Toe Tag Diary
Why Broward Won't "Work"
(Dysfunction Junction)
It’s been nearly 65 years since my family and I came to Broward County in a 1938 Packard touring car.
With a year-round population of less than 80,000 , Broward was just as dysfunctional in 1947 as it is today with:
- The inhumane "segregation" of whites and blacks in virtually every aspect of life.
- The rigid “restriction” of Jews as guests in Fort Lauderdale hotels.
- A blatant level of political corruption that created a lucrative partnership between law enforcement (the Sheriff) and organized crime (Meyer Lansky).
- A highly seasonal economy based on bean fields and a four-month tourist season.
- A public school board dominated by Redneck farmers and Klansmen.
That was then….
And today?
With 1.8 million residents, Broward – in its own way -- remains as dysfunctional as it was in boyhood.
Only now, like a twisted subtropical Gaul, the county has morphed into three bizarre demographic parts:
- An Elitist East (between Atlantic and I-95)
- A Third World Middle (between I-95 and the Florida Turnpike)
- The Overbuilt West, where an endangered Middle Class struggles to survive.
Which is how and why Broward County – as a cohesive community -- doesn’t “work,” having become a nightmare of economic, racial and ethnic diversity living in grotesque confederacy of 31 disparate cities.
Anyhow…
Now you have the “back story” to my previous post (below) titled “Broward's Other Brothers.” JKdeG
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