Beware of burglaries in "the square" between bird road and miller, 102 ave to 87 ave

[tallrick]

Some history of the area and what it once was.

Key Biscayne to Westwood Lakes

[red305]

Wow, cool history, I can't believe our house was selling for only $5k, and veterans were making $35 per week back then. It's crazy how times change. One thing I will definitely agree with is the quality and durability of the homes built back then. Even though our home was built in the 50's, it's as tough as a rock. That baby isn't going no where. That type of quality and craftsmanship is hard to come by nowadays.

[Cubanchic]

Thanks Tallrick! The old house does have a lot of memories.

[tallrick]

A friend's grandfather knew Frank Mackle and serviced the typewriters in their Coral Way office. Very different than today's bubble head developers. Back then Miami was not in the stream of drug money, so they had to build homes people could actually afford. Banks were tight and careful who they wrote mortgages to, so the Mackle way of selling property opened up home ownership to the lower middle class. When I built my new home I used the same techniques to build my 1950's style all concrete home, which is only 1500 square feet. No drywall in this baby, and terrazzo floors and it's off grid too. Once today's funny money system fails, I can see a return to those tiny homes. As for crime, the name "the square" is new information to me.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Some history of the area and what it once was.

Key Biscayne to Westwood Lakes

Interesting article, thanks!

[Awsi Dooger]

I live in that area. The burglaries have been on the uptick in recent years. My sister left her home for 15 minutes and had her back door jimmied open and a few things stolen. Neighbors reported young adults hanging around the hedges at the side of her home not long before it happened. An elderly lady two houses down from me similarly had her home broken into from the back door. It prompted my neighbor to install a loud system, "Warning! You have entered an area protected by a home security system! Leave immediately!"

A couple of years ago my aunt had two young guys come to her front door and convince her to take a look a look at a supposed problem in her back yard. When she left with one of them, she realized the second guy hadn't followed and that she had left her front door unlocked. She raced back to the front of the house just in time to see the second guy exiting. He denied it but they jumped in the car and took off. Sure enough, the guy stole her purse and some items of value.

Lots of suspicious activity. I've seen cars stopped at intersections late at night for long periods, as if they were casing the area. It happens too frequently to be normalcy. I've had people come to my door posing as salesmen for home security systems. They ask questions about the age of your system and how sophisticated it is. It seemed like a ruse to find out if you had a system. When I asked about the company they worked for they babbled a name I didn't recognize and obviously didn't like the topic. One of them told me they had installed a system for my neighbor. I asked the neighbor about it and he had no idea what I was talking about. I contacted the police and they said they were well aware of that practice.

The police are indeed trying to put a stop to the problems. I've seen more frequent presence in the area. One officer stopped at my door about a year ago and told me he lived in the area and it was a priority. Overall it seems to have quieted down somewhat but I'm still on guard.