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Probably depends on what you are doing in Broward as to whether it sucks or not, to you. Miami/Dade is obviously primarily Hispanic and if you blend with that culture you are fine. Broward is very Democrat overall and the recent influx has been Haitian/Jamaican and islanders if you will.
The problem with Broward is that it can only expand westward and that stops at the everglades so now, it's just about slap full making traffic abysmal, schools worse if that was possible and crime on an uptick...very, very dense.
In 1995 I lived out in West Broward in Jacaranda....after that Hiatus was the "sticks"....now? It's all the way to Weston, South through Davie to Pembroke Pines (Davie was somewhat of a rural feel back then and University concrete development stopped just South of Homie Depot...now? It's non-stop strip malls all the way to West Hollywood and beyond....amazing the whole area just doesn't sink from the weight.
There's not much green area left. Above all, South Florida is notorious for bad debt, scammers, lousy home contractors, drugs, and general crime associated with transient towns...not unique, just another one...similar to Vegas less the superficial money....couple that with all the "friendly" types in South Flahraddddah and you'll get the picture. Things like avoiding using your turn signal to change lanes as that will only encourage the one next to you to speed up to assure you don't "get something for free from them" mentality will become second nature. It's Darwinian at it's finest. If you have a business, be prepared to find good debt collectors and be able to float your customers for months...they like it that way and then of course, they will occasionally just vanish....interesting mix....lots of boiler rooms off Oakland Park Blvd and Glades....ready to swindle America on everything from Real Estate, Vending Machines, Biz Ops, and Vacations....nice....steady HIV rate which is climbing (I think Miami is now number one) with lots of opportunities to catch that and perhaps Herpes all at once. More credit card eating bimbos than you can shake an Amex at and it is truly the home of the new Silicone Valley as no woman with 1 oz of brains travels without augmentations, huge too, that is and for that, we thank you. Oh and they like to wear leather mini-skirts in July juuuuuust below the view.....high humidity...ugh....classy place....really. Lots and lots of places to eat no matter how bad....highest amount of eateries per capita than anywhere else in the US...go figure....
Good thing about that Silicone Valley is that the women can be stunning...Just bring your Amex because they don't take Visa or MasterCard...don't leave home without it....If you have kids, expect 45-50 kids per classroom not counting those that we aren't sure are enrolled or not....nice touch....
If you can get by all that or, have a unique business and live further North in the County or West it's not too bad. Weather is great about this time with the swelter to arrive by late March and abate in October.
Well I live in Boca Raton but spent much of my time shopping, dining, etc in North Broward (Central as well)...
I can tell you if you expect a lifestyle similar to, say, Lake City or Pensacola, you would be vastly disappointed for various reasons. Traffic, not quite as rough as Dade but pretty hectic (ofc, if you reside in a megapolis like LA or NYC, then this would be a positive transition by far)...
The people are far more reserved, distant, fast-paced and yes occasionally pretty rude which for some isn't necessarily a negative aspect of life but for many like myself, we prefer a more laid-back, slow-paced yet productive approach to the shoes we're in as a whole.
Now, the diversity of Broward as a whole (in every aspect of the term) is as impressive as it gets for a county of its size and by this, I mean everything from CUISINE to RACE to SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND, NICHE, etc... Whatever your desire is, unless it's skiing or certain outdoor activities that require snow, ice and/or mountains, you might blend into Broward IF you could tolerate the explosive population growth atop of the other 'flaws' listed above.
The school district is top-notch, cannot say the same for Palm Beach County which is where I'm living right now.
Beaches are crowded in spots, sparse and tranquil in others.
If you're escaping scorching summers and frigid waters, you've come to the right place unless you're living way out west, then you have to put up with the humidity and daily strong T-Storms.
Really, where you reside in Broward makes a vast difference on what to expect.
I've lived in town (by town, I mean the general proximity, SE Florida) for seven long years and I've been all over Broward, Palm Beach, city by city, over and over again...
I can tell you the western suburbs (i.e. Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, your best options) are your safest bets for a family-friendly, relatively low-crime environment with some impressive real estate deals to wrap up a fine package, but the people can be somewhat pretentious, uptight out there if that's any of your concern and if you expect easy access to the beaches, nights out with friends, this might not be for you but you could do with far worse (Try: Loxahatchee Groves, one of my favorite municipalities in the Tri-County region).
There's an LGBT-friendly community known as Wilton Manors, primarily located off Oakland Park Blvd & Dixie/US1.
There is a cowboy country town called Davie, off of Griffin west of the Turnpike, which is technically a safe haven for the dying breed of Florida-bred rednecks (by the non-offensive, traditional meaning of the term, though there is a handful of stereotypical trailer folk out that way too, they're just not quite as prevalent) and houses Nova SE University which I'm not all too familiar with in terms of courses, cost, population, etc.
Plenty of other towns/cities/CDCs from the well-known (Ft Lauderdale) to the surfer hangout (Deerfield Beach), sketchy areas mainly in eastern sections (between Federal/US1 and Powerline/I95, rarely to the east or west of either corridor).
I personally prefer PBC (Palm Beach County) but only by a slight margin, I like Broward for what it has to offer, rarely venture into Dade County as much as I used to, and would personally take the hills and farmland of N FL anyday over the hustle and bustle of SE FL but, hey, to each his own.
Overall, you could do far worse than Broward, it's an interesting and eclectic little gem of a county in the grand scheme of things.
Well I live in Boca Raton but spent much of my time shopping, dining, etc in North Broward (Central as well)...
I can tell you if you expect a lifestyle similar to, say, Lake City or Pensacola, you would be vastly disappointed for various reasons. Traffic, not quite as rough as Dade but pretty hectic (ofc, if you reside in a megapolis like LA or NYC, then this would be a positive transition by far)...
The people are far more reserved, distant, fast-paced and yes occasionally pretty rude which for some isn't necessarily a negative aspect of life but for many like myself, we prefer a more laid-back, slow-paced yet productive approach to the shoes we're in as a whole.
Now, the diversity of Broward as a whole (in every aspect of the term) is as impressive as it gets for a county of its size and by this, I mean everything from CUISINE to RACE to SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND, NICHE, etc... Whatever your desire is, unless it's skiing or certain outdoor activities that require snow, ice and/or mountains, you might blend into Broward IF you could tolerate the explosive population growth atop of the other 'flaws' listed above.
The school district is top-notch, cannot say the same for Palm Beach County which is where I'm living right now.
Beaches are crowded in spots, sparse and tranquil in others.
If you're escaping scorching summers and frigid waters, you've come to the right place unless you're living way out west, then you have to put up with the humidity and daily strong T-Storms.
Really, where you reside in Broward makes a vast difference on what to expect.
I've lived in town (by town, I mean the general proximity, SE Florida) for seven long years and I've been all over Broward, Palm Beach, city by city, over and over again...
I can tell you the western suburbs (i.e. Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, your best options) are your safest bets for a family-friendly, relatively low-crime environment with some impressive real estate deals to wrap up a fine package, but the people can be somewhat pretentious, uptight out there if that's any of your concern and if you expect easy access to the beaches, nights out with friends, this might not be for you but you could do with far worse (Try: Loxahatchee Groves, one of my favorite municipalities in the Tri-County region).
There's an LGBT-friendly community known as Wilton Manors, primarily located off Oakland Park Blvd & Dixie/US1.
There is a cowboy country town called Davie, off of Griffin west of the Turnpike, which is technically a safe haven for the dying breed of Florida-bred rednecks (by the non-offensive, traditional meaning of the term, though there is a handful of stereotypical trailer folk out that way too, they're just not quite as prevalent) and houses Nova SE University which I'm not all too familiar with in terms of courses, cost, population, etc.
Plenty of other towns/cities/CDCs from the well-known (Ft Lauderdale) to the surfer hangout (Deerfield Beach), sketchy areas mainly in eastern sections (between Federal/US1 and Powerline/I95, rarely to the east or west of either corridor).
I personally prefer PBC (Palm Beach County) but only by a slight margin, I like Broward for what it has to offer, rarely venture into Dade County as much as I used to, and would personally take the hills and farmland of N FL anyday over the hustle and bustle of SE FL but, hey, to each his own.
Overall, you could do far worse than Broward, it's an interesting and eclectic little gem of a county in the grand scheme of things.
Most of your post is true of Broward county up to circa early to mid 90s. Not now. And the public schools in Broward are not good at all. I think that the schools in Palm Beach are actually better. I also wouldn't say that Coconut Creek or Coral Springs are pretentious. Both areas have progressively deteriorated over the years, and a lot of the people who used to live in them have long since moved out of south Florida. As well, Davie is no longer a cowboy country town. It is a much more diverse area now.
Broward has changed, is changing, will change even more. Immigration and poverty will have the biggest impact on how it changes in the future. Broward has diversity that you will find in only a tiny few other parts of the USA, but over time it will become less diverse and more like Miami-Dade because whites and American-born blacks are moving out of the area, and it is increasingly becoming a cultural mix of Jamaicans, Haitians, and Caribbean and Latin American immigrants. If you have plenty of money, a lot of patience and tolerance, and habla Espanol these changes will matter very little. I agree with the poster who said it depends on what you're looking for in Broward.
Broward County sucks because it lacks an industrial base so all jobs are tied into tourism in one manner or the other which creates lots of competition here for jobs. Tie that to the fact that there are so many immigrants here now who come from poor countries. They'll work under the table for below minimum wage which causes a dampening down on all the wages here. Goodwill just had a job fair to hire more employees for only part time, low wage jobs and over 50 people had showed up before noon to fill out applications and the response of people looking for a job caused the store where the job fair was being held to run out of applications for job seekers to fill out.
Couple low wages with rising housing costs because of out of state people who buy here to establish a residency in Florida so they don't have to pay state and local taxes on their investment incomes because Florida has not state or city income taxes and you have a situation where the average wage earner in Broward County can't afford to buy a place to live here on what they make.
Broward County is rated number three in the U.S. for having the most expensive housing in regard to what people make here, meaning that people pay a much higher percentage of their income here for housing than almost anywhere else in the country. People may pay more for a place to live in New York City but they also make more money on average at their jobs there than they do here.
Also, people in most other urban places like Chicago and New York don't have to depend on a car to get to and from work as they can use public transportation that runs 24 hours a day, so that helps keep their expenses down and gives them more of their income to spend on going out and patronizing area businesses.
It's rather stupid of a county like Broward to have so many people who in the service industry where they either get off or go to work after the busses stop running and are forced to spend most of the income they're not paying for housing on owning or leasing a car to get back and forth to work, which makes for the streets here being filled with heavy traffic at all times except late at night or very early in the morning.
It used to be that, other than by the beach, housing was reasonable which was good because FL wages sucked. By the time we left (2 years ago), housing was more expensive than it should have been due to the still lousy wages.
S. Florida sucks for jobs. My brother is there and struggles, companies treat their employees like $*#@ and underpay them. Most jobs are service oriented. My kids all graduated college and moved elsewhere where they could find decent jobs.
It took moving away to see how Broward had really deteriorated. It seemed, other than tourism-related, to be dying. I live in a place now that's thriving, where jobs are plentiful. Broward was like that when we first arrived in 1981. Somewhere in the early 2000s, the rot began.
Coral Springs, once a desirable area, not so nice now. When we left Broward, the only areas I'd call good would be Parkland (naturally!), west Pembroke Pines, and Weston. We had lived in Tamarac and then Coral Springs. My kids went to school there through, oh, 2006 and the schools were still good, at least Coral Springs and Parkland!
...When we left Broward, the only areas I'd call good would be Parkland...and Weston...
Even these areas will not escape the changes that are coming. The federal government has begun rolling out the White House's anti-discrimination housing policy that the administration kinda put on the backburner after its nasty fight with Westchester County and specifically with Yonkers in New York state over this issue years ago (I think it started in 2009 and went on in court until 2013). The goal of this policy is to purposefully target and change suburban communities---specifically the ones like Parkland and Weston--- so that more minorities and lower income people are able to move in. HUD will be forcing them to convert existing properties or build new low income housing in the area. A wonderful idea for poor people who need a nice neighborhood to live in. But not so good for current residents who will inevitably worry about decreasing property values and increasing crime. As the changes occur, many longtime homeowners will sell and move out of the area, and then it won't be such a nice area anymore. But its not like we haven't seen this happen many times before in other places.
The politial blogs are afire with this. HUD is calling it the Fair Housing Initiative. A trimmed down news piece about it is here:
An internet search on forced housing integration will bring up numerous other links. Very interesting (and even important) for anyone who owns a house in a very nice area to read.
Couple low wages with rising housing costs because of out of state people who buy here to establish a residency in Florida so they don't have to pay state and local taxes on their investment incomes because Florida has not state or city income taxes and you have a situation where the average wage earner in Broward County can't afford to buy a place to live here on what they make.
Broward County is rated number three in the U.S. for having the most expensive housing in regard to what people make here, meaning that people pay a much higher percentage of their income here for housing than almost anywhere else in the country. People may pay more for a place to live in New York City but they also make more money on average at their jobs there than they do here.
Broward was great in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Now if you enjoy diversity, the massive influx of Jamaicans and Haitians to Broward, you won't have a problem.
Probably depends on what you are doing in Broward as to whether it sucks or not, to you. Miami/Dade is obviously primarily Hispanic and if you blend with that culture you are fine. Broward is very Democrat overall and the recent influx has been Haitian/Jamaican and islanders if you will.
The problem with Broward is that it can only expand westward and that stops at the everglades so now, it's just about slap full making traffic abysmal, schools worse if that was possible and crime on an uptick...very, very dense.
In 1995 I lived out in West Broward in Jacaranda....after that Hiatus was the "sticks"....now? It's all the way to Weston, South through Davie to Pembroke Pines (Davie was somewhat of a rural feel back then and University concrete development stopped just South of Homie Depot...now? It's non-stop strip malls all the way to West Hollywood and beyond....amazing the whole area just doesn't sink from the weight.
There's not much green area left. Above all, South Florida is notorious for bad debt, scammers, lousy home contractors, drugs, and general crime associated with transient towns...not unique, just another one...similar to Vegas less the superficial money....couple that with all the "friendly" types in South Flahraddddah and you'll get the picture. Things like avoiding using your turn signal to change lanes as that will only encourage the one next to you to speed up to assure you don't "get something for free from them" mentality will become second nature. It's Darwinian at it's finest. If you have a business, be prepared to find good debt collectors and be able to float your customers for months...they like it that way and then of course, they will occasionally just vanish....interesting mix....lots of boiler rooms off Oakland Park Blvd and Glades....ready to swindle America on everything from Real Estate, Vending Machines, Biz Ops, and Vacations....nice....steady HIV rate which is climbing (I think Miami is now number one) with lots of opportunities to catch that and perhaps Herpes all at once. More credit card eating bimbos than you can shake an Amex at and it is truly the home of the new Silicone Valley as no woman with 1 oz of brains travels without augmentations, huge too, that is and for that, we thank you. Oh and they like to wear leather mini-skirts in July juuuuuust below the view.....high humidity...ugh....classy place....really. Lots and lots of places to eat no matter how bad....highest amount of eateries per capita than anywhere else in the US...go figure....
Good thing about that Silicone Valley is that the women can be stunning...Just bring your Amex because they don't take Visa or MasterCard...don't leave home without it....If you have kids, expect 45-50 kids per classroom not counting those that we aren't sure are enrolled or not....nice touch....
If you can get by all that or, have a unique business and live further North in the County or West it's not too bad. Weather is great about this time with the swelter to arrive by late March and abate in October.
Good luck.
Awesome post! So true and honest! Couldn't have said it any better!
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Because of A Lack of Good Jobs
