Only Rich People Can Live Here Now
But who will wait the tables, clean the hotel rooms, work the front desk, sell the baubles, tend the department stores, park the cars, run the laundry, drive the taxis, keep the kids, etc.
Today, we were driving around in our beloved town and former home of Sarasota, Florida, and I noticed what I had been seeing wasn’t just a fluke. This town has gotten too rich for most people to live in. It isn’t just the rents, which run from $1200 to $3,000 a month for an ordinary non-waterfront apartment, or even the home prices, which have tripled in the last few years, but it’s everything.
We took some people out to lunch — only two people. The bill was $170, and it wasn’t the fanciest or most expensive restaurant. It was middle of the road.
As we were driving around today, I noticed the cars around us. We stopped at a stoplight. There was a Lexus SUV in front of us, two Mercedes in the lane next to us, and a stupid Land Rover with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sticker on it in the turn lane. It made me want to knock out the back window — or knock the teeth out of the driver’s mouth. It’s all the same to me, but I didn’t want to go to jail today. I’m enjoying the weather and the water too much.
