This is South Florida

April 27th 2006

The Chamber of Commerce would like you to believe it’s all South Beach; Beautiful people on location for a modeling shoot… Pristine beaches and blue water… Restored hotels and nightclubs where the rich and famous rub elbows… Cruise ships floating by, carrying happy, shiny people off to an exotic destination… Shops full of everything you might want but don’t have the money to buy…

They’ve done a damned good PR job and maybe that really IS what the SOBE area has evolved into, but not the rest of south Florida. It’s largely a microcosym of a hundred different faiths, traditions, races. A soup of humanity squished so tightly onto a peninsula that it gobbles up the natural resources… and each other.

I’ve never lived in a place that stunned me so completely in so many ways. In one respect the scenery can convince me that I live in paradise, while the populace seeks every way possible to refute what my eyes tell me. I’ve never lived in a place where people seek to harm each other to such a degree, and with such frequency.

Today’s - or this hour’s - case in point:

A 9-month-old boy died this morning after his father threw him into a Delray Beach canal during a domestic dispute.

While part of my brain bucks and tries to resist this message, thinking ‘how does a fight with the other half degenerate into taking a baby and throwing him into a canal - whether he’s yours or not?’ … the other half is not at all surprised by this news and braces for the next round this afternoon.

Maybe that’s why I don’t watch the news anymore. It’s scary shit, people. The dark underbelly is coming up for air, and this isn’t South Beach. This is real. Or maybe I’m becoming paranoid.

[Sorry, tourist people. Do not be afraid. I'm sure what happened to David Copperfield in West Palm yesterday will not happen to you, too. Uh huh.]

2 Comments

Laura Said,

April 28th, 2006 @1:07 pm

In a nutshell Pam, this post illustrates one of the main reason’s why we left Miami. When ever we go back to visit my hub’s family, the news alone astounds us.. hour after hour of murders.
The media usually focuses on South Beach, Miami Beach and parts of Coral Gables. Rarely does it show the real Miami… probably because their reporters are afraid to leave the tourist districts.

pamibe Said,

April 28th, 2006 @1:24 pm

We lived in Miami from February of 1993 to November 1995, moving right before our area incorporated into the ‘Village of Pinecrest’.

Numerous times people would steal our trash cans and break into our cars right before our eyes… My car had the brake lines cut just to steal a part off it… then it was stolen out of the driveway and when found was only a skeleton, having been put through a chop shop.

We had choppers overhead every night, shining lights into our bedrooms… Crime was rampant and there were 2 or 3 ‘perimeters’ set up in our hood every week.
Car chases, muggings…

After we left for Texas, of course, Pinecrest incorporated and formed its own police force…

When we moved back down here - we are now in north Broward - Arthur said that on the whole, Miami is much better than when we left.
I just don’t see it.

Television news stations here are by and large loathe to report local news… unless it includes celebs or scandal, politcal if ya got it…

I’ve only lived in 7 cities in my life, so maybe the problem is mine, perception wise… but I think the whole of south Florida contains more pathos than a large metropolis like Houston.
Again, maybe it’s just me.