Fort Lauderdale = Overpopulation ... Traffic ... Etc? (Miami: condos, high school, moving)

[Emil Torres]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

The last poster presented an anti-immigrant viewpoint, but I guess you don't consider that judgemental. Only if I take the opposite side that diversity is good can I be judgemental. Right?

My argument is that people on here have unreasonable expectations of what they think Fort Lauderdale is supposed to be. This area is not, and has never been, "traditional America". It has always been a place of great diversity, transients, immigrants, and people from elsewhere. If you are not into such diversity, why would you spend time complaining and whining about the people here? Why not look elsewhere in the U.S.?

I read nothing anti-immigrant about the post you responded to. On the contraty, your post was hostile and very racist.

[Emil Torres]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

how could you not be supportive of your city being successful and growing in stature?

What do you think makes a city grow in stature? Is it shiny new buildings for the exclusive use of owners who are part of global elite class?

[ruski]

Originally Posted by Emil Torres

What do you think makes a city grow in stature? Is it shiny new buildings for the exclusive use of owners who are part of global elite class?

Oh noes, this is heading toward "proletarians of all the world, unite!". Let's sing some International, shall we? And then we can go confiscate the shiny new buildings and redistribute the wealth.

[Emil Torres]

Originally Posted by ruski

Oh noes, this is heading toward "proletarians of all the world, unite!". Let's sing some International, shall we? And then we can go confiscate the shiny new buildings and redistribute the wealth.

Lol you are making Miami number one on these lists!

[Papillons2]

Originally Posted by Ben Barbosa

Traffic has almost doubled since I moved here eight years ago.

In reviewing the original post, this statement sticks out. Do you have statistics to back this up, and can you post them?

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Sure I could pop into Southport and see Buddy (the owner) or a few familiar faces but seeing the crowds on 17th or Las Olas it just seemed very out of touch to me.

I think Las Olas, or Colee Hammock is a lot more local than you think. It has a very close, community feel.

I see the same people at church that I see walking their dogs or at the Winn Dixie or out at dinner.

[Nolefan34]

So you hate Fort Lauderdale currently, but you don't want any new development to change it? Makes sense. I guess they should just give up and not build anything new because that would be for the "global elitists"?

[Nolefan34]

Originally Posted by JohnD_fla

"Anti-immigrant" perhaps in your mindscape, but incorrect nonetheless. The post was simply an observation of cultural change in progress. It is not true that this area has "always been a place of great diversity", for transients, immigrants, and people from elsewhere. Go back far enough in time, not too far though...say, the 1950s through the early 1960s and you will see the evidence. If you search through some of the antique shops in Dania you can still find some of the "whites only" and "Gentiles only"-type signs that used to be all over Fort Lauderdale beach and Miami Beach back in the day available for sale as novelty items. Even Diana Ross and the Supremes, the #1 pop music act in the country back in the mid 60s, were told that they could not stay in any of the hotels on the beach and were relegated to staying in a dive in Overtown while they were on tour and performing for the privileged guests in the ritzy south Florida beach hotels. If you were a person of color working in certain areas you had to have a pass, and you had to be out of there by 6PM. Go back just a little further and you will find that there were a LOT of lynchings and a disproportionate number of eminent domain seizures of black people's property in south Florida's past.

This area was very much 'traditional America' until around the late 1970s through the early 1980s. This was when the demographics really began to change---slow at first, and then dramatically over the years that followed. There is a LOT of sordid history here, my friend. And a lot of it best remains untold. My point is that this area was not always as diverse and welcoming and tolerant as you seem to believe. I don't think that anyone here has expressed unreasonable expectations of what they think that Fort Lauderdale is 'supposed to be'. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that people have strong opinions about what Fort Lauderdale pretends to be. Its now 2016, and mainstream Hispanic culture is now dominant in southeast Florida, white people are still moving north, and black people are still experiencing a lot of racism (oh God, the plethora of this that abounds!). It is important that people who read these forums and are relying on the information to determine whether they move here or not understand that southeast Florida is not El Dorado as so many people try to make it seem. There's nothing wrong with describing something the way it actually is.

So by reading your comments, Fort Lauderdale was a better place when there were "whites only" signs and it was "traditional America"?

Fort Lauderdale barely existed much before WW2 similar to Miami. It was all built on northern tourists coming down here to vacation. Then there was a huge Cuban influx in the 50's and 60's. Are you telling me the area was all white then?

[Emil Torres]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

So by reading your comments, Fort Lauderdale was a better place when there were "whites only" signs and it was "traditional America"?

Fort Lauderdale barely existed much before WW2 similar to Miami. It was all built on northern tourists coming down here to vacation. Then there was a huge Cuban influx in the 50's and 60's. Are you telling me the area was all white then?

Seems you are angrily replying to well-worded thoughts and imagining racist undertones. No one said anything like your "whites only" comment. There is something very ignorant and racist in accusing someone of racist remarks when there are none there.

[Ben Barbosa]

Let us all hope and pray Trump wins the election and puts a stoppage to the massive unchecked illegal immigration influx happening now since the early 1980s ......