| quote | Originally posted by williegoat:
Rayb hasn't changed his tune since 1968. He was a spoiled kid who never had to grow up. Winters in South Florida, summers on the U.P.
He thinks that because he went to grade school in Miami, he knows the old Old South. He even said that Florida is a border state.
I know better. I was born in Jacksonville, raised in Pensacola and live in Arizona. We have a town in Arizona called Miami and it is more like the old south now than Miami Florida was 60 years ago.
Florida is the only state where the further south you go, the further north you get. Florida people will know just what I mean. |
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Yeah... as Randye said... South Florida essentially used to be predominantly very "New York."
It's changed a lot though in the past 30 years since I moved down there. It's definitely not "the old South" as Ray eludes to... but it's different than being predominantly New York. You always had the Cuban influence of course... but now South Florida is basically where the wealthy and successful have come to escape Communism and Socialism. All the ultra-wealthy from Argentina (pre-Milei), Venezuela, etc.. There's even a massive European population there as well... and it's been growing steadily over the 30 years. My uncle was actually the Dutch Consular there. There's a huge Dutch, German, French, and British population there... there's also a very large contingent of Russians there. They have a whole thing set up where they've bought out half of a condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach (and run the HOA in the tower). They bring pregnant girls from Russia to Miami, they give birth in the United States, and then become U.S. citizens as a result of it. There's also a huge Asian community, though not at all like San Francisco... but mostly Vietnamese, Thai, Laos, etc.
Anyway, Miami is pretty wild now... most of the New Yorkers have moved up further north to places like Deerfield Beach, or Boynton Beach. Obviously, within the last 4 years, we've gotten a massive influx (over 2 million) from people in the mid-west, East Coast, etc.
If I didn't already own a home down there that I got in 2003, it would be seriously unlikely I'd be able to afford something nice down there.
EDIT: to say that South Florida has been shifting Republican. Broward is still a little more than half Democrat... but Miami Dade is now a majority Republican, and the city of Miami of course is very Republican... which probably drives Ray nuts. But the city has seen a renaissance in the past several years. There are more sky scrapers going up in the next 3-4 years than ever existed there in totality before. There is so much money there...
[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 05-13-2024).]