Beach condo dwellers in Florida must learn from Surfside
| Miami Herald
A little piece of what it means to live in South Florida, too, has been lost to the collapse and demolition of Champlain Towers South in Surfside.
We may never look at beachfront condo living in the same innocent way again, with the heart of a poet yearning for the sea and the wallet of a professional needing to decompress, no questions asked.
Now, we’ve got nothing but questions and demands.
For days, I’ve been trying to work through the horror of families like mine once was, blissfully sleeping to the sound of ocean waves, plunging along with their homes into an abyss of rubble and death.
For days, I’ve been trying to put an end to anxiety dreams by looking back, remembering the good and the bad of those years of beachfront condo living in Miami Beach.
If there’s such a thing as belated PTSD from living in an old building by the sea, I have it.
For a moment, shocked and without enough facts early on the morning of June 24, my first thought was that the fallen condo building was “my building,” as I still call the oceanfront haven in Mid-Beach where I spent some of the most consequential days of my life.
There was reason behind the me-ism of my initial reaction.
More than 30 years ago, I bought a beachfront condo in a building similar to Champlain Towers South, now the site of one of the worst disasters in Florida and U.S. history.
Built in 1964, 16 stories high and older than Champlain, its 300-plus rental apartments were being converted into condos. I saw the sign advertising the remodel and sale as I drove by.
I walked in, fell in love, and was instantly sold on the romantic idea of spending my weekends with the sky, sand and sea meeting at my windows and my three little girls getting a weekly dose of what had been my beloved summer vacations in Varadero during my childhood.
But mine is a cautionary tale.
At first, it was paradise, but the more time I spent there, the more uncertain I became. On windy days, I felt the building swaying but I was told this was normal. On high tide days, sea water accumulated in the underground parking — and this was back in the early ‘90s, when climate change wasn’t common parlance.
Still, when it became obvious the condo conversion had been mostly cosmetic, I remodeled the bathroom. When my leather purses rotted, I tried household remedies in a foolish attempt to outrace humidity. When I ran out of milk and I couldn’t come out of my house because boat show traffic had turned Collins Avenue into a parking lot, I said, enough.
But I couldn’t let go until, in a conversation with the building’s chief maintenance man, I told him I was going to rent it so I could keep it and one day retire here.
“Get that thought off your head!” he said in Spanish. “This building won’t be standing by then.”
And, since June 24, I can’t get his fateful words out of my mind.
After Surfside, real estate speculation Now our grieving community waits for news of loved ones found, the hope of life all but lost.
And condo dwellers in Florida — until now a seller’s market — are learning from Surfside’s tragedy. Some are wondering if they should sell and flee; others, who are buying, are demanding to see condo association documents.
I can’t help but find the real estate speculation over the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers predictable — and tacky.
But this is the American way.
The bodies aren’t all yet found, identified and buried, yet here we are, already assessing the anxiety and possible economic damage to a condo market that, before the horror, was hot as the sand in summer.
June 24, 2021 10:21 AM Demand accountability from city building officials and departments who have a lot of audits and investigations to conduct, and not only of buildings but employees, too. Demand that lawmakers do better to protect consumers and address all of the failures of the condo association system that brought us the Champlain devastation.
And please, seek out and listen to the handymen. They know these buildings inside out.
If Florida politicians do take the right action to ensure the safety of buildings, the market will bounce back.
We don’t stop flying because some airplanes crash and, ultimately, we won’t stop yearning for sea-view living because an old building collapsed and others whose maintenance has been neglected are being shut down, too.
Humanity is more flawed than buildings.
People like me will succumb to the lure of the sea, to the beauty of our Miami Beach, to the dream of our place in the sun.
A week into the hellish plunge of a condo building packed with sleeping families, the president of the United States came to Miami to take on the task of consoling when there are no words.
No, not when so many victims still lie under mounds of rubble.
Date: July 09, 2021 at 22:05:48 From: kay.so.or, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Florida's Paradise Lost
great writing....and brings to my mind places all over the world that people have gone to away from their homes, to vacation, to enjoy whether near the ocean, or in the mountains, desert or wherever, and have discovered and had to deal with the realities of mother earth's effects never stop. That, coupled with the disasters/wars/etc from humans, we learn 'nothing stays the same' that 'change is the only constant'. Even pyramids can get buried in the sand and/or covered by jungles, leaving one to wonder 'who' they were and how did they come to be there, how they lived and how they died. We are living that time,of which, some day, future generations will have many questions such as those of 'us'.
Responses:
None
11733
Date: July 07, 2021 at 08:37:23 From: Eve, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Florida's Paradise Lost
uh oh, lyrics on screen start off will error s/b Rhode Island it makes a difference...probably more so bewares of grammar stuff in lyrics...best version is Eagles themselves but I passed as usually cannot embed so here's lyrics and link to original...
She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island Where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin' They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide
Down in the crowded bars out for a good time, Can't wait to tell you all what it's like up there And they called it paradise, I don't know why Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high
Then the chilly winds blew down across the desert Through the canyons of the coast to the Malibu Where the pretty people play hungry for power To light their neon way and give them things to do
Some rich man came and raped the land, nobody caught 'em Put up a bunch of ugly boxes and, Jesus, people bought 'em And they called it paradise, the place to be, They watched the hazy sun sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina Just like the missionaries did so many years ago They even brought a neon sign 'Jesus is Coming' Brought the white man's burden down, brought the white man's reign
Who will provide the grand design, what is yours and what is mine? 'Cause there is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds In the name of destiny and in the name of God
And you can see them there on Sunday morning Stand up and sing about what it's like up there They called it paradise, I don't know why You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye Writer/s: GLENN FREY, DON HENLEY Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFin