https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/miami-is-the-most...
> Miami Is the "Most Vulnerable" Coastal City Worldwide
The local and county governments, unlike the SFBA, are not completely dysfunctional and TBH I trust Miami city and Miami-Dade County to handle global warming induced flooding more than I trust the City of San Francisco to handle a sunny spring day with no issues.
Also, the Dutch figured out how to live with cities below sea level 300 years ago, we'll manage.
Until you see how other state, county and municipality governments function, you can't really appreciate how well Florida gov generally works. When growing up in Florida, I was led to believe it was the most backward ass state in the country. Didn't help I also lived in a rural county. After living in half a dozen states in a decade (and visiting many more for long periods)... no. Florida has its shit together compared to most other states. Are there problems here, absolutely. But no where near as bad as other states. Especially when it comes to environmental planning and protection. Still some problems in the Everglades area with some fucktards, but on a whole, environmentalism is more active here than anywhere else. Just the news coverage is dismal.
While I'm on the Space Coast, you're right to not be that worried in Miami. Plus, there are massive seawall projects that are supposed to start soon if they haven't already. I know they were planned for 2020, but the whole covid thing through a monkeywrench in that. Last I read, there's some $20b being spent in the Miami-Dade area in the next decade all in response to climate change. A lot of the infrastructure is getting reworked, along with water management.
It's like people think we're surprised that nature can kill us. We "worry" about it half of the year, every year. We welcome the challenge... as long as we stock up on alcohol. Then bring it on. But if those liquor stores close, it's panic time.
311 type issues in miami are handled pretty quickly, same day in some cases. In SFBA you could go months before seeing public safety issues addressed, if ever.
More importantly, the efficiency with which the state handles DMV appointments is not necessarily correlated with how well they will handle rising sea levels for (probably) the rest of the century. Miami already suffers from regular flooding that causes a mixture of seawater and raw sewage to flow through its streets. I don't buy that a massive public works project is going to make all these problems go away.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/08/08/analysis-s...
I'm sure a liberal application of SF/NYC money will solve any governmental competency that Miami has build up over the years. Look at how places like Boulder are faring.
They also paid for this infrastructure over the course of 300 years on a national level. How this will work for a single city in a huge state in a short amount of time is unclear to me, besides the fact that Amsterdam was built at the end of a bay, which the Netherlands then closed off using floodgates. Miami is facing open water. Lots of open water.
Also, bike lanes have been improving significantly.
Uh, yeah, Miami’s a bigger (but poorer) metro than SFBA and doesn't have the seismic issues of the Bay Area, so it would be weird if that wasn’t true.
I was tired of the cost and dysfunction of the SFBA.
Shift towards remote work makes me far less dependent on physically being in the SFBA.
The nice parts of Miami, relative to the SFBA, are shockingly clean and safe feeling. Even the rough and dangerous parts of Miami are still cleaner and feel safer than SFBA. Miami has its share of crime but it tends to be organized and less random and to be blunt, if a bit amoral, far less likely to affect me.
I really enjoy the vibrance and density of coastal Miami. Reminds me of Singapore.
I love warm weather and beaches. The Pacific Ocean is prettier than the Atlantic, but the Atlantic is far warmer and swimmable most of the year.
I grew up in Philly, Miami isn't quite Philly / NYC / Boston but still has more of an East Coast vibe.
Tax benefits to Florida.
My 81 year old mom lives in Boca, so this is far better for family.
My fiancée is Brazilian so this is closer to her family and there is a huge Brazilian population here.
Even though I've always been politically active, the last few years have been exhausting. Miami's dominant political culture is pure apathy and its nice that not every aspect of has to be dominated by some political issue or another.
As for Brickell, its a great way to "start" in Miami. For us, we wanted a simple move where we could rent an apartment for a year before figuring out where to settle more permanently. Its incredibly walkable, safe, etc.