I'm not wearing rose colored glasses in Broward County after all after I analyze... (Miami: health insurance, crime rate)

[compelled to reply]

To those "Florida mass exodus" people, I'm actually happy you all are leaving. It looks like you have bigger issues than your location. These are exactly the type of people we need to rid our area of so we can actually progress. The population here is just starting to stagnate due to buildout, so yeah, a couple of municipalities lost like 100 residents due to normal aging processes (think "Baby boomer"). So much for third world invasions.

I feel safe in the majority of Broward County. I couldn't say that just 5 years ago, when areas like Sunrise, Plantation, Davie, Miramar had serious crime issues where you would least expect it.Now these areas still have crime, but they are smaller crime issues than most municipalities of their size and have actually fallen below average. This is one of the safest places I have ever lived, and I have lived in a few places and seen a few places. Even in some of the rougher-looking neighborhoods, I very seldom feel in danger. I honestly feel unsafe in very few areas in Broward County in broad daylight, except in maybe in Sistrunk and a few fringes of North Lauderdale. Truthfully, the same could not be said for Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County, or the Atlanta area, or the Charlotte area, or the Nashville area or whatever other utopia you are all moving to that I have visited already and couldn't see what was so great about. People who think Broward has serious crime issues need to travel outside of Broward County into any major metro area. The issues here are smaller than most I have seen, albeit still present in Pompano Beach, parts of Fort Lauderdale, and Lauderdale Lakes, and even these areas are no worse than what I have seen elsewhere. Lauderdale Lakes almost looks clean compared to most "ghettos" I have seen. Out of the three counties, it has the least glitz per capita, but it also has the least gloom per capita. Of course there are some horrible areas here, but I think its comical when people want to move out of here to escape the "Crime". This is the safest urban county in the state by FAR, and a little below average compared to most metropolitan areas. It's the only urbanized county in the state to have a crime rate below the state average, and it shows from what I have seen throughout Florida. There are some serious issues here with crime in some areas, but it's not widespsread like what you may find in most parts of the state and Southeastern US or (dare I say, grass is greener types) Atlanta, Charlotte, and even Raleigh.

On top of that, Broward County is the only county of it's size I have ever seen to lack serious issues with illegal immigration. Everyone seems to have their papers. Even in utopia-ish Cary, NC, there was a small part of town where illegal aliens have settled. I haven't seen those little pockets down here like I have seen all over the country. It's all around very prosperous for a self-sustainable metropolitan area. Like I said, there are some ghettos between I-95 and the Turnpike, and if I moved to a place like Fort Lauderdale from Kendall and expected a higher "Quality of life", yeah, I would think South Florida is hell too. If you are not into rural living, there is something for everyone here. I don't understand what this whole "rude people" thing either. I was at Publix today, and everyone was talking to each other, engaging in conversation. People were pretty happy and friendly. This is not unusual, and I'm not lying either. Oh yea, I heard some Spanish in the store, but everyone I talked to spoke English, including the Spanish speaking people. Gheez, just talk to these people, they are usually nice! The worst I have encountered is pretentiousness from some of the Venezuelans, not exactly what you would expect out of the typical view of "hispanic". The clerk today had a heavy Spanish accent, yet spoke English to the people in front of me who also spoke Spanish. I have similar experiences countywide. Many languages are spoken, but English is first.

Also, the air today was crap. Guess what? The air is like this every day in most of the country during the summer. Todays crappy air quality was unusual (macguy, don't quote Sperlings 8 out of 100, they have it dyslexic because I found out 92 percent of our EPA days were "Good"). We also don't have the same traffic issues I have seen in most areas of it's size. Our drivers are really bad, but I can't remember the last time I got stuck in traffic. You have some congested streets east of 95, and you have your slow mornings 595 with many alternates. That's it.

Even the population is relatively well educated. The percentage of people with HS diplomas, Bachelors degrees, and advanced degrees were all above the national average. Take all of this, a diverse population that actually corporates with each other,and put it under a subtropical climate, and it seems like I made a pretty smart choice to locate here a few years ago.I probably wouldn't do it again because of the cost, but it's still not a bad life.

School system, its mostly crap (but there are some good schools around in more than one area). Cost of living, its incredibly high. The drivers, they suck. These are the main shortfalls I can find for this area. Unless you are struggling with affordability, you have no reason to complain about the quality of life in this area, unless you find yourself preferring small town or rural living.

Anybody going to dispute anything I said? I didn't even brush on the stereotypical "paradise" aspects either...

[harry chickpea]

Oh, we're happy that we've left as well. I realize that a large part of what I didn't care for in Broward was that it had too many people. As far as cities go, Broward area is better than Miami, better than many northern cities, and better than a lot of places. At a certain point, some of us start to understand that crowding is more of a problem than a benefit. Just watched on the news how a 3" rain stopped NYC today. We had one here a couple weeks ago and about all it did was push aside a dead tree in our stream and move some stream gravel around.

I'm happy that you like Broward. I did for many years.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Oh, we're happy that we've left as well. I realize that a large part of what I didn't care for in Broward was that it had too many people. As far as cities go, Broward area is better than Miami, better than many northern cities, and better than a lot of places. At a certain point, some of us start to understand that crowding is more of a problem than a benefit. Just watched on the news how a 3" rain stopped NYC today. We had one here a couple weeks ago and about all it did was push aside a dead tree in our stream and move some stream gravel around.

I'm happy that you like Broward. I did for many years.

Congratulations on your move. Like I said, if you are more into a small town/less crowded area, then of course this isn't for you. . Where did you head to?

[harry chickpea]

North Alabama, where the equity in my Broward county house bought 15 acres and a year-round stream with enough left over to buy a new home. If I had thought I could continue to afford the taxes, HOI, health insurance, and car insurance, and have enough left over to save for retirement, I might have considered staying. Then again, I might not.

[MrTudo]

Good thread Fort Lauderdale

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

North Alabama, where the equity in my Broward county house bought 15 acres and a year-round stream with enough left over to buy a new home. If I had thought I could continue to afford the taxes, HOI, health insurance, and car insurance, and have enough left over to save for retirement, I might have considered staying. Then again, I might not.

Good deal. Definitely would do it if I were older or self employed.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Good thread Fort Lauderdale

Did you find anything disputable? I'm just curious to see if I have a "rosy", distorted view of my area because I don't incessantly complain about it and see a lot of good outweighing the bad.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

Did you find anything disputable? I'm just curious to see if I have a "rosy", distorted view of my area because I don't incessantly complain about it and see a lot of good outweighing the bad.

Heheh, I think that part of Broward suxs. Was there today. Saw my dentist on 26th at 11AM and was 30 minutes early. Of course we had lunch at Skyline Chili. I had a 5 way and 2 loaded coney's. Wife had two coney's with no mustard and no cheese. 2 Sweet Tea's. Yum!

Love Ft Lauderdale. Hate Ft Lauderdale but look at the time in that place I've got. Back to 1979! Even Macguy wants outta there. It's just tooo much traffic, houses too close to each other.

Schools are crap? ALL public schools in every state are crap. How else do think the people became as ignorant as they are enough to beg, snivel and whine for even more government? Public schools! It's almost funny to hear people talk about how their public school is better than so and so's public school. Truly funny.

I'm spoiled man and as long as I've got a cable internet connection and the ability to send and receive fed ex, I'm in business. So I'm on the west coast. It's nicer here.

But Lauderdale is OK. Just not for me anymore. But Fla's the greatest.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Schools are crap? ALL public schools in every state are crap. How else do think the people became as ignorant as they are enough to beg, snivel and whine for even more government? Public schools! It's almost funny to hear people talk about how their public school is better than so and so's public school. Truly funny.
.

When I say public schools are "Crap", I mean that in the most basic sense, as in a low overall graduation rate, 3rd graders who can't read, and lots of fighting and violence. Doesn't mean there aren't public schools that are "Good" in the most basic of the word, it's just that there are more "bad" ones than "good" ones. As far as whether they breed PC nonsense and have an outdated curriculum? Well, that's not a part of this thread! I personally have more faith in the public school system than the private one (where some guy is running it, can teach/do whatever he wants, and for all you know the kids can run around and do nothing and get straight As as long as he is "accredited". At least the public school system has guidelines, whether you like them or not), and I'm NOT a socialist by most stretches, but thats for another thread...

[tallrick]

The affordability issue ruins it for me and many people. If you want to attract and keep highly educated or friendly people, get those home prices down! As for public schools being bad, thank the Department of Education. If I had my way the school board would be eliminated as well.

As for traffic, do you ever drive 595? We don't even have to discuss I-95. Thankfully most of my road time in Broward is on I-75. Broward's built out, so don't expect less crowding anytime soon.