An opinion of Miami...

[Guest pod]

Forget Will Smith's 1998 hit "Miami", forget Miami Vice and forget

those glossy images of Miami Beach......

In reality, there are 2 versions of Miami: there's the Miami you see

on TV, which is mostly Miami Beach, then there's the rest of Miami - a

bland, urban landscape littered with apartment buildings that look

like cheap motels, gas stations, tacky strip malls, Publix

supermarkets (Publix are the only real chain here), endless fast food

restaurants, warehouses and cheap looking business parks. The version

of Miami you don't see on the TV is version 2 (an urban wasteland),

where poverty, crime and inequality are rife and where the streets are

literally choked with traffic. If you're poor, you'll live in a shack

or an efficiency, or if you're lucky, you'll live in one of those

apartment buildings that look like cheap motels with tiny windows and

no view. There is no middle class here anymore, but if you have a

little money, you'll probably have paid over $400k for a box-like

house, somewhere in the depths of Kendall or Homestead on SW 2,005,442

Street and 1,245,667 Ave, dealing with a 2 hour commute every day.

You're led to believe that Miami is some sort of tropical paradise,

full of beautiful beaches, great nightlife, great women and that Miami

is simply bubbling with culture. Sure, it has palm trees and the

nightlife is great, if you're prepared to shell out well over $200 to

go to one of the clubs on South Beach. Miami is no paradise though -

in fact, it's about as far from being a "paradise" as you can get.

You'd think that with the tropical climate, people would have

beautiful and lush gardens, but in reality, people here tear down

trees and plants and replace them with asphalt and concrete. Miami is

no paradise - it has become a third world banana republic that broke

away from the United States a long time ago.

Miami is a city with some of the worst traffic in North America. The

roads here are inadequate, sub standard and generally f**ked up.

Construction here takes 1,000 times longer than it does in the rest of

the United States. Drivers here are amongst the rudest in the

country. Not only are the drivers here rude, but they're downright

reckless too. They drive like maniacs in their Ford F150s, Dodge Rams

or Honda Civics, with reggaeton blasting. This is a city with far too

many "hit and run" type accidents - in other words, not only will they

run you over, but they'll drive off, because that's what cowardly

bastards do. But you only have to look at how easy the driving test

is here and how they hand out licenses to anyone, even non-legal

aliens who probably have no concept of what an expressway is.

For a metropolitan area of well over 5 million people, public

transportation here is nothing short of a joke. You have one MetroRail

line going north to south and it doesn't even serve anywhere west of

the airport (where the bulk of the population of Dade County live).

You're forced to use your car because there's no other choice, unless

you just so happen to live close to the Metro Rail, or can afford one

of those overly priced condos in Brickell (south of Downtown).

Customer service in general here is far worse than ANYWHERE in the

United States and there's a general lack of quality and efficiency

here that commonplace in the rest of this great country. Many people

in this city are simply out to rip you of, including mechanics,

doctors, vets and dentists. During the 4 years that I've lived here,

I have never encountered so many shady so-called health professionals

as I have here in Miami. As for customer service, forget it, unless

you speak fluent ghetto-Spanish. It's got to the point where I drive

up to West Palm Beach (a good 2 hour drive) in order to get good

customer service (West Palm Beach feels like part of the United

States, unlike Miami-Dade).

As for Miami being paradise, I suggest that if you're staying in Miami

Beach, take a drive across the causeway and you'll stumble upon the

"urban wasteland" that I despise so much. There is truly nothing here

- nothing in terms of parks, museums or infrastructure. Take a drive

through Hialeah, Opa Locka, anywhere "NW" or Overtown and you'll feel

like you're either in a slum part of Tijuana, a run down part of

Kingston, Jamaica or a miscellaneous Latin American hell-hole.

Don't get me started on Downtown Miami either - the place is a mess.

You'd think that for such an "important" city, it'd have at least a

decent-looking Downtown. Miami's Downtown looks like something out of

a zombie movie - deserted after 7pm, full of beggars and vagrants and

downright dangerous. There's no real retail, other than a Macy's and

hundreds of cheap electrical and luggage stores run by shady people.

I don't blame the homeless for being there - they have nowhere else

to. Housing here is completely unaffordable, at best, because Miami

is a city for the rich.

[Guest pod]

The new condo buildings here are nothing short of a disgrace. They are

poorly designed, bland and they all look the same as the next condo.

It's sad that this city's skyline will be shaped by bland condo

buildings for decades to come - condo buildings that may not even sell

as the condo boom will surely go bust at some point. It seems that

this city builds and builds and builds without giving thought to

investing in transport infrastructure or helping its real citizens

that are the bread and butter of its economy. All the "boom' is doing

is driving up the cost of housing even further, flooding the market

with housing stock that it doesn't need, when it really needs

affordable housing stock.

Let's take a realistic look at Miami's often hyped skyline. The

skyline looks pretty at times (especially at night), but there are

basically just two tall office buildings Downtown (one is extremely

ugly, i.e. the Bank Of America Tower). You have the Four Seasons Tower

in Brickell, but that's just a plain old "box". The rest of the

skyline is littered with condominiums that are all carbon copies of

the next condominium - how interesting, huh?

You have a genuine lack of zoning in Miami, hence the fact that

despite having a (run down) Downtown district, there is no real

commercial center and business are spread out randomly across the

city, which probably doesn't help the traffic problem.

An article on [www.local10.com stated that more people are fleeing

South Florida than are coming here and that's an indication of how fed

up people are with this place and it's unjustly high cost of living.

This is a city where incomes are amongst the lowest in the United

States while more of your salary will go on housing (rent or mortgage

payments) than anywhere else in the country. I wouldn't mind such a

high cost of living if I was living in Manhattan, LA, Paris or London

but not in Miami - an overbuilt swamp town at the ass-end of Florida.

In reality, Miami is no more "special" than anywhere else in Florida,

i.e. Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando and to be honest, I'd rather live

in any of those cities because at least I'd get my money's worth.

The climate is what brings a lot of people here, but the climate

sucks. For six months of the year, it rains more than it rains in

Seattle. You have the risk of being hit by a hurricane too and this

place has flooded more times than I care to remember. If so much as a

tropical storm hits, it renders thousands of people without power for

sometimes as long as 5 weeks. If a hurricane hits, forget it - the

weak-ass power grid just crumbles. Then you have the constant humidity

and the many bugs that are only too eager to bite.

Corruption is rife here, but the people seem to continue to vote for

the same inadequate, corrupt politicians. This is a city where

millions of dollars assigned to affordable housing projects

mysteriously "disappears". This is a city where greedy developers

line the pockets of politicians to get their projects approved. This

is a city where third world mentality prevails, including corruption

(something you'd be used to in a country like Colombia, but not in the

United States).

[Guest pod]

The biggest problem with Miami though is the people. I can honestly

say that I have NEVER seen such a high percentage of complete and

utter scumbags of the worst kind contained in one metropolitan area.

Miami has a prevailing "ghetto" attitude, whether rich or poor. Many

people here not only can't speak English, but many refuse to speak

English and refuse to assimilate into mainstream American society. I

have found the majority of people in Miami to be shallow, superficial

(even more so than Los Angeles), loud, obnoxious, rude and

manipulative. This city is full of liars, cheats and thieves of the

lowest form - thieves who will steal bottled water from an old lady

(my mother in law, for instance). The Latin races here generally hate

one another, i.e. Cubans hate Puerto Ricans, Puerto Ricans hate

Cubans, Cubans hate Nicaraguans, etc, etc, etc. Not only that, but I

find many Latinos here to be extremely racist towards black people.

I've mentioned the drivers here, but I'll mention them again - they

suck. I've experienced a lot of road rage here first hand and I see

absolutely horrible and reckless driving on a daily basis on my

commute to work. At work, there is no professionalism and the ghetto

culture has well and truly infested the workplace. Most jobs

advertised here require you to be bilingual (Spanish), which is a joke

considering that this is the United States. Some of the Latinos here

take pride in the fact that they've driven the "gringos' away. Many

think that Americans are dull and boring and somehow inferior to

them. However, many of the people are no different from your average

piece of trailer trash; just replace country music with reggaeton and

Budweiser with Presidente. People here in general are extremely

uneducated and boy, it shows! Most of the morons here have probably

never even read a book and probably never will, unless Daddy Yankee

releases an autobiography with lots of pretty pictures in it. In

short, Miami is just one big sprawling ghetto, filled with people that

are quite simply the lowest of the low. Humanity doesn't exist here -

you could be dying in the street and no one would stop to help you.

Most people here don't have money, but they love to pretend that they

do, driving expensive cars, living it large on South Beach, while

still living with their parents and countless other family members in

a two bedroom apartment in Hialeah. I honestly don't know what's

worse here - the rich, or the wannabe rich. People here are all about

"me, me, me", hence the fact that I often call this place "MiaME".

As for solutions to solve Miami's problems - well, let's just say that

I am open to other people's opinions here. To solve the problems in

Miami, you'd probably have to kick out 80% of the population and

replace them with good, honest, educated and hard working Americans.

In all seriousness, a good start would be investing heavily in

transport infrastructure, affordable housing projects and creating

parks and other recreational areas. I would also clamp down on

reckless drivers and I'd introduce a mandatory life sentence for

causing death by "hit and run". I would install speed cameras on

major highways and traffic cameras on major intersections. I would

make English MANDATORY and I would not allow employers to advertise

jobs with "bilingual" as a requirement, unless it's a multi-national

firm. I would give companies financial incentives to relocate

Downtown and speaking of Downtown Miami, I'd encourage development

there in terms of retail malls, cinemas and department stores.

Unfortunately, the "me me me" attitude prevails here as does the

ghetto attitude, so I don't see things improving anytime soon.

I know that many will attack me for these opinions on such a highly

regarded place, but I don't care. I live here and work here and I

write this based on not only my opinion, but the opinion of many

others who have lived here all their life and hate Miami with a

passion. Sure, this is a great "party city", but it's not such a great

place to live for many people here who are struggling with the high

(and ever increasing) cost of living. To me, Miami seems like it's

rotten to the core and maybe even beyond repair. Miami has no soul or

vibe - it's just a big over-sized ghetto wasteland / South Florida

swamp town, filled with America's least desirable people.

Original: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472414

via: http://stuckonthepalmetto.blogspot.com/

[ryan2772]

i'm assuming you wrote this, pod?

[Guest pod]

Nope. I put the original link in while you replied.

I don't agree with a lot of this, actually.

You know me, I'm "rah rah rah Miami" most of the time.

[Guest Seb]

I couldn't get past the 3rd paragraph. Such a ray of sunshine that was

[ryan2772]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

what a complete douchebag!

hahahahahaha

[Guest pod]

Seems like a big crybaby to me. Hell, you're probably as white as he is and I don't see you bitching. ;D

[ryan2772]

Seems like a big crybaby to me. Hell, you're probably as white as he is and I don't see you bitching. ;D

yeah man exactly. i've been here my whole life. it's not perfect, but nowhere is. everywhere has its ghettos. and there are SO many nice, amazing even, parts of miami.

people just love to bitch. this guy was probably literally crying as he wrote it. i think he should leave and not look back.

[Guest pod]

It's written by an Englishman, oddly enough. I know an Englishman who has lived here as long as me, and loves it.

[Guest coach]

"Please move to Idaho."

[Guest eroc0411]

So if MIAMI was 2 stay like this for the next 50 yrs all u ppl would be content???

or are u content NOW because u know in 5-10 yrs the future of Miami should be pretty bright???

[Guest pod]

Well, my take is that Miami certainly needs improving in areas like roads, public works, mass transit, and urban planning.

The one thing I do not want to see, however, is Miami made into this carbon-copy of say, Atlanta or something, where you're "urban", but it's a sanitized version of an urban environment that's about as fun as a trip to Wal-Mart.

Eroc, I don't think anyone on here is opposed to making Miami a better place, but not at the expense of it's character, and yes, some of what you new people would consider annoyances give Miami it's character.

[Guest eroc0411]

well pod u and i are pretty lucki... I live on the beach which 2 me is pretty much paradise... U live in the design district which is becoming a great neighborhood... But my brother lives on flagler and 97th... works in the airport... should be a 10 min. commute(it is at night, Takes him an hr or more everyday. If u paid me 500k to live where he lives, i would say no!!... The traffic, the fact that u can't walk anywhere i would be beyond miserable.(Why i left a higher payin job in NY.. Now imagine if u actually lived in or close 2 liberty city, overtown u couldn't wait fast enough 2 get the fuck out of there... Again U and I live pretty good in decent areas so we're spoiled.. I tell every 1 how great Miami is, but just recently i started 2 realize that Miami is way bigger then just south beach, design district, and brickell... U know...

I think miami #1 problem is transportation... And if we had more cops on the highways pulling ppl over, w/ that money we could have a state of the art transportation system... And i don't even need a car where i live, i walk everywhere.. But from what i've seen...

[Guest pod]

Transit is key. With more and more people going to live in this county, the already overtaxed road network will grind to a halt. People need to ditch their NIMBY attitudes stat, and realize that an extensive transit network is a good thing. I think they tend to equate transit with noisy trains, and also bringing "undesirables" to their neighborhoods, since if you use transit, you're obviously poor, since after all, poor people are evil.

My response to noisy trains:

New Metro-style trains are real quiet.

[Guest Ryan EliteEnt]

Well I love Miami. I live right on the beach and it’s great. But I can agree with Alot of what is said (most of it). There is a lot wrong with Miami and it would be nice to see it change. Every city has its down falls, but I do think Miami has a lot that others don’t. Only like to see it change, because I love Miami.

[Guest Buck White]

At first I thought you wrote this too...until he said something about his mother in law. I absolutely love it here...but everything he mentioned here is entirely accurate. In fact, I reread the entire thing after seeing how people were responding so negatively to it. We espouse these same sentiments...on these boards...everyday. It's the truth as he sees it. It's his goddamn opinion...albeit a pretty accurate one as far as I'm concerned. Is this all in his mind ? None of this is true, yeah ? And I love how dude waited for confirmation that Pod, in fact, DID NOT write this before he let the douchebag comment fly. What a f*cking joke.

[Guest pod]

Like I said before, if anything, I'm one of the area's biggest civic boosters. It was just a huge-ass post, and I was putting the link in when Ryan responded.

Though I do have moments when I'm like "What the fuck is wrong with this place?"

;D

[Guest jamu]

I have been in some great cities before, Toronto, Detriot, Chicago, Washington DC, San Juan, Medellin, New Orleans, and Bombay. Nothing has ever compared to Miami. I love this city. I pretty much grew up here. As far as I am concerned they can kiss my hispanic A*S. And if we really are in the middle of over crowding I am all for getting rid of the people b*tching all the time. That should clear out enough room for the people that actually love it here.

Sorry POD but I couldn't read more then the first page. I wanted to send the guy that wrote that a plane ticket to somewhere like Rochester NY. One of the most boring cities I have ever been in.

[Guest coach]

So if MIAMI was 2 stay like this for the next 50 yrs all u ppl would be content???

or are u content NOW because u know in 5-10 yrs the future of Miami should be pretty bright???

Jeez, dude, why don't you just freaking move? I hear Boise is nice this time of year.

[Guest pod]

I don't know what to think with Eroc, sometimes. He hangs out in clubs like the rest of us, but at the same time, he seems to be on the side of shifty developers as well as Whitey.

[Guest eroc0411]

So if MIAMI was 2 stay like this for the next 50 yrs all u ppl would be content???

or are u content NOW because u know in 5-10 yrs the future of Miami should be pretty bright???

Jeez, dude, why don't you just freaking move? I hear Boise is nice this time of year.

Lol wait 17 ppl had something negative 2 say or agree w/ the article and yet u choose 2 single me out?... Kiss my ass... Twice buddie!... And y would i move... I live in paradise...

[Guest pod]

But what do you want for Paradise, is what I think he wants to know?

Do you want it so it's nothing but condos, Barnes & Nobles, Starbucks, and palm trees? Or would you rather have it edgy so at least you have something to tell all your friends back home about?

[Guest eroc0411]

I don't know what to think with Eroc, sometimes. He hangs out in clubs like the rest of us, but at the same time, he seems to be on the side of shifty developers as well as Whitey.

whitey... It seems my friend u need 2 see a psychologist and maybe take Varbarino w/ u (get that group discount!! ha!)... I dont know what whitey has done 2 u?.. But plz share, i wonder about the story?? As far as developers i really dont care what they do as long as it architecturally sound w/ the rest of the skyline...Just give me something beautiful 2 look at and enjoy...

fyi... Some of Miami biggest developers are latin... And it's biggest Jorge Perez...

[Guest ICON]

The thing about Miami is that you have to have patience... a fat wallet... not drive a lot... and more patience. For someone like me.. I work from home.. I dont drive that much. In fact, I bought my car 2 years ago and have a whopping 10,000 miles on it.... and i have drove to Tampa and back 4-5 times in it.

The service here does SUCK. Goto a restaurant and the service is fucking awful... but that brings back the "having patience" thing. I have patience because I am cramped up in my condo all day, so when I get the opportunity to go out to eat, or a movie or whatever.. the shitty service does not bother me.

For the traffic... I hate to say it... but EVERY FUCKING MAJOR CITY IN THE UNITED STATES HAS A TRAFFIC PROBLEM. I have lived in Orlando, Las Vegas, Tampa, Atlanta and other places and traffic sucks everywhere. Sure, it might be a little worse here, but thats the price to pay for living in South Florida.

For the homeless people... It is no different than any other major city in the United States. If he thinks the bums and crackheads are bad here... he needs to have a reality check and live in Vegas for a few years... There, you have crack heads that blow their money in a casino and who are very desperate... so that comment is lame.

I dont understand why people move to this city and bitch about it. Miami is unique. Something made these people want to move here. Is he saytiong that he used to watch TV all the time and see the TV side of Miami which made him want to move here? Shit, the TV makes Vegas look like paradise, but it is very far from it.

If you dont like it here... MOVE.. Get the fuck out. Leave.. and FUCK OFF... stop bitching you bunch of pussies.