Now that the stats are posted, which county do YOU personally feel is most dangerous? (Miami: homes)

[compelled to reply]

Broward, Dade, Duval, Orange, or Palm Beach county? I am curious to see how people feel versus the statistics.

Personally, the only time I have been an actual crime victim in Dade was being pickpocketed in Coconut Grove of a small amount of cash, and I have had some gang encounters in PBC. I have also had people ask me if I wanted crack walking around Victoria Park in Fort Lauderdale at 1 in the morning pre-gentrification(but what do you expect :P). In Orange, I left before things started getting really bad, but I saw things on the news that I never thought I would see. Regardless, in general, I personally feel least safe in

1. Dade(nuff said)
2. Orange(the crazy crap is all over the freaking place!)
3. Palm Beach (key word, Central)
4. Duval (Northside can be scary)
5. Broward (I haven't even had any problems walking around Hollywood west of U.S.1 at night).

I posted this poll on another thread accidentally. Vote on this one.

[backtofla]

still picked dade, but orange co is now worse. still hard to believe though.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

still picked dade, but orange co is now worse. still hard to believe though.

It really is. Believe me, I am in denial a little bit myself. I am wondering if it possibly has to do with crime being under reported in Dade? Then again, its under reported in Orange too. The police force there sucks.

I voted Dade too.

[backtofla]

juat looked on your other poll, and orange county was leading dade co

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

juat looked on your other poll, and prange was leading dade co

Yeah. I wanna get it locked if I can. I can't believe anyone even voted for Palm Beach or Broward though. Duval was like 2nd place statistically, but a lot of people are in denial about that.Interesting to see peoples perception vs statistics, though , which is why I created this poll.

Actually, a lot of nasty stuff happens in WPB. Really, the only "Safe" county out of all of these, and its only relatively safe, are Duval(All of the crime is concentrated) and Broward(also concentrated, and the ghettos are smaller than average for Florida)

[compelled to reply]

Oh, I forgot to add Hillsborough. If you think thats the most dangerous, just say so.

[Sarasota_Blues]

I guess we both voted for Dade County. Remember about 15 years ago, when all of those tourist shootings were going on in Miami? Rental cars that had the company bumper stickers plastered all over them, were becoming frequent targets of shootings and robberies. After all the negative publicity, rental companies removed all advertisement bumper stickers from their rental vehicles. Good idea!

I grew up in Broward County during the mid 1960's up to 1974, when we moved to California. Ironically, I lived a few blocks from Victoria Park just off east Broward Blvd. It was always safe walking around that neighborhood at any hour of the day or night. "Gentrification"? I didn't realize that area needed to undergo any gentrification. Sure, there were a lot of older homes there, but it was always middle and upper class families in that area. Please tell me that area is not now part of the 'hood?

Travel west on Broward, Sunrise, or Oakland Park Blvds., into the middle western part of Broward County, and you're asking for trouble. Some of those areas are as bad as anyplace imaginable.

As a child growing up in Broward County, I never ventured into Palm Beach County. I hear that areas of West Palm Beach are incredibly volatile too.

The general rule-of-thumb in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, is to remain as far east (towards the beach) as possible. Personally, I prefer to hang-out east of Federal Highway. The far western areas of these counties generally turn safer the farther west that you get away from the central western areas of these counties. I remember when the City of Plantation was about as far west as civilization went in Broward County. Now, development has sprawled much farther west. These areas farther west consist of newer condo complexes, apartments and homes.

Orange and Duval Counties, I do not have much experience. Since Orlando (Orange) is in the center of the state, I do not know which areas are safer to travel through, and where to avoid traveling. Both counties have received a well-deserved bad reputation.

I'm surprised that you didn't include Hillsborough (Tampa) and/or Pinellas (St. Petersburg) Counties. There are plenty of places to avoid in St. Petersburg, and Tampa has had consistently high crime score for years. Ever travel through Tampa,...much of Tampa's residential areas are very unattractive. There are a few upscale areas (Cheval, Carrollwood, come to mind), but it's not enough to overcome the rest of the rather unattractive residential areas (I'm gonna catch flak for those comments).

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Sarasota_Blues

I guess we both voted for Dade County. Remember about 15 years ago, when all of those tourist shootings were going on in Miami? Rental cars that had the company bumper stickers plastered all over them, were becoming frequent targets of shootings and robberies. After all the negative publicity, rental companies removed all advertisement bumper stickers from their rental vehicles. Good idea!

I grew up in Broward County during the mid 1960's up to 1974, when we moved to California. Ironically, I lived a few blocks from Victoria Park just off east Broward Blvd. It was always safe walking around that neighborhood at any hour of the day or night. "Gentrification"? I didn't realize that area needed to undergo any gentrification. Sure, there were a lot of older homes there, but it was always middle and upper class families in that area. Please tell me that area is not now part of the 'hood?

Travel west on Broward, Sunrise, or Oakland Park Blvds., into the middle western part of Broward County, and you're asking for trouble. Some of those areas are as bad as anyplace imaginable.

As a child growing up in Broward County, I never ventured into Palm Beach County. I hear that areas of West Palm Beach are incredibly volatile too.

The general rule-of-thumb in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, is to remain as far east (towards the beach) as possible. Personally, I prefer to hang-out east of Federal Highway. The far western areas of these counties generally turn safer the farther west that you get away from the central western areas of these counties. I remember when the City of Plantation was about as far west as civilization went in Broward County. Now, development has sprawled much farther west. These areas farther west consist of newer condo complexes, apartments and homes.

Orange and Duval Counties, I do not have much experience. Since Orlando (Orange) is in the center of the state, I do not know which areas are safer to travel through, and where to avoid traveling. Both counties have received a well-deserved bad reputation.

I'm surprised that you didn't include Hillsborough (Tampa) and/or Pinellas (St. Petersburg) Counties. There are plenty of places to avoid in St. Petersburg, and Tampa has had consistently high crime score for years. Ever travel through Tampa,...much of Tampa's residential areas are very unattractive. There are a few upscale areas (Cheval, Carrollwood, come to mind), but it's not enough to overcome the rest of the rather unattractive residential areas (I'm gonna catch flak for those comments).

I accidentally forgot to put Hillsborough. And as far as Victoria Park, yeah, the fringe areas sunk down quite a bit, but a lot of gentrification is occurring. East of U.S.1 is still nice. I was really at the fringe of Victoria, closer to all of those ghettos west of U.S.1 along Sunrise Blvd. walking the back streets (i'm a big guy, but I am still an idiot, LOL!)). Basically, for every area in Fort Lauderdale that went downhill, two nice areas were built up in West Broward. Its a similar trend to many cities. Fort Laudy Daudy aint what it used to be in a lot of places :/, but the areas that are sinking are gentrifying again. The classically bad neighborhoods are all the same. Everything in between I-95 and the turnpike is the slums, and probably will remain that way. The only exceptions are little tiny middle class pockets of Hollywood.

[Sarasota_Blues]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

as far as Victoria Park, yeah, the fringe areas sunk down quite a bit, but a lot of gentrification is occurring. East of U.S.1 is still nice. I was really at the fringe of Victoria, closer to all of those ghettos west of U.S.1 along Sunrise Blvd.

From your description, you're not referring to Holiday Park, are you? I realize that I haven't lived in Ft. Lauderdale in over 30 years, but I always remember Victoria Park being at the very east end of Broward Blvd. When you cannot go straight any longer, Victoria Park, is a rather small park along a small canal. It used to have (and may still have) a rather large water tower that you can see traveling east on Broward Blvd.

If you are actually referring to Holiday Park, off Sunrise, then I can understand the gentrification, and even being offered crack there. That area was always a bit dicey, at best.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Sarasota_Blues

From your description, you're not referring to Holiday Park, are you? I realize that I haven't lived in Ft. Lauderdale in over 30 years, but I always remember Victoria Park being at the very east end of Broward Blvd. When you cannot go straight any longer, Victoria Park, is a rather small park along a small canal. It used to have (and may still have) a rather large water tower that you can see traveling east on Broward Blvd.

If you are actually referring to Holiday Park, off Sunrise, then I can understand the gentrification, and even being offered crack there. That area was always a bit dicey, at best.

I am referring to the Victoria Park neighborhood, but yeah, fairly close to Holiday Park is where I was walking around, on the north side of Sunrise and a few blocks east. I had a friend that lived in one of those "new gentrification" townhomes they were building back in high school, and it was basically surrounded by ghettos. We went to go get some food at the convenience store, and had to cut through the sketchy neighborhoods to get there. It's really improving around there though. Basically the gentrification starts east of 15th avenue, and I was back in that area, but there were still a lot of drugs/etc in the neighborhood. A lot of ghetto duplexes with seedy people living there. I didn't exactly feel in danger, but lets say it was a druggy area.