How can we improve Homestead? (Miami, Coral Springs: high crime, good hotels, neighborhoods)

[NCtoMiami]

Some of things that can be done to improve City of Homestead,
1. Build a book store (Barnes and Noble)
2. Build Target
3. Build good restaurants downtown not fast food
4. Business Park - Homestead silicon valley ;-)
5. Spruce up outlet mall

[BlueBlueBlue]

1. Get rid of the lower class residents.

[ace587]

encourage investors to start coming

[ecofancy]

I agree with less fast food restaurants and better stores. The area gets a lot of tourist traffic heading into the keys and everglades. But there are slim offerings for good hotels and restaurants so its just a place to pass through.

[boxus]

1. Build a book store (Barnes and Noble)

Why? So having a book store is somehow magically going to transform things? I wish it was that easy. besides, brick and mortar books stores are losing money for the most part.

2. Build Target

Please, the last thing this Earth needs is another big box store.

3. Build good restaurants downtown not fast food

That would require the transformation of its current residents to want to spend the money for something other than McDonalds.

4. Business Park - Homestead silicon valley ;-)

Yes, because business parks are always associated with nice areas of towns, especially after 15 to 20 years of existence.

5. Spruce up outlet mall

Yes, because more retail space is the answer to all problems.

Sorry, but simply building something does not transform the low life mentality of people, which are the root cause of the need for improvements. Plus, adding places to shop are not the solution and I have no idea why everyone, from simple folks to politicians, insist on always needing to expand more in terms of retail space, and think that will solve all economic and social problems.

[boxus]

Originally Posted by BlueBlueBlue

1. Get rid of the lower class residents.

The best and only realistic solution to improving Homestead.

[Coconut1]

I'd like to see a commuter rail line go down to Homestead/FL City. I'd like to see the area turned in to a mostly agrarian area with small, quaint streets (expand upon streets like Krome Ave) and small town charm.

Not only produce more food down there, but also bring in argitourism via the rail and make the villages all very walkable to get people to walk the streets as opposed to simply driving from attraction to attraction.

I think if we can make different areas of the county work together we could really spread the tourism dollars around. Offer week-long packages such as "Explore the Sea, City and Country" where people would spend 2 nights in Miami Beach, 3 nights in Miami (which obviously needs to be built up as well) and two nights in the country.

[boxus]

Problem is, a person goes to Homestead, it looks like a dump. People are not too motivated to spend dollars to visit what amounts to a dump.

You may not view as one, others may not, but the first impression to anyone, and impressions after that, is the place is one big Ghetto all the way down to Florida City.

I am NOT stating it is, just pointing out factual observances from my first and numerous impressions, also from visiting people. I am sure Homestead has nice areas, but point is they are specific areas and not representative of the city whole.

So a private/gov entity can spend all they want to make it nicer, but tourists and potential residents alike will be deterred when the riff-raff starts hanging out everywhere all the time, thus ruining yet another nice area and sending it into the abyss like so many other former nice neighborhoods.

Then in 20 years, we can all sit on this forum and *** about how nice that part of Homestead was after they revitalized it, and now it is a high crime ghetto and what can we do to improve it.

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by NCtoMiami

Some of things that can be done to improve City of Homestead,
1. Build a book store (Barnes and Noble)
2. Build Target
3. Build good restaurants downtown not fast food
4. Business Park - Homestead silicon valley ;-)
5. Spruce up outlet mall

All these things would be great if the people that lived there would go and spend money. The people in Homestead for the most part are lower middle class if not poor (there are a few upper middle class people). I think Target would do well in Homestead. I don't know about a Barnes & Nobles though.

The Outlet Mall, well, that place has had its brighter days to say the least. Sadly the location is a big factor that plays in its problem. The surrounding areas are where the cliental for that mall comes from, so the stores are geared towards them. Hence you aren't going to put a Neiman Marcus Outlet in that Outlet Mall because the cliental just isn't there to support a store like that. But the cliental is there to support a Gap Outlet for instance (not sure if it is still there). So again location is a factor.

Same problem with the restaurants, the cliental just isn't there for nice restaurants sadly. For the Business Park idea, I don't know, it sounds like a good idea. But if I were coming to Miami looking for a place to build a business park I would put it someplace on the Dade and Broward County line out west. Just for the fact you would have a larger selection of potential employees from both counties. Someone from Boca or Coral Springs isn't going to drive down to Homestead everyday for a job.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

I know the city tries hard, this week I saw them watering median plants with hoses. They already have some Christmas decorations I Like the fact they take some pride in Their city and try to make it look good. Yes they have poor residents and high crime but they can only do the best. They have that trolley(and people use it) I would say try to get their residents more involved maybe through school programs, make downtown like a weekend market, make some streets In downtown more walkable.