Interesting time line..............Jeb Bush was governor of Florida...........his brother..........George W.........became pres. in 2000..........by a supreme court decision...........the 1st time that had happened in the history of the USA....................



This is a rapidly-growing area just south of downtown that is central to the city’s banking culture—and, increasingly, its culture at large. As recently as the 1970s, Brickell was a low-slung neighborhood with stately mansions and a handful of small banks. It remained moderately-built throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but in the last 15 years has exploded, thanks to incoming capital from Latin America and elsewhere. Since 2000, its population more than doubled to 28,000, and it is home to 53 banks. The finance, insurance and real estate industry account for 17% of jobs within the zip code. Typical firms here are ones like Pan American Finance, an advisory group that focuses on Central America and the Caribbean, or the French firm Credit Agricole.
Even more, Brickell has arguably surpassed downtown in cultural significance, transforming into a bar and restaurant zone that sustains street life well into the early morning. In fact, there is something about Brickell that much personifies the new Miami: it is rich, multicultural, and intensive, having become an “overnight neighborhood” of gleaming skyscrapers whose designs and coloration reflect the coral blue waters of Biscayne Bay.

So why did Brickell grow into this banking center? Much of it has to do with political and cultural factors that have caused growth in other Miami industries. These include conservative economic policies at state, and, to some degree, city level. Neither Miami nor Florida has an income tax, and the state’s per-capita tax rate is the nation’s 4^th-lowest. Florida also has high economic freedom rates, landing tops in the nation in one study. This growth-oriented approach has extended to the land use policies for Brickell. Whereas other cities with strong demand (like San Francisco) resist new development, Miami has allowed massive housing and office growth in Brickell. A 2013 NPR report found that the neighborhood had 25-30 towers in the planning or development stages. This is evident during any weekday walk through the neighborhood, when one is as likely to find hard hats as business suits. But it is hard to imagine this growth happening in older, more regulated cities, where it can take years just to get one skyscraper approved, much less an entire neighborhood of them.