Best areas to live around miami/ft lauderdale?? (Jacksonville, Pembroke Pines: condos, low crime) - Fort Lauderdale area - Florida (FL) -Broward County - City-Data Forum

Jen78fl · 01-21-2010, 05:52 AM

Hi all. Well my husband is in the Coast Guard and we just found out hes getting stationed in Miami. We are currently right outside of Jacksonville FL so we dont have too far of a trip! Anyway I am just wondering what some of the best areas (suburbs) are to live in near Miami. I am looking for a good school for my son (who has autism). We are looking at possibly living in Ft Lauderdale since its not too far off and have heard its nice..What are the schools like there? And what are some things to do around there? We just want to find an area that is nice and low crime if possible ... I appreciate any advice!!

Jennifer

namomof3 · 01-21-2010, 06:45 AM

Start with Weston (although I am not sure about their services for children with autism) the schools are great. I would get in contactwith Imagine Charter School in Weston-- they get good reviews on here and on other education sites. Weston is convienient from both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Very family friendly and low crime. Also Cooper City for family friendly community (not sure about the schools).

sofla99 · 01-21-2010, 12:25 PM

You can try Davie. The Mailman Segal institute for early childhood at Nova is one of the best in the country for children with autism. West Broward is definitely a better option if you have kids. Here is a link to the school. Good luck. Autism | Mailman Segal Institue

ruski · 01-21-2010, 11:07 PM

I have a friend who used to be a USCG cutter captain. He lived in Weston and worked at the station in Miami (eventually got transferred to Wash DC). There are actually a lot of USCG and SOCOM folks living here.

Jen78fl · 01-22-2010, 09:22 AM

Thanks everyone for the advice!! Someone else mentioned the pembroke pines area to me also... Is that a good one too??

ruski · 01-22-2010, 10:24 AM

Pembroke Pines is good too.

However I have some new neighbors that have recently moved from Pembroke Pines to Weston and like Weston better. They say it is quieter here. Which is true. We don't have any through traffic in Weston, we don't have any through streets and there aren't any large chain stores (there are some, but they are all on the outside)

Jen78fl · 01-22-2010, 03:32 PM

thanks for the info ruski

Momma_bear · 01-22-2010, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen78fl

Hi all. Well my husband is in the Coast Guard and we just found out hes getting stationed in Miami. We are currently right outside of Jacksonville FL so we dont have too far of a trip! Anyway I am just wondering what some of the best areas (suburbs) are to live in near Miami. I am looking for a good school for my son (who has autism). We are looking at possibly living in Ft Lauderdale since its not too far off and have heard its nice..What are the schools like there? And what are some things to do around there? We just want to find an area that is nice and low crime if possible ... I appreciate any advice!!

Jennifer

I would contact the school board in Broward and find out what programs are available for your son. Then concentrate your search for housing around that information.

Wild Style · 01-27-2010, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen78fl

Hi all. Well my husband is in the Coast Guard and we just found out hes getting stationed in Miami. We are currently right outside of Jacksonville FL so we dont have too far of a trip! Anyway I am just wondering what some of the best areas (suburbs) are to live in near Miami. I am looking for a good school for my son (who has autism). We are looking at possibly living in Ft Lauderdale since its not too far off and have heard its nice..What are the schools like there? And what are some things to do around there? We just want to find an area that is nice and low crime if possible ... I appreciate any advice!!

Jennifer

Personally I would choose to live in Brickell, Design District, Park West or parts of Coconut Grove over coming to fort lauderdale. More on offer in terms of things to do/amenities and if you are in Brickell/Park West you have a semi decent mass transit system. Friend of mine just rented a one bedroom over looking the ocean in Brickell for 900+ a month. Some will tell you that you have to know spanish to live down there but thats utter non sense. You are just as likely in the places i named to hear Hebrew, Portugese, Russian or a host of other language as you are to hear Spanish. Though I can't speak for the rest of Dade these areas I named are pretty darn nice with a nice cross section of people. Don't get me wrong some places are in "transition" but nothing to drastic. As to Bricklle, I THINK the elementary school is a A school. though I would suggest you do more research on that front.

Also as we all are seeing, Gas is playing the forward march game right now so you have to take that into account in terms of commute from Broward to Dade. Maybe your husband wont mind being stuck in traffic but for me I would go nuts if I had to do that hike every day.

All the best.

hurricaneMan1992 · 01-30-2010, 09:52 PM

I agree with Wild Style, don't entirely rule out Miami-Dade, and don't underestimate your commute from places like Weston, Sunrise, Pines, ect! Consider exactly where you will be working, as I think they have 3 locations that are quite far apart: Fort Laurderdale, Miami Beach, and south Dade. I've lived in Aventura for almost a year now, and I always see well-to-do folks walking with children (though I have none yet), schools must be good. Safety is also not an issue. In Brickell there are still safety issues. One con though is that for the most part, there are not single family homes, only condos and townhouses. But then again, there are the Ojus and Sky Lake areas just across US1 which are all SFHs.