A Mood of Despair has Overtaken Florida has Foreclosures Taking Toll of Quality of Life
The statistics is staggering – people are leaving Florida by the droves. There are dark clouds hovering over the Sunshine State as revenues from sales and property fall. Schools are doing with less number of students and teachers. Library and park hours have been cut. The sheriff is doing away with a good number of posts. The mood is depressing. Jim Findlay is in his mix sixties. He heads the rare books department in Broward County’s prime library. He said there is tense competitiveness among his colleagues as they await the dreaded hammer of layoffs.
He has forgotten those days when moving trucks meant arrivals; today they mean departures. He said, “It weighs on me because there has always been this hope, this expansiveness, this welcome of the new, this welcome of the unusual and eccentric in Florida. That seems to have come to a halt.” The picture is that of stagnation in the downtown localities of Hollywood, Florida. The chefs of eateries stand outside with their arms akimbo waiting for the elusive customer to turn up. Ten business houses have downed shuttered in two of the blocks of Hollywood Boulevard lying to the north of Young Circle – the prime shopping area.
Jack Smile is 54. He is one of the owners of Jeweled Castle – “a new-age department store.” He analyzed that many of the closed shops had been started by people who were under the impression that anything would work in Florida with a constant flow of new buyers. Smile too had started out with the same expectations about 14 years previously after bidding adieu to New York. He said, “I came down here to work less and make more money. But the tables turned.” He is surviving thanks to his bargaining skills and by selling stuff that is in great demand now – stress kits containing incense and oils. Gary Mormino of University of South Florida, at St. Petersburg feels that the baby boomers might save Florida if they choose this place for their retirement like their parents.
But the big question is whether they will follow the same line or not. Already retirees are having second thoughts about their choice of settling in Florida. Disenchanted many are moving back to Georgia as well as the Carolinas. Despite this Mormino predicts that when the economy improves there will be a modest increase in population of about 150,000 to 200,000 per year. Even that will be a staggering downward flow considering the recent past of Florida. But something is better than nothing says Mr. Smile with a smile. Standing behind his counter he holds forth magic solutions – Fairy Dust and a Buddha for $3!
