Thursday, October 18, 2007

Fischer Island-the rich are different from you and me!

Fischer Island is an exclusive, private island residential community just off the Miami coast.

Less than 10 minutes from Miami Beach, Fischer Island is in a world of its own, the richest zip code in the U.S.

Its residence lead extravagant lives or as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me."

The New York Times described this idyllic paradise:"... from the imported Bahamian sand coating the beaches to the marble and mahogany-encrusted Vanderbilt mansion and the 186-foot, $250,000-a-week chartered yacht bobbing in the marina just outside, everything bespeaks luxury. The gilded trappings are a potent reminder of the great income gap that prevailed when Mr. Vanderbilt used to alight his hydroplane in the inviting waters offshore, in the early decades of the 20th century, a gap that has re-emerged today."

A share in the Fischer Island golf club costs $250,000 and dues run to $20,000 a year.

Yes, Fischer Island is a beautiful place...as long as you don't have to work there.

The workers tending the grounds or washing linens make as little as $8.50 an hour.

Fischer Island's workers, 21st century servants, travel daily to this man made island from Miami which has the highest degree of housing inequality in the country and where one on five children live in poverty.

In February a local organization of religious leaders sent a letter to all residents, alerting them to “serious and tragic poverty within your midst.”

A great invisible work force, unseen by many, maintains Fisher Island's condominiums, golf courses and tennis courts, prepares and serves food to its residents, cleans their rooms and common areas, and maintains the critical equipment that keeps the air-conditioning and other mechanics of the island running smoothly. Their stories are chilling."

It is time the residents of Fischer island start treating their employees with the same respect they treat their cars. It's time for the plantation mentality to stop!

To see how you can help visit http://www.onemiaminow.org/

And watch the video:




11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a blogger so this has to by anonymous but that documentary, if you would even call it such, is entirely misguided. MLK was standing up for African AMERICANS, people who spoke English, who were born and raised on our soil. How dare you misuse his ideals in a non-parallel circumstance. Also how obvious is it that this video has no conception of how those residents feel. The woman yelled at for talking in her native language - well how do you know she wasn't joking around on the job? And the man told that he was a peasant, how do you know he didn't give attitude to the man who requested the ferry be brought back? You don't know, because you didn't bother to ask the other party. Note how not a single person interviewed is a Fischer Island resident, because that would make this a fair discussion and we wouldn't want that now would we? And if you don't like working for $8.50, its still above the minimum wage. Maybe you should speak out instead against globalism that keeps domestic salaries low, maybe you should speak up against international firms sending jobs elsewhere, they you wouldn't have to work for $8.50 and you too could prosper, no matter where you live (Island or no) in the US.

Anonymous said...

It's FISHER Isand.

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