Less than a decade ago, Miami's inner city was mangy. The tropical city could have become the next Detroit.
When businesses, law firms, and government offices downtown closed, few people remained in its seedy core, fleeing to suburban Miami-Dade and Broward counties for their gated, manicured subdivisions and soccer fields, or to the glamorous nightlife across the causeway in sleek South Beach.
But that's all changed. Miami is booming again. Construction cranes dot the skyline as a new wave of baby boomers, international residents, and businesses converge on the city.
Call it the tale of two cities: Detroit sought to fix its urban blight with high taxes, heavy regulation, and big salaries and pensions for government employees.
Much of the credit for the transformation of Miami falls to the city's mayor, Tomas Regalado, who decided to take his city on the opposite path, one of lower taxes and economic growth.
Regalado, a Republican born in Havana, Cuba, was elected mayor in 2009 and soon after, set out on an ambitious path of improving city finances, cutting taxes, and welcoming new businesses with a regulation overhaul.
He is running for re-election this November.
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Now if he could only fix the traffic on US 1....
ReplyDeleteTerry
Fla.
:) Man, the Miami I saw last February wasn't the one from the sixties, plus so many rude people and horrendous traffic. Took us two hours to go 20 miles once and that will be the last I see of that area. Be fun to go to Key West next January after Dixie finishes 16 straight months of school, but that is probably ruined also.
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