June 30, 2009 at 02:06pm by Matt Meltzer
People have accused me of being a little too harsh on potential newcomers. Those visitors from colder climates who come and spend a long weekend or two in South Beach and decide they want to make Miami home are often subjected to a paragraph-long rant about how this is not the place they think it is. How Miami is difficult and expensive and unforgiving and completely not what they expect. And it had been so long since I had seen this city as anything other than all of those things, I had forgotten why people think it’s so great.
IGNORING THE POVERTY, CORRUPTION AND CRIME. AT LEAST FOR NOW
I had the opportunity to stay at an Ocean Drive hotel for a couple of days this week. This hotel featured a rooftop balcony with a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean, Ocean Drive and the rest of South Beach. You could even see the skyline of downtown Miami off in the distance. The sun was out, I was sipping a rum and coke, and life seemed pretty sweet. Throw in a week-long party and the potential of getting some vacation action, and I see why people like to convince themselves they could live here.
When the warm ocean breeze is blowing on you and you feel a buzz, moving here seems like the solution to all of your problems. But a quick glance at the skyline reminded me that even from a rooftop bar, you can’t see west of I-95. And as I like to say, that’s really what Miami is. But when you take a vacation to South Beach, it’s like everything out west doesn’t even exist. So I get it now. I get why people can get caught up in the excitement of a weekend here and think they could make it in Miami.
REMEMBER WHY THE GOOD OUTWEIGHS THE BAD
Folks, I’ve lived here intermittently since 1998, and this was the first time I’d had an experience like the one I had this weekend. I have spent exponentially more time sitting on the Palmetto Expressway than I have sitting on South Beach. The friendly service I got at my oceanfront hotel almost made me forget about the endless string of slow, incompetent non-English speakers I’ve dealt with over the years. It was nice to live like a vacationer in a city where I live as a local. The vacation is a lot more fun.
What I’m saying here is that sometimes you need to live the fantasy here to keep yourself from getting bogged down by the reality. I’m not going to use this column to tell you what the realities of living here are, I’ve done that at great length on this site. What I’ll say is for you to enjoy those glorious Miami experiences when you can, because that’s what makes the rest of life here worth it. And if you do live here, get out to the beach and live like a tourist once in a while. It’ll make you forget all the reasons this city drives you nuts, and make you remember why you choose to call it home.
 | Matt Meltzer is a featured columnist at Miami Beach 411. Matt’s column appears Tuesdays. See more articles by Matt Meltzer > |
