Number of Florida households using food stamps jumps 19 percent, about three times the national average -- -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Quote:
The trend is statewide. Between February 2007 and February this year, the number of Florida households using food stamps jumped 19 percent — the largest statewide gain in the country and about three times the average national increase, according to figures released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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between downtown and the beach you'll find the venice of america, the isles off las olas blvd. here deepwater houses start at $1mm & head quickly north from there.
this point lot is currently asking $2,795,000 and taxes on the full asking price will run you $47,000/year. you can find the particulars here
Single Family Home - 223 Navarro Isle, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33301 - Realtor.com
while this one down the road will tax you $$58k/yr on the full asking price. particulars here
http://tinyurl.com/6bf332
known for lots of seawall, these properties are ideal for larger yachts. here they stand like sentries guarding the canals.
though mostly single family houses, some isles have apartment buildings with lots of redevelopment there during the boom. these are also areas with liveaboard dockage, rare property in this county.
this is about the prettiest boat i saw today. it's a 1969 feadship recently refit and asking only $2,350,000. with transatlantic range, it sleeps six in owner's accomodations and has generous mess & staterooms for a crew of 7 including separate captain's cabin.
probably the prettiest isle is in the idlewyld area, right on the intracoastal waterway. i love especially the original older houses like this one
here is their view
but they are being replaced by newer houses like this one
which paid $170,328 in taxes in 2007 to enjoy the view of
Fort Lauderdale Hotels & Florida Luxury Resorts - Bahia Mar Beach Resort & Yachting Center where is now docked utopia, a 235-ft feadship available to charter for just $730,000 per week plus expenses & gratuities.
other views from idlewyld include the swimming hall of fame where is currently docked the recently launched, ontario canada-built, 141-ft expedition yacht copasetic, no doubt slumming in fort lauderdale before cruising around the world in grand style.
sick of the money yet? it doesn't end there.
but if you don't have the cash to pay for those views, there's always the
Water Taxi - "More than just a boat ride!" (by the way, that's not an apartment building but just a single family house across the icw)
immediately east of the las olas isles is fort lauderdale's beach, home to a new trump building and the recently opened st. regis resort & condominium pictured below. particulars here:
http://tinyurl.com/5925jx. the developer died at 59 of a heart attack after a round of golf, a few months before the completion of fort lauderdale's first 5-star property.
just a block south still remains remnants of fort lauderdale's glorious past like the elbo room
and across the beach is of course, well, fabulous. (my dog used to love to walk ontop of that wall. though dogs are no longer allowed.)
our beach used to be lined by mostly just 2 & 3-story mom & pop hotels, a few chains like howard johnsons, some cheezy architecture, mostly just low-key beach stuff. but since before and of course during the boom, the area transformed. we used to host the very best annual party. spring break. wow, did i love spring break here. but in the 1980s fort lauderdale decided it had enough. the 50-year-old party was cancelled and redevelopment began. bummer. (the party moved to daytona and then to panama city beach, florida)
now instead of mom & pop we get towering structures that blot out the sky.
instead of walking along an open beach it is turning into a walk along the side of a man-made cliff of concrete, glass & balconies.
the city tried to reduce some of the effects of the towers by angling their upper floors, as if that would prevent some shadows on the beach. so now during winter there's maybe an extra 20 minutes of sun that would have been blocked completely, even though we lost the last hour of sunlight.
here's the sky we used to enjoy
and this is what's left after they took 30 degrees of sky out of view
on the north end of the strip is the village area where used to be the village zoo, host to my pre-of-age drinking. a few remnants of old florida till exist here was well.
and of course the parrot lounge (almost as world famous as the elbo room)
a block east of there is an apartment complex called coconut bay where my parents moved into their boat when they sold the house as soon as i went off to college. i lived with them some summers. and of course i stayed with them during spring break. living on the strip at spring break, every young guy's dream. thank you mom & dad. thank you thank you thank you. boy was that fun.
a block down the intracoastal from there you'll find new megayacht dockage.
and the most wonderful
Main Page - Hugh Taylor Birch State Park » Florida State Parks which runs from the icw to the ocean.
along the beach east & north of birch state park was our last stand of free parking which we lost just this past year. it now costs me 3 to 5 bucks just to take the car and go for a walk in the morning (if i don't feel like biking there). what a rip off. they took away the sky, they stopped us from walking our dogs on the beach wall and now pay parking. fort lauderdale is no longer what it was. i had a great time but it is time for me to leave.