The grass isn't always greener in Broward County.... (Miami, Coral Springs: best city, condo)

[Carlitosway]

I was going to move to the City of Tamarac. Last year Tamarac was named top city for retirement, and since I'm planning to partially retire, I thought to myself..... Uh? This is a nice choice. New Mexico was my first option, but Tamarac was so much closer and I am a Floridian, so ..... To Tamarac I went to look for a place. Found one! Very good priced ... nice condo....close to everything....older (55+) neighbors...clean streets... IT WAS JUST TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!

Tu, rum, tu rum, turumrum! (Jaws music) What did I discover about Tamarac?????


LOTS OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS...... FULL OF THEM!!!!


I guess the grass isn't always greener on the other side.


I guess its back to the drawing board.....

[doodlewood1]

I did not know that. Are there more in Tamarac than in other surrounding cities? I just recently purchased in Tamarac by Executive Airport. I got a bit of a deal because his wife is a teacher and so is mine. They were retired and just wanted to get the hell out of Florida and took our offer. You can find some great deals on converted 55+ community homes there and most are in very good shape. At least the ones I looked at were in good shape.

[compelled to reply]

There isint a particularly high ratio of sex offenders compared to anywhere else in the country in Tamarac. Plus thats a not the best city to pick from in the first place. Why not Coral Springs? Are you staying west of University Drive? Your going to find a lot of sex offenders in New Mexico, too.

Was the particular complex full of offenders? If it's one of those 55+ conversions, they tend to get purchased/rented to by crappy people until the HOAs start kicking them out.

How about Weston? I have 4 sex offenders within 2 miles. Unfortunately that is as low as you are going to go in most places. These freaks are everywhere.

[Carlitosway]

Originally Posted by doodlewood1

I did not know that. Are there more in Tamarac than in other surrounding cities? I just recently purchased in Tamarac by Executive Airport. I got a bit of a deal because his wife is a teacher and so is mine. They were retired and just wanted to get the hell out of Florida and took our offer. You can find some great deals on converted 55+ community homes there and most are in very good shape. At least the ones I looked at were in good shape.

Well, you may want to cut and paste this link from the Broward Sheriff office, and do a search of the area. I did.

Broward Sheriff's Office - Sex Offender Locator (http://gisweb.sheriff.org/predator/BSOMap.aspx - broken link)

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Carlitosway

Well, you may want to cut and paste this link from the Broward Sheriff office, and do a search of the area. I did.

Broward Sheriff's Office - Sex Offender Locator (http://gisweb.sheriff.org/predator/BSOMap.aspx - broken link)

It wont let me search without an address. New Mexico is fantastic though, from what I hear.

[Carlitosway]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

There isint a particularly high ratio of sex offenders compared to anywhere else in the country in Tamarac. Plus thats a not the best city to pick from in the first place. Why not Coral Springs? Are you staying west of University Drive? Your going to find a lot of sex offenders in New Mexico, too.

Was the particular complex full of offenders? If it's one of those 55+ conversions, they tend to get purchased/rented to by crappy people until the HOAs start kicking them out.

How about Weston? I have 4 sex offenders within 2 miles. Unfortunately that is as low as you are going to go in most places. These freaks are everywhere.

Yes, the place I was looking at, and almost paid a deposit on, is located west of University Drive, near McNab Road. In my current area (Country Walk) we have 1 sex offender within 5 miles. I've lived here for almost 15 years, and still feel very safe about walking in the park at the early evening and morning hours. We have a severe problem with traffic, but crime is low here. Still I want to move to a more relaxed and slower paced place. New Mexico, (Las Cruces to be more exact) has a crime rate relatively low, and there are no ghettos there. Whats in Coral Spring? I drove by there, but didn't stop to look..

[Carlitosway]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

It wont let me search without an address. New Mexico is fantastic though, from what I hear.

Fill in the address to the University Hospital and Clinics 7201 N UNIVERSITY DR.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Carlitosway

Yes, the place I was looking at, and almost paid a deposit on, is located west of University Drive, near McNab Road. In my current area (Country Walk) we have 1 sex offender within 5 miles. I've lived here for almost 15 years, and still feel very safe about walking in the park at the early evening and morning hours. We have a severe problem with traffic, but crime is low here. Still I want to move to a more relaxed and slower paced place. New Mexico, (Las Cruces to be more exact) has a crime rate relatively low, and there are no ghettos there. Whats in Coral Spring? I drove by there, but didn't stop to look..

Country Walk is a nice area. If it weren't for the traffic, I would consider it one of the best in Dade. Coral Springs has a lot of good restaurants, is the 10th safest city in the U.S, is known for its clean and quiet residential neighborhoods, and even has its own performing arts center. IT was also ranked among Money mags 100 best places to live last year, but I take that list with a grain of salt generally. A lot of whiners will complain about the traffic, but they have obviously not seen other parts of the country (or Miami, for that matter). Most of the streets are wide open during rush hour, except for University (which still moves fine). It's just a good solid area in general. The only areas that aren't that great are along Sample Rd.

I have heard a lot of fantastic things about NM though. I say if you can bear the desert and the brownness, go for it! I find it hard to believe there are no ghettos though; 27 percent of the population was below poverty, and the median income slipped between 2000 and 2005 according to CD.

Crime in Las Cruces by Year
Type 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005
Murders 8 7 0 1 3 5
per 100,000 10.5 8.8 0.0 1.3 3.8 6.2
Rapes 60 56 65 83 81 96
per 100,000 78.7 70.7 87.0 109.5 103.6 119.1
Robberies 102 93 79 99 106 101
per 100,000 133.8 117.4 105.8 130.6 135.6 125.4
Assaults 371 304 268 232 162 263
per 100,000 486.7 383.7 358.9 306.0 207.2 326.4
Burglaries 1,185 1,190 928 808 705 750
per 100,000 1554.5 1501.8 1242.7 1065.9 901.9 930.8
Thefts 4,547 4,944 4,208 3,036 3,230 2,954
per 100,000 5964.8 6239.6 5634.8 4005.0 4132.1 3666.2
Auto thefts 185 171 192 245 199 245
per 100,000 242.7 215.8 257.1 323.2 254.6 304.1
Arson 12 10 8 13 7 15
per 100,000 15.7 12.6 10.7 17.1 9.0 18.6
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 325.2) 588.3 558.1 506.1 451.3 421.5 446.8

According to our research there were 103 registered sex offenders living in Las Cruces, New Mexico in early 2007.
The ratio of number of residents in Las Cruces to the number of sex offenders is 802 to 1.

Tamarac
Crime in Tamarac by Year
Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Murders 1 0 2 2 2 2 1
per 100,000 1.9 0.0 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.4 1.6
Rapes 6 13 15 11 9 8 4
per 100,000 11.2 23.0 26.3 18.9 15.4 13.5 6.6
Robberies 49 67 51 58 71 79 65
per 100,000 91.4 118.4 89.4 99.8 121.3 133.3 107.2
Assaults 56 84 80 79 101 139 124
per 100,000 104.4 148.5 140.3 135.9 172.6 234.6 204.6
Burglaries 211 211 253 151 165 224 268
per 100,000 393.5 373.0 443.6 259.8 282.0 378.0 442.1
Thefts 838 759 648 684 581 860 818
per 100,000 1562.8 1341.7 1136.3 1176.7 992.8 1451.4 1349.5
Auto thefts 266 187 199 144 137 150 143
per 100,000 496.1 330.6 349.0 247.7 234.1 253.1 235.9
Arson 2 2 1 2 5 0 1
per 100,000 3.7 3.5 1.8 3.4 8.5 0.0 1.6
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 325.2) 190.7 189.8 187.4 164.2 168.2 209.2 185.5


According to our research there were 24 registered sex offenders living in Tamarac, Florida in early 2007.
The ratio of number of residents in Tamarac to the number of sex offenders is 2501 to 1.
The number of registered sex offenders compared to the number of residents in this city is a lot smaller than the state average.

The grass is not always greener in Las Cruces, NM either...we need good people to stick around in South Florida in good areas. Why don't you slow your lifestyle a little bit in Tamarac but not trade the green?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Carlitosway

Fill in the address to the University Hospital and Clinics 7201 N UNIVERSITY DR.

There aren't that many offenders. Thats about average for most American cities. It doesn't really matter much as long as they aren't in your neighborhood. Country Walk happens to have a really low ratio of them. Every place is going to have its flaw.

[Carlitosway]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

I have heard a lot of fantastic things about NM though. I say if you can bear the desert and the brownness, go for it! I find it hard to believe there are no ghettos though; 27 percent of the population was below poverty, and the median income slipped between 2000 and 2005 according to CD.

I went to Las Cruces a few months back, and drove that city from top to bottom. I read the newspapers for crime reports, and watched the news for information. People in NM are very friendly, they smile and say hello when they meet you in the sidewalks etc. I visited a several local places and mingled with the locals, also went to stores like Walgreen, and Wal-Mart, even did laundry at a local place, etc. In other words, I searched the place looking for the "ugly" and I did not see it. Naive? Maybe. Yet, the mountains surrounding the city, and the Oleander trees, along with the chilies hanging from the ceilings in the homes, made me think I could easily live there. Thanks for the info about Coral Springs.