cooper city or davie, fl (Miami, Hollywood: relocating, gated, budget)

[donna2641]

I am relocating to Florida and really like the area of Cooper City and Davie. Just would like some thoughts from those who live there or near there. Also, have 11 year old daughter and really thought the schools were highly rated. Everyone says our MI schools will blow those away in FL. That worries me but I know no one who has children in the Fl. school system so not sure where they are getting the info from.

Thank you,
Donna

[compelled to reply]

Davie has a better middle school and Cooper City has a better high school. Cooper City is a little cleaner. Cooper City's closest major shopping area is Pembroke Pines, which is congested. Davie has some shopping in city limits and the closest mall is in Plantation which is less congested. Davie is also sprawling in city limits, going from State Road 7 all the way southwest to Sheridan Street near I-75. Those SW portions are served by Chapel Trail Middle School in Pembroke Pines, which is considered to be decent. A large chunk of Davie goes to it's own Indian Ridge Middle (which affluent parents from as far as HOLLYWOOD were PAYING to get their kids into, and lots of other "fake addresses"), which serves most of the areas between I-75 and Pine Island Rd, and a section of the district goes east to University Dr. Davie also has a couple of small bad areas, off of Davie Road way too the east, and pushing to SR7 it gets industrial. You aren't going to get robbed passing through but I wouldn't live there. Cooper City has no bad areas, yet does not have overwhelming wealth that sections of Davie have in some of the ranch areas and new developments.

[Wild Style]

^^

Yep, what he said.

[ready2move]

I lived in Cooper City from 1992-2007. We moved there from Pembroke Pines for the schools. My son went through the CC school system from K-12. I guess I would say that the CC schools are the better of all the evils. I wasn't overly impressed with the middle and high school. Don't believe all the ratings, they are based on the FCAT scores, IMO are totally useless.

I think it would also depend on your budget and what kind of house you want.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by ready2move

Don't believe all the ratings, they are based on the FCAT scores, IMO are totally useless.

I agree, Pioneer and Indian Ridge are neck and neck on ratings, but people around here seem to think more highly of the latter because their educational focus...a good place to find REAL information, like graduation rates, safety, number of students taking SAT, etc is this link...

No Child Left Behind School Public Accountability Reports

[fauve]

Keep in mind if you're hispanic that Cooper City and Davie have primarily caucasian populations, and Davie especially has a rebel flag mentality (esp in those inexpensive areas off of Davie Rd that compelled mentions above...)

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by fauve

Keep in mind if you're hispanic that Cooper City and Davie have primarily caucasian populations, and Davie especially has a rebel flag mentality (esp in those inexpensive areas off of Davie Rd that compelled mentions above...)

Cooper City has a west Boca-like demographic. There is a huge Jewish presence in that area. It is also probably the least diverse city in Broward County (save for Parkland), although it's still relatively diverse. It's still around 18% Hispanic, and an above national average Asian population. Davie also has plenty of Hispanics and there are a decent amount of Asians moving in. There are even upper class blacks moving in. Still plenty of white people moving in too, as the racists seem to be heading towards some of the more popular states here on CD. The crime rate has also nosedived over the past five years. So much for "diversity" bring in crime. Davie has changed in the past 5 years, and not for the worst.

[crisp444]

The schools are good in both of those cities. I wouldn't worry about one middle school being "better" than the other. I would doubt that a normal school in suburban Michigan "blows away" a school in a nice area of Broward County. A majority of people I know in South Florida - myself included - went to public schools and we got an excellent education. The great majority of kids from Cooper City High end up going to college, so clearly the education they receive there is adequate by university standards.

Davie varies with neighborhood; some neighborhoods are (dare I say) pretty white trash and others are quite wealthy. There is more diversity in the wealthier areas, as there are many Hispanics and Asians that live there and a small black population.

Cooper City is much more consistent in that most of the city is middle to upper middle class and I have heard that neighborhoods are very well integrated. There are no bad areas or extremely rich areas and like others have said, white people of non-Hispanic descent make up a majority of the population with Hispanics being a substantial minority and Asians and blacks being much smaller minorities.

Both places are fine, but I would personally live in Cooper City and shop in Pembroke Pines rather than live in Davie and shop in Davie/Plantation. In my opinion, the former two are nicer.

[compelled to reply]

I think Plantation/Sunrise is a more pleasant place to shop. More trees (you don't care until you realize how much less scorching hot your car is in a shaded Plantation parking lot), better parking at Broward Mall, less traffic, although Pembroke Pines has more selection, especially with that new outdoor centering opening. And you can just get on 595/75 anyway and it takes 15-20 minutes. Otherwise, well said.

"White trash", yeah your right...I just didn't want to bring race into the equation since nobody actually seems to care around here anyway, and the good/bad areas have fairly similar racial makeup...

[crisp444]

I have agreed with you in the past that pretty much race/ethnicity doesn't matter as much in Broward as it does in Miami-Dade but I have a feeling that that only applies to a certain extent: There are plenty of Indians/Asians/Arabs living in white/Hispanic areas, but what about blacks? I know people will cite Pembroke Pines, Miramar, and Coral Springs as being nice places with a lot of blacks, but it's pretty clear that within those cities, neighborhoods are much more segregated. Realistically, there are not that many black people in the West Miramar, West/Central Pembroke Pines, and West/North Coral Springs neighborhoods that are often touted for being so diverse. When we discuss Cooper City and Davie, the black population is very low. It's easy to tout Broward as a paradise almost free of race until you take into account how black much of central/inland-east Broward is and how white waterfront-east/SW/NW/far-north Broward is... Looking at schools in many areas of Broward reveals this segregation even more.

Regarding the shopping options, I have ten times more experience shopping in Miami-Dade than I do in Broward so I was just speaking from what experience I do have. Honestly, I haven't been shopping in Plantation or Sunrise in quite a while so maybe they have some good landscaping and stores up there now!