Miami: The only major US city conceived of by a woman

As most people on this sub know, the overall quality of this city has deteriorated. What used to be a fun, night-life driven, relatively-affordable place to live has become an overpopulated, unlivable, unaffordable, traffic-dense dystopia. The vibe of this city: selfishness. Me me me. Common sense - out the window.

As the rents become more and more ridiculous for below-average apartments, the building owners and landlords here are laughing their way to the bank making a fortune off us struggling to keep head above water. Many lifelong Miamians keep thinking to themselves "it won't stay this way forever, it'll get better, rents will go down, people will get friendlier", etc. Friends, that is simply not the case and most of us know it. But we lie to ourselves about it because this is "home".

My eye-opening experience was taking a trip to Northern Florida and seeing the exact same type of apartments we have here for HALF THE PRICE. Didn't require first, last, security and your family fortune to move in. There were less people, I could walk down a street without feeling bombarded. There was less than half the amount of traffic here in Miami. And most passerbys actually nodded or said hello to me (a concept long dead in South Florida). It was, in one word: refreshing.

If you are struggling to make ends meet, hopping from one $2k/mo one-bedroom to the next, and are sick to death of the "Miami Mentality", do not stay here. Try and leave. I plan to be out of this godforsaken place within the next couple months.

I feel like each day when I wake up and walk outside, the city is laughing at me and mocking me. As though it were saying "I'm ripping you the fuck off and you're just sitting there taking it". It doesn't have to be this way and it's going to get worse. Much worse.

If you know in your gut that life shouldn't be this way, don't default on justifying staying here because you grew up here. This is not the same place it was a decade ago and that version of Miami is not coming back. It's time to let go.

Of course, nothing I'm saying applies to the wealthy. They are a large part of the problem here and they actively enjoy this way of life because they have the means to afford and enjoy it. Unfortunately that almost always results in something being taken away from the average Joe. All the more reason for the rest of us to leave and watch it crash and burn from a distance.

If you're anything like me, a normal person making less-than-median income, struggling from one day to the next, and you're still trying to stay here hoping things will revert back to the old way - Vaya con Dios.