Miami: Screwed Again

It is not only disappointing to the residents of the City of Miami, it is unnacceptable, with thousands losing their jobs from government and no property tax relief. I cannot say that I am shocked becuase the City of Miami has the worst reputation around. It's too bad the real estate market is so horrible right now because I would sell my place & move in a heartbeat. Instead, I'm locked in. Just another embarrassing City of Miami crisis.

This all confirms what I have grown to believe after many years in Miami. This city is run for the people who run it -the taxpayers are here to fund their projects for their friends, their non accountable jobs, their lavish benefits (unavailable in the private sector) Those of us who resisted some of the developement that has taken place over the past 3/4 years were told that it was great for tax revenues. Now that tax revenues have tripled MIami seems to have an army of sometimes incoherent and incompetent bureaucrats whose salaries have doubled while the rest of us have run through our savings to pay tax and insurance increases that go to an insatiable government; I can t think of anything that s improved ; and try collecting on that insurance.
That said my experience as an urbanist suggests that this city will quickly become a place for rich and poor, and that these self serving politicians may want to think twice about sinking their own gravy boat; the tax paying middle is quickly leaving. The schools are a joke,nobody wants to send their kids to them,there s no transportation except automobiles and all the developement has crowded the roads and the existing parking is of course all metered so the city can stuff it s pockets further. The real estate market isn t just flooded with people hoping to sell and get out of here, it s also flooded with the kind of small 4-8-plexes that provide most of the low-income housing. Nobody is buying these small buildings because the taxes make it impossible to profit from them. The South Bronx became New York s worst slum because of bad policy: the owners abandoned the buildings they couldn t afford to operate or sell .
Most cities and regions try to attract business and their middle class propreitors. Miami is a hostile place for business and middle class people. I believe they will pay a high price for this policy down the road.
Instead it attracts the poor and uneducated who accept the kind of living conditions provided by unprofitable (and therefore badly maintained) housing. But it repels the kind of people who might generate jobs for these people.It also attracts the big developers who can manipulate our (their) politicians to create projects like the Carnival Center (which cost more than the so-criticized Embassy in Bagdad, (and 400% more than it was supposed to), or the American Airlines Arena, which flies in the face of the fundamental tenets of urbanism, and even it s own stated goals of 'bringing people downtown'.
Over the past 15 years I ve fixed up 8 properties in then-dodgy neighborhoods on the Beach and in the Biscayne corridor. The money I ve made, meant as a retirement fund, is all gone now to taxes and insurance. I know that the politicians don t care about me , and that they don t appreciate what I and many other s like me have done to improve Miami. And I don t think they particularly care that we re all leaving either.
The creative/club community left the Beach in the mid to late 90's and moved to the mainland. Now we re being force out of here too. Creativity in Miami now is about the Carnival Ccenter and the Basel Art Fair; But the grass roots is outa here.
I end up feeling that The city of Miami isn t my ally , it s my adversary. And when I read about the phony tax reduction proposal, I feel disgusted and ripped off.

This all confirms what I have grown to believe after many years in Miami. This city is run for the people who run it -the taxpayers are here to fund their projects for their friends, their non accountable jobs, their lavish benefits (unavailable in the private sector) Those of us who resisted some of the developement that has taken place over the past 3/4 years were told that it was great for tax revenues. Now that tax revenues have tripled MIami seems to have an army of sometimes incoherent and incompetent bureaucrats whose salaries have doubled while the rest of us have run through our savings to pay tax and insurance increases that go to an insatiable government; I can t think of anything that s improved ; and try collecting on that insurance.
That said my experience as an urbanist suggests that this city will quickly become a place for rich and poor, and that these self serving politicians may want to think twice about sinking their own gravy boat; the tax paying middle is quickly leaving. The schools are a joke,nobody wants to send their kids to them,there s no transportation except automobiles and all the developement has crowded the roads and the existing parking is of course all metered so the city can stuff it s pockets further. The real estate market isn t just flooded with people hoping to sell and get out of here, it s also flooded with the kind of small 4-8-plexes that provide most of the low-income housing. Nobody is buying these small buildings because the taxes make it impossible to profit from them. The South Bronx became New York s worst slum because of bad policy: the owners abandoned the buildings they couldn t afford to operate or sell .
Most cities and regions try to attract business and their middle class propreitors. Miami is a hostile place for business and middle class people. I believe they will pay a high price for this policy down the road.
Instead it attracts the poor and uneducated who accept the kind of living conditions provided by unprofitable (and therefore badly maintained) housing. But it repels the kind of people who might generate jobs for these people.It also attracts the big developers who can manipulate our (their) politicians to create projects like the Carnival Center (which cost more than the so-criticized Embassy in Bagdad, (and 400% more than it was supposed to), or the American Airlines Arena, which flies in the face of the fundamental tenets of urbanism, and even it s own stated goals of 'bringing people downtown'.
Over the past 15 years I ve fixed up 8 properties in then-dodgy neighborhoods on the Beach and in the Biscayne corridor. The money I ve made, meant as a retirement fund, is all gone now to taxes and insurance. I know that the politicians don t care about me , and that they don t appreciate what I and many other s like me have done to improve Miami. And I don t think they particularly care that we re all leaving either.
The creative/club community left the Beach in the mid to late 90's and moved to the mainland. Now we re being force out of here too. Creativity in Miami now is about the Carnival Ccenter and the Basel Art Fair; But the grass roots is outa here.
I end up feeling that The city of Miami isn t my ally , it s my adversary. And when I read about the phony tax reduction proposal, I feel disgusted and ripped off.

This all confirms what I have grown to believe after many years in Miami. This city is run for the people who run it -the taxpayers are here to fund their projects for their friends, their non accountable jobs, their lavish benefits (unavailable in the private sector) Those of us who resisted some of the developement that has taken place over the past 3/4 years were told that it was great for tax revenues. Now that tax revenues have tripled MIami seems to have an army of sometimes incoherent and incompetent bureaucrats whose salaries have doubled while the rest of us have run through our savings to pay tax and insurance increases that go to an insatiable government; I can t think of anything that s improved ; and try collecting on that insurance.
That said my experience as an urbanist suggests that this city will quickly become a place for rich and poor, and that these self serving politicians may want to think twice about sinking their own gravy boat; the tax paying middle is quickly leaving. The schools are a joke,nobody wants to send their kids to them,there s no transportation except automobiles and all the developement has crowded the roads and the existing parking is of course all metered so the city can stuff it s pockets further. The real estate market isn t just flooded with people hoping to sell and get out of here, it s also flooded with the kind of small 4-8-plexes that provide most of the low-income housing. Nobody is buying these small buildings because the taxes make it impossible to profit from them. The South Bronx became New York s worst slum because of bad policy: the owners abandoned the buildings they couldn t afford to operate or sell .
Most cities and regions try to attract business and their middle class propreitors. Miami is a hostile place for business and middle class people. I believe they will pay a high price for this policy down the road.
Instead it attracts the poor and uneducated who accept the kind of living conditions provided by unprofitable (and therefore badly maintained) housing. But it repels the kind of people who might generate jobs for these people.It also attracts the big developers who can manipulate our (their) politicians to create projects like the Carnival Center (which cost more than the so-criticized Embassy in Bagdad, (and 400% more than it was supposed to), or the American Airlines Arena, which flies in the face of the fundamental tenets of urbanism, and even it s own stated goals of 'bringing people downtown'.
Over the past 15 years I ve fixed up 8 properties in then-dodgy neighborhoods on the Beach and in the Biscayne corridor. The money I ve made, meant as a retirement fund, is all gone now to taxes and insurance. I know that the politicians don t care about me , and that they don t appreciate what I and many other s like me have done to improve Miami. And I don t think they particularly care that we re all leaving either.
The creative/club community left the Beach in the mid to late 90's and moved to the mainland. Now we re being force out of here too. Creativity in Miami now is about the Carnival Ccenter and the Basel Art Fair; But the grass roots is outa here.
I end up feeling that The city of Miami isn t my ally , it s my adversary. And when I read about the phony tax reduction proposal, I feel disgusted and ripped off.

Marco Rubio can kiss his career goodbye! I have never seen or heard of such incompetance!

If the politicians of the "Magic City" don't become more responsible, the only magic in this city will be one of the greatest slight of hand tricks I've ever witnessed -- Now you see the revenues from our $34 billion tax base, and now you don't!