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Here is a story about Miami Beach: I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I first moved there the

Here is a story about Miami Beach: I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. The beach was not extremely crowded, you had nice restaurants and upscale shops and the vibes you were getting were similar to what you would see in the Mediterranean (Spain / south France). Within 3 years of Airbnb expanding, the character of the neighborhood changed completely. By 2014, a lot of restaurants and shops had closed down, to be replaced by 5 dollar souvenir shops (surf style!), kebab and pizza places. Noise levels increased dramatically. Crime too. This kept getting worse and today I would describe the place as little more than a crime-ridden hood. The ghetto criminal element is numerous and ever present. The classy European tourists have left, never to return. Ocean Drive is barricaded by tons of police every weekend (soon to be every night). The beach itself is full of trash and drunken, noisy, unruly people. Spring Break (and memorial day weekend) used to be finite events. Now the same chaos is happening every night. Street racing, fights, urinating in public, condoms, dog and human feces on sidewalks, all of that and more under a lingering stench of weed smoke. If that's not testament to how Airbnb can ruin entire communities, I don't know what is. The locals are complaining [1], [2] but nothing seems to change except more money being thrown at police and local interests. [1] https://www.facebook.com/Residents-for-a-safe-Ocean-Drive-135827450383203 https://www.facebook.com/Residents-for-a-safe-Ocean-Drive-13... [2] https://www.facebook.com/SouthBeachSludgeReport/ https://www.facebook.com/SouthBeachSludgeReport/ [3] https://wsvn.com/news/local/video-shows-spring-breakers-attacking-man-on-south-beach-street-amid-crackdown/ https://wsvn.com/news/local/video-shows-spring-breakers-atta... Typical night in SOBE.

jak92 8y ago
> Here is a story about Miami Beach: > I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years > living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. Hello neighbor! Interesting connection - I never linked the two together but it's certainly possible. The story of Miami Beach the last 5 years is so true and so sad.
uxp100 8y ago
> When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. ... By 2014, a lot of restaurants and shops had closed down, to be replaced by 5 dollar souvenir shops (surf style!), kebab and pizza places. ... The ghetto criminal element is numerous and ever present. Your idea is that AirBnb provided cheaper lodging that made South Beach open to people outside of the European tourists that the hotels were targeting?
- joseph-curwen 8y ago
  Exactly. Entire blocks of stacked, brick-like units are being rented out dirt-cheap through Airbnb and of course attract the clientele one would expect.
mrgordon 8y ago
South Florida literally invented Spring Break destination travel so I'd hardly blame Airbnb for this. The street racing and machismo culture has been there as long as I can remember (easily back through the 90s) and its the locals doing that. I'd blame Winter Music Conference and the constant stream of other huge party events as much as anything.
- joseph-curwen 8y ago
  I've been living here for 9 years now, I think I'm in great position to see what's going on. I don't buy your argument for many reasons, most of which I mentioned in my original post. The low-class, ghetto criminal element has nothing to do with Winter Music Conference or South Beach culture. If you go through the links I included in my original post and look at some videos, it'll quickly become apparent. These people have been enabled by dirt cheap Airbnb prices. Traditional hotels have higher prices but also enforce codes of behavior that tend to limit if not outright ban the incidents I described. Simply, you can't get away with behaving like that in a hotel. You have to keep up appearances. Even in a party town like Miami Beach. Not to mention there's competition for the rooms with regular tourists. Airbnb allows a gang of 20 ppl to rent a single room and come here to wreak havoc.
  - jak92 8y ago
    > These people have been enabled by dirt cheap Airbnb prices. Also, look at sites such as Hotel Tonight. Personally seen < 50 a night rooms.
    - mrgordon 8y ago
      Yes the idea that its something unique to Airbnb is a myth. Miami Beach is dominated by hotels and they have strong anti-Airbnb messaging. Meanwhile their hotels dominate the skyline and take up all of the beachfront property. Some of the hotels will act like the beach is private if you don't rent their beach chairs which is of course not true. The hotel industry distortion field is probably stronger in Miami Beach than almost anywhere because so much money depends on it. I also don't believe that most the Airbnb rentals on Miami Beach are particularly cheap. The one nearby that I know of charges many thousands per night as its a mansion.
yardie 8y ago
I grew up in Miami and Miami Beach since the 80s. Miami Beach, and Ocean Drive have never been what you described. When I lived there fights, shootings, and prostitution was quite flagrant on Ocean. Before being redeveloped into million dollar condos, SoFi was a ghetto. Spring Break is fairly new to the area. Prior to that the college students would hit Daytona, Panama City, or Key West. And long before that Fort Lauderdale was the Spring Break destination (showing my age). The traditional family-owned restaurants started being driven out in 2014, to be replaced by new investor backed concepts because the rent was too high. Joe's Stone Crabs owns it spot and isn't going anywhere, I can't say the same for the restaurants around it. AirBnB didn't cause restaurants to close, speculators did. Finally, it is the season of the snowbird. Every beach is packed with foreign tourists staying in their vacation homes on 6 month visas. When June arrives they'll leave, they always do. Also, prior to this spring break there was only a few reasons to go to Ocean, Spring Break, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July. Now, city council and local organizations have planned street festivals basically every weekend between here and eternity. All to say that very little of what's going on on Ocean Dr has anything to do with AirBnB.
- joseph-curwen 8y ago
  First of all the 80s were close to 40 years ago. How about the period 2000-2010? What did change after 2010 that wasn't there before? Miami Beach was always a touristy place. Spring Break and Memorial Day were always rowdy affairs. And when I talked about shop/restaurants closing I emphasized their replacements. It's one thing for restaurants to close in Miami Beach (happens every year). It's quite another for same restaurant to close and be replaced by a kebab or pizza place. Entire streets that were lined with upscale shops have been turned into cash extraction mechanisms for unsophisticated, drunken passers by. What does that tell you about the character of the neighborhood? Today's SOBE bears little resemblance to SOBE of the pre-Airbnb past.
  - jak92 8y ago
    The carnival like open air entertainment district on ocean drive.

jak92 8y ago

> Here is a story about Miami Beach: > I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years > living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. Hello neighbor! Interesting connection - I never linked the two together but it's certainly possible. The story of Miami Beach the last 5 years is so true and so sad.

uxp100 8y ago

> When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. ... By 2014, a lot of restaurants and shops had closed down, to be replaced by 5 dollar souvenir shops (surf style!), kebab and pizza places. ... The ghetto criminal element is numerous and ever present. Your idea is that AirBnb provided cheaper lodging that made South Beach open to people outside of the European tourists that the hotels were targeting?

joseph-curwen 8y ago
Exactly. Entire blocks of stacked, brick-like units are being rented out dirt-cheap through Airbnb and of course attract the clientele one would expect.

mrgordon 8y ago

South Florida literally invented Spring Break destination travel so I'd hardly blame Airbnb for this. The street racing and machismo culture has been there as long as I can remember (easily back through the 90s) and its the locals doing that. I'd blame Winter Music Conference and the constant stream of other huge party events as much as anything.

joseph-curwen 8y ago
I've been living here for 9 years now, I think I'm in great position to see what's going on. I don't buy your argument for many reasons, most of which I mentioned in my original post. The low-class, ghetto criminal element has nothing to do with Winter Music Conference or South Beach culture. If you go through the links I included in my original post and look at some videos, it'll quickly become apparent. These people have been enabled by dirt cheap Airbnb prices. Traditional hotels have higher prices but also enforce codes of behavior that tend to limit if not outright ban the incidents I described. Simply, you can't get away with behaving like that in a hotel. You have to keep up appearances. Even in a party town like Miami Beach. Not to mention there's competition for the rooms with regular tourists. Airbnb allows a gang of 20 ppl to rent a single room and come here to wreak havoc.
- jak92 8y ago
  > These people have been enabled by dirt cheap Airbnb prices. Also, look at sites such as Hotel Tonight. Personally seen < 50 a night rooms.
  - mrgordon 8y ago
    Yes the idea that its something unique to Airbnb is a myth. Miami Beach is dominated by hotels and they have strong anti-Airbnb messaging. Meanwhile their hotels dominate the skyline and take up all of the beachfront property. Some of the hotels will act like the beach is private if you don't rent their beach chairs which is of course not true. The hotel industry distortion field is probably stronger in Miami Beach than almost anywhere because so much money depends on it. I also don't believe that most the Airbnb rentals on Miami Beach are particularly cheap. The one nearby that I know of charges many thousands per night as its a mansion.

yardie 8y ago

I grew up in Miami and Miami Beach since the 80s. Miami Beach, and Ocean Drive have never been what you described. When I lived there fights, shootings, and prostitution was quite flagrant on Ocean. Before being redeveloped into million dollar condos, SoFi was a ghetto. Spring Break is fairly new to the area. Prior to that the college students would hit Daytona, Panama City, or Key West. And long before that Fort Lauderdale was the Spring Break destination (showing my age). The traditional family-owned restaurants started being driven out in 2014, to be replaced by new investor backed concepts because the rent was too high. Joe's Stone Crabs owns it spot and isn't going anywhere, I can't say the same for the restaurants around it. AirBnB didn't cause restaurants to close, speculators did. Finally, it is the season of the snowbird. Every beach is packed with foreign tourists staying in their vacation homes on 6 month visas. When June arrives they'll leave, they always do. Also, prior to this spring break there was only a few reasons to go to Ocean, Spring Break, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July. Now, city council and local organizations have planned street festivals basically every weekend between here and eternity. All to say that very little of what's going on on Ocean Dr has anything to do with AirBnB.

joseph-curwen 8y ago
First of all the 80s were close to 40 years ago. How about the period 2000-2010? What did change after 2010 that wasn't there before? Miami Beach was always a touristy place. Spring Break and Memorial Day were always rowdy affairs. And when I talked about shop/restaurants closing I emphasized their replacements. It's one thing for restaurants to close in Miami Beach (happens every year). It's quite another for same restaurant to close and be replaced by a kebab or pizza place. Entire streets that were lined with upscale shops have been turned into cash extraction mechanisms for unsophisticated, drunken passers by. What does that tell you about the character of the neighborhood? Today's SOBE bears little resemblance to SOBE of the pre-Airbnb past.
- jak92 8y ago
  The carnival like open air entertainment district on ocean drive.