Y and zip code X is 75% Lions, 20% Tigers and 5% Bears, while zip code Y is 5% Lions, 70% Tigers and 25% Bears, is it discriminatory to say Lions tend in general to commit more crimes?
To say all Lions are bad would be discriminatory, to say Lions tend to commit more crimes would be based on fact and not discriminatory.
Pointing out facts is apparently racist now?!? Come on now...
It sux that on the S FL forum, you tell your experiences and then its a racist post when you point out a trend, an incident or facts. Come on guys, dont get so sensitive.
A guy at a gas station ws leaving in his car and said to me "ayy white boy"... nothing bad, but I'm not sure why he said it. I dont go around saying "hey _____ _____." I just laughed it off and said nothing. I could have said something back but whats the point. Gonna fight over our color? Seems pretty ridiculous. I'm in Oviedo, there are LOT more ppl that look like me than him, so really, I didnt feel threatened or anything of the sort. My point is, I just kinda laughed it off, didnt take this guy serious, I mean really.
I think a lot of people that live in South Florida or have left are just frustrated with what has become of it, really it's the middle class. If you are wealthy you can afford to mostly avoid all the riff-raff. It has turned into a place where it's really only for the wealthy and dirt poor, not good to be middle class there (exactly how most 3rd world countries are). Yes, it is a beautiful place (within .5 miles of the ocean, canals, inside expensive gated communities). It's just a shame that unlike most places, if you are middle class you can't really have a great quality of life there. Of course David Beckham likes South Florida, he can afford to live in a luxury, gated secure compound on the ocean or bay and doesn't have to overpay for a mediocre home, that 5 blocks away could be a really bad area. If South Florida had reasonable taxes, insurance rates, pay with on par with the cost of living and not an area where all the riff raff move to, it would be a great place.
One thing that always struck me about South Florida was how there was almost no transition between a decent neighborhood and a bad one. The switch from one to the other was/is abrupt.
You're right, though, it's no longer an area for middle class folks, what's left of them. And of course, the more crowded an area gets, the more the quality of life declines. There are a number of urban and even suburban areas of the US that have gone into the crapper, seems like it has all happened so fast.
I think a lot of people that live in South Florida or have left are just frustrated with what has become of it, really it's the middle class. If you are wealthy you can afford to mostly avoid all the riff-raff. It has turned into a place where it's really only for the wealthy and dirt poor, not good to be middle class there (exactly how most 3rd world countries are). Yes, it is a beautiful place (within .5 miles of the ocean, canals, inside expensive gated communities). It's just a shame that unlike most places, if you are middle class you can't really have a great quality of life there. Of course David Beckham likes South Florida, he can afford to live in a luxury, gated secure compound on the ocean or bay and doesn't have to overpay for a mediocre home, that 5 blocks away could be a really bad area. If South Florida had reasonable taxes, insurance rates, pay with on par with the cost of living and not an area where all the riff raff move to, it would be a great place.
There are no "third world countries" in South America with no middle class. Please educate yourself before speaking about countries you know nothing about. You might know your Comcast customers very well but I doubt you know""exactly" how people in Venezuela, Colombia or Brazil live.
What you see with your own eyes is not racism. I go into 300-400 houses per month, EVERY MONTH!! Saying all "blank" type of people are bad is racist, but saying "IN GENERAL" these type of people live like this based on real life experiences is not racism, it's fact.
I am not racist. Let me ask you a simple yes or no question. If zip code X has a 10 times higher crime rate than zip code Y and zip code X is 75% Lions, 20% Tigers and 5% Bears, while zip code Y is 5% Lions, 70% Tigers and 25% Bears, is it discriminatory to say Lions tend in general to commit more crimes?
To say all Lions are bad would be discriminatory, to say Lions tend to commit more crimes would be based on fact and not discriminatory.
It's unnecessary. Instead of concentrating on the fact that Middle class is shrinking in Broward because the cost of living keeps rising, you are turning this into a race bashing threat. How does that piece of information help? (the type of people who live in those neighborhoods)? Does it help us identify criminals? Are all black people criminals? Are all criminals black? I don't think so. The color of their skin adds nothing to this discussion.
I bet everyone in this thread $100 million that Enigma777 is himself-herself an immigrant or son or daughter of Latin immigrants. To people like Enigma777, Miami is a paradise beucase of where they came from, in the 3rd world, most likely Cuba, Colombia or Venezuela.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enigma777
I like South Fla as well. People seem to have a need to justify how wonderful it is where they live by denigrating other places. Some of these posts are disgustingly racist as well. It is pretty simple--if you want to live as if in the midwest or deep south--live in the midwest or south. Stay there. If you want to live in a place that legalizes discrimination, where a powerful corrupt sheriff is not in jail, but should be, and where you should have your "papers" on you at all time as if in Nazi Germany, live in Arizona. If you don't like South Fla, just don't go there, but please stop trying to insult the entire population of South Fla just to feel better about yourselves. We that like South Fla also are glad that the naysayers who hate South Fla leave--it's a nicer place without them. They could post their "I hate Broward or Miami" threads in their own boring state forum, but they do not get that feeling of self-serving superiority they get by posting in Florida forums.
If people were just happy and secure with the geographical choices they have made, they would not feel the need to denigrate others who choose to live in Miami and Broward because it is an exciting diverse area with beautiful beaches and a multitude of activities and which draws world reknown figures such as David Beckham to invest in its future. If I had to choose who is wiser--the people who are constantly denigrating South Fla or smart successful people like David Beckham--I'll go with Beckham.
I don't know about Beckham, but for the most part, it seems that celebrities who move to South Florida do so for short periods of time, making a big splash with a high end home purchase, and an appearance or two on South Beach. It seems like it's usually a second or temporary home, that they sell within a few years and then move on, not even spending much time in the area. Of course, I'm talking about celebs that come from elsewhere, not those with ties to the area like the Estefans, Iglesias, Burt Reynolds, etc.
And then there's Gianni Versace, who did seem to like the area, but was unfortunately forced to move on against his will.
One thing that always struck me about South Florida was how there was almost no transition between a decent neighborhood and a bad one. The switch from one to the other was/is abrupt.
You're right, though, it's no longer an area for middle class folks, what's left of them. And of course, the more crowded an area gets, the more the quality of life declines. There are a number of urban and even suburban areas of the US that have gone into the crapper, seems like it has all happened so fast.
Addressing these two points, which I believe are accurate and perceptive:
Regarding the first point, I think of the High Ridge neighborhood in southeast Pompano Beach, a few blocks west of Federal Highway; my wife grew up there in the '60s and '70s and she still has friends there. It hasn't changed much over the years and is still pretty nice. It tends toward upper-middle class -- it probably takes at least an upper-five-figure income to buy a home there -- and some of the houses are on the water. But the most dangerous areas of Pompano Beach are only a few miles away. That has always been the case and people are used to it. The problem now is that areas a mile or so west of High Ridge (which are also directly west of nice areas like Cypress Harbor and Garden Isles, for anyone who knows Pompano) have been in a slow, steady decline over the years to the point that they're sketchy at best. The still-nice areas and declining areas are within walking distance of each other, and the folks in the nicer neighborhoods are worried. One of my wife's old friends in High Ridge is strongly considering a move to North Carolina or Tennessee when he retires in a few years and I asked him, half-jokingly, about the cold and snow they've had up there this year and whether that would be a deterrent. I will not print his response regarding what is gradually happening to the areas to the west of his home out of fear that it would be inflammatory or worse, but suffice it to say that he wouldn't mind leaving here and dealing with occasional cold weather.
Regarding the second point: I argued back in 2005-2008, when people were leaving the area because of hurricanes, high insurance costs and taxes and the housing bust, that a population decline would not necessarily be a bad thing for Broward. More than 1.5 million people in Broward are squeezed into a narrow corridor between the ocean and Everglades and the infrastructure really can't support it; neither can the county's economy, which is so dependent on real estate, development and the travel industry. And I'm not sure I'd trust Broward's county commission, which reminds me of a stereotypical condo board, to run a lemonade stand, let alone a big urban area. I really thought back then that Broward's population could decline 10 percent and it could be positive in the long run. But based on the figures I've seen, the population is growing again. As Kmarc pointed out, it's not just happening here. I have family in Arizona and have been visiting Phoenix off and on since the early '90s. That metro area now has almost 4 million people and isn't nearly as desirable as it was 20 years ago, although it still has a lot going for it.
Last edited by Papillons2; 02-23-2014 at 08:20 PM..
Addressing these two points, which I believe are accurate and perceptive:
Regarding the first point, I think of the High Ridge neighborhood in southeast Pompano Beach, a few blocks west of Federal Highway; my wife grew up there in the '60s and '70s and she still has friends there. It hasn't changed much over the years and is still pretty nice. It tends toward upper-middle class -- it probably takes at least an upper-five-figure income to buy a home there -- and some of the houses are on the water. But the most dangerous areas of Pompano Beach are only a few miles away. That has always been the case and people are used to it. The problem now is that areas a mile or so west of High Ridge (which are also directly west of nice areas like Cypress Harbor and Garden Isles, for anyone who knows Pompano) have been in a slow, steady decline over the years to the point that they're sketchy at best. The still-nice areas and declining areas are within walking distance of each other, and the folks in the nicer neighborhoods are worried. One of my wife's old friends in High Ridge is strongly considering a move to North Carolina or Tennessee when he retires in a few years and I asked him, half-jokingly, about the cold and snow they've had up there this year and whether that would be a deterrent. I will not print his response regarding what is gradually happening to the areas to the west of his home out of fear that it would be inflammatory or worse, but suffice it to say that he wouldn't mind leaving here and dealing with occasional cold weather.
Regarding the second point: I argued back in 2005-2008, when people were leaving the area because of hurricanes, high insurance costs and taxes and the housing bust, that a population decline would not necessarily be a bad thing for Broward. More than 1.5 million people in Broward are squeezed into a narrow corridor between the ocean and Everglades and the infrastructure really can't support it; neither can the county's economy, which is so dependent on real estate, development and the travel industry. And I'm not sure I'd trust Broward's county commission, which reminds me of a stereotypical condo board, to run a lemonade stand, let alone a big urban area. I really thought back then that Broward's population could decline 10 percent and it could be positive in the long run. But based on the figures I've seen, the population is growing again. As Kmarc pointed out, it's not just happening here. I have family in Arizona and have been visiting Phoenix off and on since the early '90s. That metro area now has almost 4 million people and isn't nearly as desirable as it was 20 years ago, although it still has a lot going for it.
The snow and ice doesn't last long in NC, so it's bearable and indeed, it can be enjoyable for brief periods of time. We're thinking the same along the same relocation lines.
The Tampa Tribune has an article that portends more misery for Florida residents, which has to do with an influx of wealthy immigrants from various parts of Asia. This is a double whammy for the middle and lower middle class, because you now have poorer, working immigrants the employment of which cuts wages, and then the wealthier immigrants whose real estate purchases drive up housing costs.
South Florida has probably reached or exceeded its carrying capacity in terms of resources such as water, etc. Really the state should be split in two, north and south, because the next move will be to suck out the northern half's water resources to benefit the south.
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