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As Florida’s freedoms attract transplants, long-time Palm Beach residents speak up about the down side

March 1, 2023 | | Print Article

Some longtime residents of Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly upset about all the newcomers from New York invading their territory.

Why? For one, the newcomers are reportedly rude.

“People here go about their business quietly, go out, and go home early. Now there is so much rudeness. There are contretemps over parking spaces and waitresses are crying,” local columnist Shannon Donnelly complained to the New York Post.

And they’re also making the city crowded.

“I can’t get on a tennis court here anymore,” Yana Schlesinger, whose husband owns the Brazilian Court hotel, added with a sigh.

Not to mention the schools.

“Friends can’t even get their kids into a [private] school. But we can all say thank you for the bump up to our real estate values!” local resident Francie Leidy said.

And of course the roads.

“Yesterday it took me 30 minutes just to cross the bridge — and what’s with all the horn honking?” Leidy added.

They’re even poaching nannies.

“[H]ousehold staff is in such short supply that brazen newcomers are making tempting offers to employees already engaged — even approaching people strolling in baby carriages on the street,” according to the Post.

Regarding the schools, Donnelly claimed that one really rich guy from New York had basically bribed his children’s way in.

“The guy who bought the most expensive place in Palm Beach comes down with his kids. There is no room in the schools but he comes up with a gigantic donation. Suddenly they have room,” she explained.

This trick won’t work for everything, though.

“Palm Beach’s famously exclusive social clubs — like the Everglades, the Bath, and the Tennis Club — however, are not as easy to infiltrate. … One society doyenne predicted that the trophy wives of hedge funders will want to vacate the area once they realize that the clubs will not allow them entry — at any price,” the Post notes.

That being said, Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Doug Evans seemed doubtful that this pesky drawback would scare off northerners.

“I don’t think clubs are the priority for the new financial set because they tend to travel more for pleasure. [A new resident] I was with yesterday just came back from taking his kids to Antarctica,” he told the Post.

“It used to be that the social thing here was the galas and parties, but now all the packed restaurants are just as exciting and you can’t get into them unless you book six months in advance or know someone,” he added.

Even how they dress is an issue to longtime Palm Beach goers.

“Classic Palm Beach women stroll on Worth Avenue in the tropical, ladylike colors of Lilly Pulitzer and try not to wince as they pass shoppers in the all-black New York uniform,” the Post notes.

“It’s the worst you can imagine — we see jeans with holes in them,” longtime resident Nancy Traylor said.

“These hedge fund guys were at the post office during the day wearing Gucci belts. One was driving a Maybach and the other a Bentley. I didn’t even have to look to know the license plates were from New York. Men [who are old-money Palm Beach] tend to dress like they just got off the golf course. Big cars and good jewelry should stay home during the day,” Donnelly added.

Even the hair is different!

“There is a huge change. Before COVID, people here still wanted bouffants and a little flip. Now everyone wants Manhattan-style straight [hair] or soft waves. Even the more mature women are wearing trendier clothing,” local salon owner Paul Labrecque said.

These findings from the Post come amid an ongoing exodus of New Yorkers fleeing the high-tax, high-regulation state of New York for greener pastures in Florida. In fact, more New Yorkers relocated to Florida in 2022 than in any previous year in history.

“A staggering 64,577 Empire Staters exchanged their driver’s licenses for the Sunshine State version last year,” the Post reported in January, citing numbers from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

“They come in every day,” a staffer at a Jacksonville DMV office told the Post.

“I hear all the complaints. I feel like a therapist sometimes,” the staffer added, presumably referring to complaints from upset locals.

The one good news is that the New Yorkers usually “harbor a long list of grievances,” according to the Post.

Grievances specifically against the left-wing policies that destroyed their home and drove them down south …

Vivek Saxena
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