Help with Miami suburbs

[hurricaneMan1992]

Check out Ojus/Sky Lake. Large Jewish population, of course with good schools and safe, esp. between Miami Gardens Dr. and the county line. From where I live, which is even further from I95, it usually takes 45 minutes to the UM Marine campus, which is much further than the medical campus. Ives Dairy Rd. west of I-95 also seems fine. Preferable to Kendall, IMO, because you're inbetween both Miami and FLL and can enjoy what both cities (and airports) have to offer.

[Boatdrinks99]

If you want to stay within the 40 minute commute rule, then, I'd probably draw a line at SW 136th Street and try to stay north of there. Also, I'd stay east of US Highway 1.

If you have kids, then I'd recommend a home in the Palmetto Elementary/Palmetto Middle School area. Howard Drive is also a good elementary school that I believe also feeds into Palmetto Middle.
The Pinecrest neighborhoods are all very quiet, many houses have a pool. There are a good number of parks and the lot sizes are decent. They remind me a little bit of the suburbs in Douglaston/Little Neck. But it is not as convenient for public transportation.

Coconut Grove is a nice area that is closest to the Medical Campus, for a safe neighborhood south of downtown. However, we were not that impressed with the public schools. But if you are looking to go private, there are some good ones there. It feels like the name - it is a tropical grove feel. This is a "cool" place to live. There isn't much if any yard, almost all houses have a pool that dominates the backyard. We didn't choose this area because we wanted to go to public school.

Coral Gables has decent sized yards, maybe half an acre. It is the stereotypical red tile roof neighborhoods that one might picture in Miami. Schools are decent, but not spectacular. There are good magnet schools for elementary, but they really drop off at middle school and the magnet schools here are by lottery only. We did not like the rules required by the city - you can't park a truck in your drive way, trash pickup is weird, any changes to the house appearance require a permit, etc. Also, we felt that if we moved to Coral Gables, we were committing to private school.

I don't know as much about the places north of the medical campus. I have quite a few friends that live in Weston in Broward County. They really like the schools there. They like their neighborhoods a lot.