Kendall area advice (Miami, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines: condo, crime, attorneys)

[gypsychic]

This is so strange - I was just thinking about Kendall earlier today, remembering how back in 1970 I had some friends that lived there, and I took a bus from Tampa to visit them. Now remember I said this was 1970, and even then the traffic was gridlock and I was shocked at all the violence I saw happening around me in broad daylight! I saw a man get out of his car in traffic and stab someone! I would stay away from that friggin' place if I were you!

[doggiebus]

I had a boss that lived out by the Walmart of Kendall Drive, it took her 30 minutes 6 years ago, to just get to US1, then another 30 minutes to get to Brickell. I am sure the traffic has gotten worse since then, however. I can't wait to see what the brand new homes by that Walmart will look like in 10 years, probably pretty similiar to Hialeah.

[nothingman]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

I had a boss that lived out by the Walmart of Kendall Drive, it took her 30 minutes 6 years ago, to just get to US1, then another 30 minutes to get to Brickell. I am sure the traffic has gotten worse since then, however. I can't wait to see what the brand new homes by that Walmart will look like in 10 years, probably pretty similiar to Hialeah.

Traffic in Kendall is probably the worst I've seen in any suburban area in the world. You expect traffic like that downtown, not in the 'burbs.

You want my advice on Kendall....don't go there and CERTAINLY do not live there, unless you love traffic, strip malls, rude people and thugs.

[floridadreamer]

Kendall is one of the nicer areas of the west Miami area. There's a half way decent shopping mall. But if you were to live there, you'd probably not want to leave Kendall unless it was to go over to Downtown Bayside etc.. North of there all the way up to Miami Lakes is pretty bad IMHO.

We decided after two months in the Miami area to move north to Plantation. The cost is similar but for a much nicer area.

Good luck.

[angelo7221]

In Kendall, saving face means to pretend washing your hands clean of all iniquity and making a bee-line into your 1000 square foot, PURPORTEDLY (if every other word you say is "pretty much" or "ridiculous") plush, Hammocks townhome hiding from the realities of the world (i.e., hitting a dog, hitting a car, talking smack about black people at a Mcdonald's, calling your father a FOCKING IDIOT). I watched this kid at the Publix at the Hammocks, must have been not more than 15, yelling at his bite-sized father about something or other, perhaps the old man wasn't leaving as fast as he'd wanted him to....the screaming could be heard all the way from the pop machine inside.

The kids DISGUST me, there are some real good ones mixed in but given a bad rap on account of the ones that decide to stand out, driving wise and attitude wise. Obviously, there are a great many emigrees from South American/ Central American countries fortunate enough to have moved to a suburb that have just discovered "paradise" but have yet to discover the rules of constraint and behaving subtly in certain cases; if someone stands out as different, God forbid "American"..then it results in s******s and ridiculing statements. Not saying they're all like that; the good ones for all intents and purposes are afraid to show their true colors. There are a lot of Nuyorican transplants that move here and they instill good values in their children. I love Nuyoricans and the freedom flighter Cubans, particularly the abuelitos. Colombian culture is actually really beautiful, but the kids want to hide all that behind the bling, the fast cars, the not so fast ones with fartboxes strapped to the back. It's a shame, if all these kids got along and recognized their difference, this town would experience the same type of Renaissance Brooklyn experienced a hundred years ago, a bit farfetched but if you took time out to think about it, you would ravel in astonishment. Everyone FLASHY gets into drugs and falls into the ghetto or materialistic (east of 117 ave, bird road and 139 ave) culture...or a mixture of the two.

It is frustrating to see all the good middle class folks being pushed out and being replaced by people who buy a 300,000 dollar townhome on ****ty property. Okay, I am a bit biased here...it's a matter of what lifestlye one cherishes, perhaps these new homeowners prefer living close to one another and blending in inconspicously...hell I've developed a fear of white people in Broward having lived in Kendall too long, not afraid to admit it. I feel more comfortable being helped on by a latin rather than a WASP, as sick as that sounds...but I am working on it..I can hide behind my sense of humor and Joe Pesci imitations (www.youtube.com I'm afraid that if I fumble my order on account of being too nervous (am a bit shy)..the white american person will naturally question my inaccuracy..where a latin may let it slide..LATINS ARE WARMER and exhibit a little leeway with one's mistakes, but I look latin so that may help. Same with courting women. So all-in-all, it's a double-edged sword. I might be getting a bit too overly obsessed. Kendall has up-ended my brain, a bit. I am actually seeking counseling on account of my unnatural reaction to this strange phenomenon. God forbid I choose to be myself. It really is a hard pressing issue, I really feel isolated and alone. I have a great deal of hatred towards Kendall, but I try to extract as much good from my day-to-day situations as much as I can...IT REALLY PAINS ME TO FEEL LIKE A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE. I get embarrassed sometimes when I talk to the whitefolk from points north, who find me culturally illiterate in every sense of the word. I've twice been told at the Mobil station by redneck gasline/ car wash contractor folk that I am the shining example of the State of Florida's misaligned educational priorities...which I know not to be true because most people I come into contact with think I possess either a bachelor's or master's degree...and assume I come from New York...I'm not trying to lay my sob story on everyone but rather am trying to point out how tragic a long-term Kendall existence may prove to a normal, white American kid who wants to progress day-by-day on his own terms. THE CHANGES WERE SO MINUTE AND SUBTLE initially, upon first exposure I had automatically assumed it was just another New York (lots of hispanics have american surnames or French sounding like Grau or Moncrief) and when I had started driving and heading to other areas in Northeast Dade and South Broward had I realized what an extreme derivation from the norm this town had taken. I wish there was a support group for disenfranchised Kendall residents, regardless of the race, somewhere. I know there are Americanized cuban and nicaraguan kids that are also hurting because of this.

I actually love latin culture and am hoping for a trip to Peru to study indigenous cultures in Cuzco one day, please don't think I am prejudiced. I love all cultures, I just hate when one inflicts its point of view on you. And when people single you out because you're different.

God bless

[angelo7221]

Okay, I was a bit buzzed when I posted the above....either way...my relationship with miami is strictly love/hate....

I have a soft spot for abuelitos

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by nothingman

Traffic in Kendall is probably the worst I've seen in any suburban area in the world. You expect traffic like that downtown, not in the 'burbs.

You want my advice on Kendall....don't go there and CERTAINLY do not live there, unless you love traffic, strip malls, rude people and thugs.

The problem with Kendall is it's isolation. No planned community there connects with anything else except by the main roads, often the only roads that go through. Think Bird Road, Miller, Sunset, Kendall, 104ST. Only 4 roads going east-west. There's only 5-6 roads going north-south as well. Then the fact that Kendall was built in blocks during Miami's bubble years, the late 70's-80's and after 2000. The projects have the dated apperarance from their construction time. What was named for mango and avacado groves presently has none. Kendall is a place with nothing special, no reason to actually live there besides a place to live. Nothing do to there except shop, and no scenic areas to enjoy. Pretty much everything built there is poor quality, to maximmize profits. Kendall started as a rural area (think redland) but has become the warehouse for refugees from all over the world. It's an area that runs the entire length of Kendall drive, from the bay to Krome avenue. The farther west you go, the worse Kendall gets. The "road to nowhere" still takes you nowhere, but today you have a lot of company going there.

[angelo7221]

Some kids disgust me..not all...the ones who try hard to fulfill the American dream get trumped by the gangbangers. But the layers of the mask are easy to peel apart.

It's just, there's so much temptation to DRIVE LIKE **** for purposes of staying the course...and at times I don't mind that but there are other times when the breaking point is reached....and i say "enough is enough" with the tailgating garbage. But it just winds up, as another poster mentioned, a shark-feeding frenzy. I just get angry at the cheaper cars with the exhaust systems crooning out fart noises. Oh, well....

These posts make me feel better...Kendall is really apart from Miami, anyway.

[MananaLand]

Kendall is famous (or infamous) for a few things.

OJ Simpson lives in Kendall.
Janet Reno does too.
Used to be the USA headquaters for manufacture of the Tec-9 gun.
Home of high-end computer maker Alienware.

[angelo7221]

Kendall, from what I have heard, in the 60's, had a standalone claim to fame

It was where the juvi hall was.

Two pictures

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/...e+-in%3Ascraps

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/...e+-in%3Ascraps

And a historical series of photos (1965..Kendall and 107 ave...NW corner)..need PDF
http://pzimage.miamidade.gov/images/...5000619/PS.pdf

The "24-acre" shopping plaza in conjunction with the village of Kendale is the current Publix/New York New York Deli and Bally's gym..used to have a great bagel joint there.