I'm not from Florida, rather a life long Californian. When I did visit Florida once I was absolutely struck by how many obese people all around. I have never seen a state so overweight. Saw this piece today on another message board this morning. I pasted below (not written by me!) Any truth to this stuff? OWP http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/05/florida-will-be-next-california.html#comments "Miami is one of the most disgusting urban pits I have ever seen in my life. Outside of a couple of small pockets like the Grove, and the Beach, there's no urban streetlife there whatsoever, just mile after mile of endless ugly urban sprawl." "Many people want to be there because it's warm year round, and it has a nice beach, not because of business, unless you are trading with Latin America. The downtown central business district is like a deserted concrete wasteland. There are no people on the street even at lunch time. It's bizarre. I hate the place. To me, it's not even a real city. Places like New York, Montreal, Boston, Philly, San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore are cities. Miami is not a city. It's a collection of ugly streets and buildings where virtually no one wants to be if they don't have to." "Miami Beach is exciting, but it's just a big tourist trap, just as it always has been. Outside of restaurants, bars and hotels, there are no businesses there. It's economy is a derivative leveraged on the world economy. When the world does well, the Beach does extra well. But when things go bad, the collapse will hit there twice as hard. There is no way the market can absorb all these units within a feasible time period without the benefit of massive speculation. Natural population growth and immigration won't do it." "Oh, and did I mention that Miami has the highest rate of violent crime in the US?" "I've lived in South Florida for over 17 years. There's no sense of "place" here. Just a homogeneous sameness that goes on for mile after mile after mile of flat, straight, endless, six lane arteries arranged in a grid." "People who are infatuated with Miami are actually talking about Miami Beach, which is a separate municipality. There, it's all about the beach and showing off your money. Pretty shallow. Culture? What's that? Being seen courtside at a Heat game?" "Miami Dade County has a population of well over 2 million and has a grand total of three institutions of higher learning, two of which no one ever heard of. One is the University of Miami, the other two are FIU and Barry. Ever heard of them? The city I came from which is half the size of Dade County, has, just within the city limits, 11 universities and colleges I can think of just off the top of my head, not to mention 5 medical schools. That doesn't include another 9 or ten colleges in the suburbs." "Once my wife and I went to the "art museum" in Fort Lauderdale. Their main exhibit was an exhibition on lawns. Yes, you read that right. L-A-W-N-S. Two thirds of the "art museum" was devoted to samples of different types of lawns, and a documentary history of lawns in America." "Don't even ask me about the Swimming Hall of Fame." "South Florida is a vast cultural wasteland." "Florida the next California? Wishful thinking. Forgetting this current mania, there have been some very fundamentally sound economic reasons why California has risen to its level of prominence." "California has been the progenitor of a great many economic trends in the U.S.---technology, biotech, entertainment, agribusiness, viticulture, to name just a few. These industries have changed the world. For most of the past century, it has attracted smart, entrepreneurial people who have found it a hospitable place for new ideas." "An important component of California's success has been its strong universities, such as Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, USC, UC San Francisco, which have attracted some of the best and brightest from all over the world." "IMO, the only thing that California and Florida have in common is decent weather. Florida is dumbbell-land. Higher education there is subpar, to be charitable. It's primary contribution to our culture is likely the invention of the early-bird dinner. Aside from its supposed position as the "gateway" to Latin America, there is no "there" there in Florida." "Whether California's future will be as bright as its past is open to conjecture. But the thought that Florida will ever exhibit the same economic and cultural leadership that California has is a pipe dream." "Much of Florida for 5-6 months is humidity hell and not pleasant at all unless you are into water sports or the beach but since many come from the northeast and don't know any better it seems like heaven especially in the winter. California to me has the incredible weather for almost any activity year round." "I hear it said often that Florida will be the next California. All the pimps making that quote are totally naive or brainwashed by the recent boom here. If anything this boom attracts a lot more of the lower end and less educated due to the tons of jobs in the RE industry and tourism. Florida is down near the bottom in education and it's ranking of Fourtune 1000 companies for being the fourth most populated state is abysmal." "Worst K-12 public education system in the country (or 49th out of 50.)"
Quite a bit of truth to this. And to all the self-righteous, being PC for the sake of being PC people on this thread. I would love to see some low class cubans and/or haitians move into your neighborhood, or worse yet, next to you!! These self righteous idiots will be the first ones to cry foul and do a 180 with their position.
Sure there is truth to this......but obviously written by somebody who can only see the dark side. I prescribe Prozac or Wellbutrin. Miami is an infant city, not comparable to New York or Chicago. Chicago rocks but get a few blocks from the lake and its miles of ghetto. Miami is a bit like LA.....no culture out there either.
No doubt about the culture of downtown LA being devoid...just no one there after work gets out. No one actually lives in downtown LA. People go to Pasadena, etc for night life.
miami has nice restaurants, it will soon have a nice art center for operas and musicals ( being constructed ) , it has nice beaches, nice woman, nice clubs,it is a gateway to latin america, Miami beach has plenty of nice stores, we have the grove, coral gables, key biscayne all beautiful areas....we have disney 3 hours away, the keys 150 miles away....the jewel of the Caribbean 90 miles away from the keys and we have more cruise ships than new york and chicago put together, we have marinas galore, sailboaters, wind surfing, water skiing, great night life, good sports....and best part about it...we have dem damn CUBANS...and i want to see the stats on the violent crime...I highly doubt it.... and for crying out loud....florida has the best college football in the USA.....starting with UM and ending with FSU....which are also great schools...
El Cubano and I are on the same wavelength, but I suspect we made some major decisions a few years ago when things truly WERE horrible in many parts of town. Jackedup has never been the same since Versace was killed and they closed all the gay clubs. My sympathies Jacked!