Hialeah (Miami, Homestead, Miami Lakes: real estate, apartments, condos)

[nothingman]

Hialeah….

Do SOMETHING with this place, for the love of god. I’ve seen some run down areas in my time, but Hialeah looks like it belongs in Tijuana Mexico, not in a city in the United States. It’s such a barren wasteland, where homeowners would rather concrete their front yard than actually consider planting vegetation there. Apartments in Hialeah look like cheap motels and none of them have any kind of view. The area around 49th Street is simply disgusting and it needs to be flattened. Miami drivers are bad, but Hialeah drivers are 10,000 times worse because they got their licenses in Havana or Santo Domingo. What Hialeah needs is some major investment – some parks, nice housing and some movie theaters. People call it “the city of progress”, but in all the time I’ve lived here, I’m not really feeling that progress. Maybe some wasps need to move in, or something……god…..I feel for the place, I really do.

[lionking]

lol!....well there are bad parts and then better parts of Hialeah depending on what you consider.

was thumbing thru a realtor magazine the other day and saw a couple houses listed in that area,small maybe 1100sft with the flat style roofs for over $345,000.......what!!!!

my house is alot bigger,alot nicer and in a much better neighborhood and my area and I are either selling for that price or even a little lower.

[nothingman]

Originally Posted by lionking

lol!....well there are bad parts and then better parts of Hialeah depending on what you consider.

was thumbing thru a realtor magazine the other day and saw a couple houses listed in that area,small maybe 1100sft with the flat style roofs for over $345,000.......what!!!!

my house is alot bigger,alot nicer and in a much better neighborhood and my area and I are either selling for that price or even a little lower.

I wouldn't pay $10 for ANTYTHING in Hialeah (rhymes with "diarrhea") for anything more than a dollar.....cesspool central.

[CiXeL]

the mystery for me is the walmart in hialeah off okeechobee road has AMAZING service compared to the one in homestead by me. i can only guess that there is a latin middle class in doral that frequents it.

and regarding food, actually theres a great cuban restaurant called kokey's bbq ive been to in hialeah. lots of food for a great price.

[rose.pal]

nothingman,

Once again I have to give you a thumbs up!! I live in hialeah almost my whole life. (my parents still do) I actually live 5 miserable years in a condo right off of 49th street. I was so glad to have moved to Broward a year ago. But now in reality, it's not much better. I will be moving north in a few months and am so excited. When I went to visit, people actually say hello to you!! I am leaving to give my kids a better environment and better education am am trying to convince my dad to move too. (Mom is ready and would be packed in a flash) I have lots of good friends who I've known since I was 8 that are from all parts of Latin America and all of their parents have said that the people moving here now aren't the same as when they came to this country. When they came over they all learned english because they were so happy to be in America and have the opportunities it offered them. I have several close friends who came here in 1980 on the Mariel boat lift and every single one of them and their parents have learned to speak english and did so because they felt it was a matter of respect for the country that took them in (their words, not mine)

[Chelito23]

Hialeah is really a curious place that I have studied and analyzed over the years. It started out as a cheap suburb for the retirees...cheap because it was far out and in the swamp with NO drainage. It flooded every rainy season. Not anything like now, we are talking under 5 feet of water across huge areas. Granted, that still happens, but at least there are drainage and canal systems there nowadays. In any event, the city turned into the local industrial and wharehouse hub. As immigrants move to Miami, they chose Hialeah for its affordability and adjacent factory jobs. That was what, 50 years ago?

Flash forward to today. The city has "progressed" in the sense that it has become the number 2 city population wise in the county. It has finally attracted national chain stores...and there is now a minimal stormwater runoff infrasturcture. There are also parks and sidewalks too. The city has certainly progressed in these aspects...as they have improved the surface streets.

Now, the life in the city of Hialeah has a totally different reality, regarding progres. Many of the people who relocated there originally were way different from the recent arrivals. Hialeah is really a middle class area that TRIES to be ghetto. It is really crazy. The people live in condos, single family homes and apartments. They have great cars for the most part, live large and spend a lot at the stores....but the quality of life isn't there. The crime is high for a city of its size. There are many gangs and a huge drug culture. This must be car theft capital of Dade County. The police department in Hialeah is quite corrupt, if you live here long enough you will see Hialeah's finest on the news in the future for the same old same old. Last I remember was that the Police chief's sons (also police officers) were being charged with beating a suspect (they were caught on camera), but then the evidence "disappeared". There are many more stories like this. Also, the ex mayor (Raul Matinez) was arrested for money laundering I believe...and then re-arrested a couple years back for punching someone on the Palmetto expressway during the Elian Gonzalez saga.

In any event, Hialeah is a special kind of hell. Here you will encounter the rudest, in-your-face arrognat and most disrespectful and ungrateful people you will ever come across. To me, Hialeah is the breakdown of civil society. Forget about values, the prevading values here are not representative of Latin or American countries. Hialeah is truely a combination of the worst of American and Latin cultures combined. The older generation does not want to assimilate, the younger generation assimilates all of the negative images from the media (gangster life, drugs, blin bling). It is so sad.

Also, there are many recent arrivals without a strong work ethic. They are very pragmatic and know that they can make more money underground than legally or via an education. This in turn sets the stage for financial greed and corruption...Hialeah is probably the scam capital of Florida. Real estate here is insane, there is no justification for the high prices. It is overpopulated, traffic is horrendous, jobs pay ridiculously low wages and the crime is high.

Cixel, I have to disagree with you about the Wal Mart service. It seems just as bad as anywhere else in area. What times did you shop at? I could only say that the Super Wal Mart in Hialeah Gardens (what a joke, that name) is the most crowded store I have ever seen in my life, with one of the dirtiest parking lots to go with it. The check out lines can be over 20 people each with ALL lanes open. It is a frenzied consumerism at its worst! But if this is better than the supercenter in Homestead, yikes!

Well those are just my observations of Hialeah. I think they reflect the community as a whole. Sure, there are some decent people there. They are just outnumbered by the huge amount of people with no culture, respect for their neighbors, themselves or the community.

[nothingman]

Originally Posted by rose.pal

nothingman,

Once again I have to give you a thumbs up!! I live in hialeah almost my whole life. (my parents still do) I actually live 5 miserable years in a condo right off of 49th street. I was so glad to have moved to Broward a year ago. But now in reality, it's not much better. I will be moving north in a few months and am so excited. When I went to visit, people actually say hello to you!! I am leaving to give my kids a better environment and better education am am trying to convince my dad to move too. (Mom is ready and would be packed in a flash) I have lots of good friends who I've known since I was 8 that are from all parts of Latin America and all of their parents have said that the people moving here now aren't the same as when they came to this country. When they came over they all learned english because they were so happy to be in America and have the opportunities it offered them. I have several close friends who came here in 1980 on the Mariel boat lift and every single one of them and their parents have learned to speak english and did so because they felt it was a matter of respect for the country that took them in (their words, not mine)

In Hialeah, people are not only rude, but they're nasty. Do you know how many bad stares I've had when I've been in Hialeah? The drivers there are worse than any drivers in the whole of Miami...they're nuts. 49th Street is disgusting....if I had my way, I'd bulldoze the lot and start again...maybe put a huge park there or something to replace all of those nasty-ass apartments that look like cheap motels. I know people who live in Hialeah who hate it....it's an urban wastleand of third world proportions. Damn...I'm from England and I thought that parts of Manchester and Birmingham were run down, but damn...Hialeah is f'd up.

[lauralei2]

I grew up in Hialeah. It was a very green city when I was a kid. Lots of trees, especially orange trees. When the citrus canker came, there went the tree canopy. Also, back 25 years or so someone had the brilliant idea of planting black olive trees in the swales. Well, the leaves damage the paint on your car, so many people cut them down. My parents were one of the last holdouts to leave in 2000. The people who bought the house I grew up in concrete paved the front yard so they could park more cars....YIKES!!
I remember learning to drive on the old runways adjacent to LeJeune Road. Amelia Earhart flew from there. Now a UPS building stands in it place. NICE!!

T-Bred Alumni 1980.

[Chelito23]

There are still some decent *blocks* in north Hialeah neighborhoods...almost as if time stood still. Of course, they are surrounded by the more typical areas. There still are a handful of White Americans who live there too...but many of them are quite old and do not have kids in the schools, and they shop in Miami Lakes. West Hialeah is the scumbag capital of the world. That whole area near the Palmetto is just plain old nasty. I used to work in the area, had a girlfriend who lived nearby, so we went to the stores...I went to a gym in that area too. I think so many people live there, and don't leave, because it is all they know...and many people have the mentality that the world ends beyond Dade county...like this is the s***! So people just take things in stride and assume everywhere is as dysfunctional as their surroundings. Lately though, the trend has been for second generation kids to move to SW Broward where it is cleaner, newer and more americanized.

Yeah, those Black Olive trees were a royally stupid idea, but then again, they were planted en masse across all of South Florida and many univeristes, malls and schools have had to cut them down for the same reasons. South Florida has native tree fever...and there are only so many native shade trees...which is why you mainly see the slow growing live oaks being planted nowadays. A few bad exotics ruined it for the rest. Anyways, that is for another post. One thing I have to admit that I like about Hialeah is the Long John Silvers on 49th St! Good fish! haha.

[CiXeL]

honestly you have to wonder about a city where there are vultures constantly circling