Fisher Island, Florida

Fisher Island is a census-designated place (CDP) and town located on an artificial island of the same name in both the City of Miami Beach and on unincorporated land in Miami-Dade County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had only 218 households and a total population of 467 persons. The relatively small Miami Beach portion, at the extreme northeast part of the island, contains only one building.

Named for automotive parts pioneer and Miami Beach developer Carl G. Fisher, who once owned it, Fisher Island is 3 miles off shore of Miami, Florida. No road or causeway connects to the island, which is accessible by private ferry and helicopter. Once a one-family island home of the Vanderbilts, and later several other millionaires, it was sold for development in 1960s. The property sat vacant for well over 15 years before development was begun for very limited and restrictive multi-family use.

Today, Fisher Island is occupied again, but remains a very exclusive and wealthy community. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fisher Island had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States in 2000.

History

The island was created in 1905 by a dredging and land reclamation project in and around Miami Beach. Construction of Fisher Island began in 1919 when Carl G. Fisher a land developer, purchased the property from businessman and real estate developer Dana A. Dorsey, southern Florida's first African American millionaire. In 1925 William Kissam Vanderbilt II traded a luxury yacht to Fisher for ownership of the island.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1944, ownership of the island passed to U.S. Steel heir Edward Moore. Moore died in the early 1950s, and Gar Wood, the millionaire inventor of hydraulic construction equipment, bought it. Wood, a speedboat enthusiast, kept the island a one-family retreat. In 1963, Wood sold to a development group that included local Key Biscayne millionaire Bebe Rebozo, Miami native and United States Senate George Smathers, and then former U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, who had promised to leave politics. (Interestingly enough, during his subsequent Presidency from 1968-1973, and during the Watergate scandal, Nixon maintained a home on nearby Key Biscayne known as the "Key Biscayne Whitehouse" that was the former residence of Senator Smathers and next door to Rebozo, but none of the three ever resided on Fisher Island.)

The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) of the University of Miami maintained the Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory on Fisher Island from 1972 to 1990 under the leadership of Dr. Robert Ginsburg.

After years of legal battles and changes in ownership, further development on the island was finally started in the 1980s, with architecture matching the original 1920s Spanish style mansions. Although no longer a one-family island, in 2005, Fisher Island still remains somewhat inaccessible to the public and uninvited guests and exclusive by modern standards as it was in the days of the Vanderbilts, providing similar refuge and retreat for its residents. The island contains mansions, a hotel, several apartment buildings, an observatory, and a country club. Boris Becker and Mel Brooks are among the celebrities with homes on the island.

In 2005, the island attempted to incorporate as a town, but the Miami-Dade County Commission did not support this initiative. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natasha Seijas, known for her biting sense of humor, commented on some Fisher Island residents' request to become a city by saying that even though islanders would use Miami-Dade's police and fire rescue services it would not be an easy transition: "What are we going to do, have them scuba dive over there every day?" she asked.

There is a mystique about the island, primarily due to its inaccessibility. Through the internet, people can explore the island.

Controversies

In 2006, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began organizing the workers on Fisher Island in preparation for a petition for recognition as those employees' bargaining representative. The campaign is ongoing, culminating on June 15, 2007 with a march to the mainland ferry terminal that ended with a worker's arrest. The New York Times wrote an exposé on the situation. In the article, residents were portrayed as not caring about the welfare of the community, but residents dispute this characterization, insisting that the island comprises financially successful, compassionate people who have established several charitable activities on the island, provide health insurance to their employees and are involved in various arts organizations in the Miami-Dade area. The union, on the other hand, argues that the wages provided by the island are too low for employees to care for their families and that the health insurance provided is out of the reach of most employees of the island.

Geography

Fisher Island is located at (25.761644, -80.144252).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.343 square miles (0.888 km²), all of it land. The entire island, which includes an uninhabited small part of the city of Miami Beach, is slightly larger at 0.938 km² (0.362 sq mi).

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 467 people, 218 households, and 149 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,362.6 people per square mile (530.3/km²). There were 532 housing units at an average density of 1,552.3/sq mi (604.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.08% White (77.9% were Non-Hispanic White,) 3.21% African American, 2.14% Asian, 0.64% from other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.8% of the population.

There were 218 households out of which 19.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.51.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 15.6% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 45.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51 years. For every 100 females there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was in excess of $200,000, as is the median income for a family. Males had a median income of over $100,000 versus $85,789 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $236,238. None of the population or families are below the poverty line.

As of 2000, English was the first language for 84.61% of all residents, while Spanish was the mother tongue for 15.38% of the population.

Other information

Fisher Island's main ZIP code is 33109, but the three buildings along Government Cut are in 33139.

The Island has a private school, Fisher Island Day School which covers Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade for both on-island and off-island residents. Approximately 30% of the students come from off-island, predominantly the nearby neighborhoods of Star Island , Hibiscus Island, Palm Island, Venetian Islands , Sunset Islands, southern Miami Beach, and Coconut Grove

Famous residents

• André Agassi
• Boris Becker
• André A. Jackson
• Ricky Martin
• Julia Roberts
• Oprah Winfrey

Notes

References

• Fisher Island (island) and Fisher Island CDP, Blocks 2008 thru 2010, Census Tract 45, Miami-Dade County, Florida United States Census Bureau

External links

• Fisher Island Day School
• Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory History