Underwater

Scientific studies have announced that the rise in sea levels is going to flood Miami within 100 years but Miamians know that their city will be underwater far before then. To the local
Miamian, Miami’s history and the city he has established will soon be washed away and replaced by an ocean of mobiles, false media, and the replica of a modern, bustling metropolis. But between the influx of rich culture, economy, and politics that immigrants and mobiles have brought, who is to say that it isn’t the mobiles and exiles that are carrying local Miamians and keeping Miami’s culture afloat?

“Miami is home to only a few and either a refuge or a playground to most others.” More than 1/3 of all homes in Miami-Dade County are not primary residences. The mold of Miami is being morphed by people who don’t live here: nightlife, entertainment, the art scene, and neighborhoods are being catered toward the rich mobiles and leaving the scraps for the locals and exiles. South Miami Beach, the icon of Miami, has an extremely low
percentage of locals inhabiting the area. In fact, the percentage of primary residences in Fisher Island, America’s richest enclave, is less than 38 percent. Here, home prices start at five million dollars and the fees are more than most Miamians could afford in rent. The adopted image of Miami is that of the Eastern neighborhoods: South Beach, Key Biscayne, Brickell, the Miami
downtown waterfront, Golden Beach, and Sunny Isles. Ironically, the neighborhoods that develop this image are those that have high concentrations of mobiles: not many Miami locals can afford the prime real estate along the waterfront. The high influx of mobiles in these areas has resulted in a commercial, tourist-catering businesses and entertainment. The most iconic
locations of Miami have become Disney World like spectacles: Miami is rapidly becoming a party where only mobiles are invited.

So why is it that Miami treats vacationers and ignores its inhabitants?
Mobiles around the world flock to Miami bringing enthusiasm, a sense of adventure, and most importantly, their wallets. High-end restaurants, clubs, and entertainment are mobiles’ playgrounds and they are willing to pay a pretty penny to play. The most expensive neighborhoods and attractions are catered mostly for secondary residents because not many local Miamians could afford them. The high taxes and cost of vacationing in Miami as well as the booming tourist industry have kept Miami afloat for decades and continue to grow exponentially. The homestead exemption, currently $50,000, only applies to secondary residents and since 24% of single family homes and 57% of condominiums are owned by secondary residents, the
economic contribution mobiles make through taxes ironically is far more than that of the average local.

While mobiles commercialized Miami and established its image of leisure and vacation, immigrants, or exiles, made their own contribution to Miami’s identity.

The 1959 Cuban Revolution brought entire groups of the privileged to Miami where they became victims of discrimination and alienation from locals. In the 1960’s, the Civil Rights
movement “brought promise of improvement, but its timing coincided with the onset of the Cuban exodus.” Exiles didn’t necessarily take jobs away from locals but instead “transform[ed] the local economy in ways that relegated blacks to a permanently subordinate position” causing Cuban exiles to gain economic and even political power and local black Miamians to remain impoverished. These people built the city and created the hotels, villas, railroads, and ports but
they were excluded because of the Cubans’ takeover of Miami politics. The Cuban-Americans who held office had views that differed from those of the local Miamians: they were conservative and concerned with international affairs while the average local view was liberal and focused on domestic issues. In 1980, Fidel Castro sent people, later known as marielitos, from insane asylums and prisons to Miami, creating even more tension between the locals and exiles. It
was around this time period when local Miamians spoke out against the mass immigration and “economic, political, and social pollution of their city” by Cuban-Americans.

Ironically, however, the mass influx of Cuban-Americans enriched Miami’s economy and helped it become a global city. According to David Rieff, when the Cubans immigrated to Miami
after the Cuban Revolution the city “became a ‘real’ place-real in the sense that its new economic diversification did not occur by accident, but because of resources that only the city had.” The large population of educated bilinguals encouraged several U.S. multinational
corporations to establish their Latin American headquarters in Miami. This brought Latin American capital through real estate and commercial investments.

So are the mobiles and exiles actually pushing the locals out and eroding their culture and history? No. In fact, local Miamians failed to develop a culture and instead feed off of the
rich cultures that immigrate from all over the world. According to Renee Page, a local who has lived in Miami her entire 49 years, “without the immigrants, the Cubans, Haitians, etcetera, Miami would have no culture.” When it comes to keeping Miami economically, politically, and socially afloat, exiles have contributed myriad cultures and businesses and mobiles have enriched the economy and established the commercial image of Miami, but what have the locals done?