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Haha, I would only change the "working girl" one to downtown Hollywood! To be fair though, there are definitely burglaries going down daily in most cities.
I didn't mean prostitute, I meant "working girl" as in a young, professional woman in a power suit.... it's an 80's term that isn't used much anymore, I guess. But yes, if I wanted to reference prostitution I would talk about US1 through Dania or Hollywood. But... that would be a "real" crime and thus I left it out of my list
Regarding prostitution, I think it's hilarious when Detective Bower (from the show) dresses up as a street walker to do a prostitution sting.
Broward County is not as bad as Dade County. But it is probably worse than average compared to most of the U.S. if you compare other suburban counties to Broward. The stats don't tell the whole story. Its more about the mentality here. There is a predominant dog-eat-dog, run you over mentality here that comes from the NYC school of thought. The youth tends to be very thuggish and there are lots of very snobbish rich people here. The drivers are very aggressive, so be prepared for your car insurance to go up when you move here.
By the way, Plantation might be the nicest city in Broward County. There are very few bad areas. The "ghetto" areas of Plantation are way further east, bordering with Fort Lauderdale. I don't even consider those areas part of Plantation, even though they are technically within the geo-political boundaries. Most of Plantation is middle-class homes in nice communities. Plantation has more to offer than other Broward cities in my opinion. You have easy access to 595, 95, and FLorida's Turnpike. Also, there is a mall and lots of nice restaurants. There is a lot of new commercial development near 595 off of Pine Island Rd. Overall, Plantation is a great area to move IMO.
The worst areas are Fort Lauderdale (outside of Las Olas and Rio Vista), Oakland Park, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Pompano Beach, Miramar, most of Hollywood, and parts of Davie. The comment that one poster made about being "one or two blocks between good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods" is very true about most of Broward County, especially the city of Fort Lauderdale. Las Olas is a wealthy, vibrant community. But a block or two away are some bad neighborhoods. The worst neighborhood in Broward County is Sistrunk which is NW Fort Lauderdale.
The safest/nicest areas of Broward are Weston, Coral Springs, Parkland, Cooper City, Plantation, Southwest Ranches, Las Olas, Rio Vista, Coconut Creek (to some degreee), and Deerfield Beach.
Margate, Tamarac, Sunrise, Davie, and Hollywood are very mixed with good and bad neighborhoods.
By the way, Plantation might be the nicest city in Broward County. There are very few bad areas. The "ghetto" areas of Plantation are way further east, bordering with Fort Lauderdale. I don't even consider those areas part of Plantation, even though they are technically within the geo-political boundaries. Most of Plantation is middle-class homes in nice communities. Plantation has more to offer than other Broward cities in my opinion. You have easy access to 595, 95, and FLorida's Turnpike. Also, there is a mall and lots of nice restaurants. There is a lot of new commercial development near 595 off of Pine Island Rd. Overall, Plantation is a great area to move IMO.
The worst areas are Fort Lauderdale (outside of Las Olas and Rio Vista), Oakland Park, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Pompano Beach, Miramar, most of Hollywood, and parts of Davie. The comment that one poster made about being "one or two blocks between good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods" is very true about most of Broward County, especially the city of Fort Lauderdale. Las Olas is a wealthy, vibrant community. But a block or two away are some bad neighborhoods. The worst neighborhood in Broward County is Sistrunk which is NW Fort Lauderdale.
The safest/nicest areas of Broward are Weston, Coral Springs, Parkland, Cooper City, Plantation, Southwest Ranches, Las Olas, Rio Vista, Coconut Creek (to some degreee), and Deerfield Beach.
Margate, Tamarac, Sunrise, Davie, and Hollywood are very mixed with good and bad neighborhoods.
There is a lot to address here, but I'll go step by step.
First of all, you just compared ALL of Miramar with NW Ft. Lauderdale. That's quite a broad brush. I wouldn't even compare Sherman Circle (the absolute worst part of Miramar) with 56th Ave in Lauderhill, let alone NW Ft. Lauderdale. Most of Miramar is nice, west of Red Rd is safest. The main problem with Miramar is some of the areas between University Dr and Palm Ave are very close to Carol City and get some spillover crime (also the tiny area south of the turnpike), and the second biggest problem is some clusters of section 8 apartments in that zone. Other than that, yes, it's a heavily black area, that doesn't mean "bad". Deerfield is definitely worse than Miramar (between Dixie and 95), and you put that on your "best" list.
Second of all, Sistrunk is GENTRIFYING! The worst part of Broward is unquestionably Collier City in Pompano Beach, off of Hammondville Rd. Sistrunk is one of the worst, but not THE worst. Oh, and Sistrunk Blvd is actually in southern Ft. Lauderdale between Broward and Sunrise Blvd, sweeping from US1 to 31st Ave.
Third of all, Plantation is a nice city, but I wouldn't even consider it being close to the most desirable for one reason: the schools. You can not work your way around the fact that the middle and high schools suck. Davie (right across 595 from Plantation), Coral Springs, central/west Pembroke Pines, west Miramar (yes, really), Weston, Cooper City and Parkland all have better schools. Also, those bad areas to the east are indeed within Plantation, so it's not fair to say the ENTIRE city is middle class. In fact, it's pretty inconsistent until you are west of University Dr, just like most of the county. Also, there is almost no new commercial development on Pine Island, however, they have been fixing up the Fountains area off of University Dr, trying to turn it into a "walkable" area with the new high rise apartment buildings.
Last edited by compelled to reply; 10-19-2009 at 05:06 PM..
There is a lot to address here, but I'll go step by step.
First of all, you just compared ALL of Miramar with NW Ft. Lauderdale. That's quite a broad brush. I wouldn't even compare Sherman Circle (the absolute worst part of Miramar) with 56th Ave in Lauderhill, let alone NW Ft. Lauderdale. Most of Miramar is nice, west of Red Rd is safest. The main problem with Miramar is some of the areas between University Dr and Palm Ave are very close to Carol City and get some spillover crime (also the tiny area south of the turnpike), and the second biggest problem is some clusters of section 8 apartments in that zone. Other than that, yes, it's a heavily black area, that doesn't mean "bad". Deerfield is definitely worse than Miramar (between Dixie and 95), and you put that on your "best" list.
Second of all, Sistrunk is GENTRIFYING! The worst part of Broward is unquestionably Collier City in Pompano Beach, off of Hammondville Rd. Sistrunk is one of the worst, but not THE worst. Oh, and Sistrunk Blvd is actually in southern Ft. Lauderdale between Broward and Sunrise Blvd, sweeping from US1 to 31st Ave.
Third of all, Plantation is a nice city, but I wouldn't even consider it being close to the most desirable for one reason: the schools. You can not work your way around the fact that the middle and high schools suck. Davie (right across 595 from Plantation), Coral Springs, central/west Pembroke Pines, west Miramar (yes, really), Weston, Cooper City and Parkland all have better schools. Also, those bad areas to the east are indeed within Plantation, so it's not fair to say the ENTIRE city is middle class. In fact, it's pretty inconsistent until you are west of University Dr, just like most of the county. Also, there is almost no new commercial development on Pine Island, however, they have been fixing up the Fountains area off of University Dr, trying to turn it into a "walkable" area with the new high rise apartment buildings.
Wow .... compelled you know your stuff ..... kudos to you !!
Are you familiar with South Broward at all? There is one bad part that compares with ANYTHING on the north: Pembroke Park/Carver Ranches, and basically the Pembroke Rd corridor extending from there out to Sherman Circle leaves a thin ghetto strip with Miramar, and the latter isn't even THAT bad once you get a block of two away. Parts of Dania and Hollywood are also "sketchy" but not as bad as what can be found to the north of 595. That's it. South Broward has a lot of "mediocre" areas that are quiet though, which is something the north side doesn't have as much of. Pretty much every single good part of the south side is stable, and the bad parts are more shrinking rather than expanding. North has basically all NW Ft. Lauderdale extending all the way down to Davie Blvd, Oakland Park, parts of Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, most of Pompano west of Dixie, Deerfield between Dixie and 95, and yes areas east of University Dr are declining in Coral Springs, Tamarc, and Plantation, and most of Sunrise is declining.
I lived in what I call the "real" Miramar for 18 years (1976- 1994) until they started building out West. I was held up at gunpoint twice, jumped by a gang, had my house broken into and car stolen. That was the icing on the cake that caused my parents to sell their house. Miramar and Pines have changed for the worst over the years.
They cleared out Pompano right off MLK and Powerline road, removed all of the crack houses, and built new section 8 communities. Unfortunately a lot of the overflow started creeping into North Broward. I remember when the only bad area of Coral Springs was Riverside Dr/Woodside Dr. near Sample Rd. Because of the large amount of rental communities (some that have moved to section 8) Coral Springs has been on the decline. I don't think Parkland will ever have these issues due to the small amount of rental communities within the city.
[quote=eger;11266145]I lived in what I call the "real" Miramar for 18 years (1976- 1994) until they started building out West. I was held up at gunpoint twice, jumped by a gang, had my house broken into and car stolen. That was the icing on the cake that caused my parents to sell their house. Miramar and Pines have changed for the worst over the years.
So your opinions were formed 15 years ago?
I suggest a visit west of 75 is in order for both Pines and Miramar. West of University also warrants a look in case you are not up to the far west.
Definitely the worst years to be in that area. Crime started dropping in both areas in the mid 90s. I know that Pines and Miramar in particular got a little out of hand after the initial "flight" from Carol City/etc in the 80s/early 90s, but while these areas might not be "what they once were", there are mainly working class people left that aren't into crime, still trying to fight a "reputation". Going by areas that existed back then, I would say none of Pines and the area to the east of 62nd Ave in the "real" Miramar (or the apartments across from North Perry Airport) would you still be likely to experience this today if you had any degree of street smarts. I'm not speaking from the perspective of "passing through", but I actually know this area on foot level. The gangs in particular were shoved out in the 1990s, and guess where they went? North, Coral Springs.
Then of course as far as the west area, just look at the street views and try to find an area that is less than upper-middle class west of Palm Ave, let alone "bad".
I never said that Miramar was "bad", I just said to avoid it. You seem to be confusing my post with others. You paint Miramar with such a pretty brush, but I have driven through on many occasions and it is not very nice. Sure there are some nicer sections with gated communities the further west you go, but those are the newer commuties out further by I-75. Everything east of Red Rd. is seedy. Its not just Miramar either, it extends eastward to Hollywood and Miami Gardens.
And for the life of me I cannot understand why someone would want to live so far west out in west Miramar. It is at least 22 miles to commute to Fort Lauderdale and probably 30 miles to downtown Miami.
About Plantation, I wasn't taking into account the schools. But otherwise, Plantation is a very nice suburb. Its not fake looking like Weston with all of the gated communities. But it has more natural beauty to me. Also there is a mall, easy access to highways, and is the most centrally located suburb in Broward being so close to Fort Lauderdale. The houses tend to be larger and so do the lots. Not sure what "mixed" areas you are referring to. I did acknowledge that eastern Plantation has some sketchy neighborhoods as I already outlined. But those are far east. The rest of Plantation is very nice and very middle-class.
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