Miami vs. Broward (Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Weston: lease, how much, homes)

[JustKeepMoving]

We moved from New England to Miami area in August (job relocation that was unavoidable). Our neighborhood is nice, but my husbands commute is miserable and the schools where we are are not very good. My children are also picked on daily for being too American and spending too much time living in white cities. Would our outlook be better living somewhere in Broward? My husband is at North Shores Medical Center. Schools, sense of living in America, safety, commute times are all things we need to consider. We would be moving over the summer when our lease is up. Otherwise the next option is to pack it all up and move away, but that would be financially difficult.

[ruski]

Thing is, to make it worthwile, you would have to move to Weston or Parkland or Cooper City. Commute to North Shores Medical Center would be pretty hard. Doable, but hard.

[ruski]

Actually it may be quite do-able from Weston - I-75, then Gratiny Expwy, then a little on local streets..

[ruski]

And coming from New England I think you will like Weston.

[Pincho-toot]

Broward actually feels like the US. Miami-Dade... it varies. Being picked on for being American? That's absurd. That surely won't fly here lol Incredible when people from this country are made to feel like outsiders. I do know what you mean, though. Miami is also full of a bunch of white Hispanics who swear they aren't white because they speak Spanish. Okay, Cortez! Whatever you say.

[JustKeepMoving]

Thanks so much for the input. We currently live in Princeton, which is just below Cutler Bay and right before Homestead. As mentioned, our neighborhood is quite lovely. My husband has such a long commute and we wouldn't want to move and worsen it. My children are the ones who are suffering most. My husband is Mexican American and I am white. Our children favor him in skin complexion, but as a family we are pretty much as American as you come. My children do not speak Spanish and are often berated and left out by both classmates and teachers. Their lunches are made fun of almost daily (specifically my 8th grade daughter) because apparently eating tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, and salad makes her too "white." In her social studies class last week while discussing the civil war, the kids started discussing how the Hispanics and blacks should put the whites and Americans into slavery because it would make this country better and be the fair thing to do. My daughter and one other child protested, and the teacher said nothing. Another teacher(my 7th grade son) who is from Puerto Rico claims on a weekly basis how much she hates the US and how awful Americans are. She prefers to address the class in Spanish only as there are only 3 non Spanish speakers in the room. There are other issues, those are just the worst ones to use as examples. Here in the actual community I don't seem to have any problems with people being rude to me, just excluded a bit.

[wizrap]

Wow, I just did a quick Google search and even though you're only 30 or so miles away, it listed the commute in rush hour morning traffic of about 2 hours!!!!!! Is that correct? Yikes!

I agree with Ruski, Weston, although about 10 miles farther, would not be as bad a commute. Google maps gave me a 45 minute driving time this morning. If you want to be a bit closer, look at also west Miramar and west Pembroke Pines, and for those cities, near I75, or west of it, are the newer, more popular areas.

[JustKeepMoving]

Yes wizrap that is correct. We actually live 32 miles door to door and it takes 2 hours or more if my husband leaves anytime at 6 or later. He leaves between 5:30 and 5:45 and usually makes it in an hour and a half, but if there is an accident or something he has sat in traffic for up to 4 hours in the morning. He leaves work between 6:30 and 7pm and is home about 8:30. That makes for an extremely long work day, lots of gas money and lots of toll charges. Coupled with the problems our children are having and it just isn't worth it to keep this up forever.

[ruski]

Even though Weston's nickname is Westonzuella (we have a lot of Venezuelans and Colombians who live in Weston), it is a very USA-proud town. Mostly everyone speaks English.

[JustKeepMoving]

I don't care what people look like or what their heritage is, as almost all of our ancestors immigrated from somewhere. I just can't be on board with the America hate and bashing. We are from San Antonio, TX originally so we are used to a multicultural area. We will have to drive up to Weston and check it out for sure.