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| A great place to live for those who can truly appr - 8/29/2012
After living in multiple countries around the world for at least 2 years each and having visited many places in the US due to my jobs in the US Army, I honestly do not fully grasp the negative and somewhat racist reviews that come about when one talks about Miramar. I've lived in Miramar after my family moved from Hialeah when I was 12 and it is a vast improvement from Hialeah and especially inner city Miami where I was born when it comes to general safety ie. crime. I am a half black and half hispanic individual who although can speak Spanish fluently, has not needed to use it much in Miramar.
This city is probably the most diverse city in Broward county because most of the good people who want to stay away from the high crime areas surrounding it like Carol City, Opa Locka, and most of Miami Gardens or further south with the likes of Hialeah and most of Miami end up moving to Miramar to give their children a better life. With that influx of people we end up with many people from the Caribbean and South America to include Jamaicans, Haitians, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, as well as a high percentage of African Americans, native Africans (Nigerians, Ethiopians, etc.). There is also a moderate amount of whites and a small Asian population which consists of Vietnamese and Chinese Americans out in the western part of Miramar which is known to be the wealthier part.
As far as jobs are concerned, it's VERY difficult to find skilled labor jobs (Information Technology jobs in my case)in Miramar and you would normally have to commute to Miami for such a job, but then again, that is a problem with most of Florida to begin with. If you are not working for the government as a skilled worker, then you are at the mercy of the employers of the private sector who will usually require you to be able to speak Spanish as that sadly seems to be the primary language there. If you are not a skilled worker, then you can typically find a job at Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, or if you don't mind a long commute then Sunrise and Plantation would be viable too, as Miramar is technically only about 2 major streets (Miramar Pkwy and half of Pembroke Road)if we're going by latitude, but it is fairly long as it stretches from west of I-75 until about 441.
When it comes to events, there are not many besides the Eastern Egg hunt at Forzano Park, the 4th of July festival at Lakeshore Park and a couple of subdivision ran Halloween trick or treating events, but that's pretty typical of a suburb, and a small one at that if you ask me. Cities are supposed to be the hubs for activities and it's great that Miramar is 30-45 minutes from both Downtown Miami (Bayside and Bayfront Park to be exact) and Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Is it a place for kids? Why not? It's in close proximity of decent schools, the crime rate isn't as high as people want to believe, but the paranoia that comes from the people that lived the bad life further south continues to exist in Miramar, so yea you won't see many kids outside at night, eventhough I was one of those few who did play out at night during my adolescence and I never had any incidents. Oh yea if you're a Miami Dolphins fan, Miami Marlins Fan, or Florida Panthers fan then you're in luck because you're about a 5-15 minute drive from the Football and baseball stadiums which are in Miami Gardens and about 20-35 minutes away from the arena where the Panthers play which is in Sunrise across the street from Sawgrass Mills Mall.
There are no malls in Miramar, however it is very close 5-10 minutes to Pembroke Lakes Mall which is a decent sized mall with everything you need and it's about 20-35 minutes away from Sawgrass Mills Mall in the city of Sunrise which is the largest outlet mall in the world as well as 20-35 minutes from Aventura Mall which is a very nice tourist catered mall in the coastal city of Aventura. Miramar does have a lot of shopping centers, especially on the western side and they have almost everything you need.
For the topic that most people in general like to speak and/or hear about which is crime, it can be complicated so I'll just narrow it down:
*Does Miramar have murders? yes but relatively few considering the population of over 120,000 people
*Are there burglaries in Miramar? What city in South Florida doesn't have that? But to answer the question not that much aside from petty theft.
*Are there felons in Miramar? Yes but most of them are felons due to some non-violent crime which usually involves marijuana.
*Are there sex-offenders in Miramar? sure a town with that many people will have them, it's a fact of life but far less than other equally sized towns.
*Does this mean that you'll be shot for no reason at all? NO! this isn't Miami nor L.A. not even close.
*Does this mean that you'll be robbed at gun point? That would be EXTREMELY RARE like "nice" suburb level rare and most of that happens on the east side of Miramar which is actually now West Park, but it gets carried over.
*Does this mean that you'll have to stay in your house in fear of a drive by? Heck no! I have yet to see or even hear of that happen infact the closest thing to a "drive-by" I've seen or heard was some kids egging houses while on a vehicle during Halloween.
*Does this mean that you shouldn't have your kids play outside at night? I'm living proof that it is perfectly safe to play outside at night as I was doing that for years with no incidents. I'm sure countless kids and teenagers can tell you the same if you'd only ask. I still think a lot of that stems from the fears the parents had to deal with in their former place of residence like Carol City, Miami, etc.
Ok now that crime is out of the way, I will proceed with explaining the quality of education of Miramar having been a student at Miramar High School for 4 years. From the time I was in the Army, there have been many new schools that have opened and some have been given a pretty good rating on various website (obviously those on the western side of Miramar). I lived on the Central side which is west of University Dr. but east of I-75, but since I had friends from other schools due to my time in track, I will try to give a fair assesement of all of the ones I know which are of the east and central side.
*Are the schools in Miramar A rated schools? heck no especially their high school according to official ratings anyway. I think differently and I'll explain later.
*What school level is the best at Miramar? Elementary school by far
*Are their middle schools any good? It's up to the way you teach your kid and how much your kid is willing to focus on learning rather than playing, but the answer according to the high school kids I knew that went there before at the time (1995-1998), the answer would be no (I went to Pines Middle School). As far as their reasons are concerned, it was usually because of 1 teacher they just happen to dislike so it wasn't really a legitimate negative mark on the school in my opinion.
*Is Miramar High School any good? Again good parenting and having your child focus on the subject matter would make things such as ratings not matter. On paper it is not a good school however I believe that to be far from the truth. The faculty at the time I went Class of 2002 "second to none" were excellent and some of the greatest lessons about life that I've learned early on were from some of the teachers that taught there. Notable teachers were Mr. Eduard, Mr. and Mrs. Ross, Mr. Kaminsky, Dr. Salerno, and Mr. Delucia who went above and beyond to show that they genuinely cared for the school and their students. I've seen many things in my 28 years of living on this planet and the lessons I've learned from those individuals really helped me become the person that I am today. I'm sure any graduate of Miramar High School can name at least one teacher that has influenced them in a positive way so again I think schools ratings are a bunch crud as it doesn't count factors such as that and is judged purely on test scores. I'll admit that some teachers do have a problem actually teaching the materials that would be covered on such tests at times, but that's usually because they try to teach their kids about the future and life as an adult which is equally as important and they know that. It's not like the vast majority of kids from Miramar come from highly priviledged families. In short, if the kid decides to take the life lessons given seriously, they'll see that they also have to learn the material in order to be successful.
*Are there bullies/punks, jocks, and wannabe thugs in schools in Miramar? Those types can be found just about ANYWHERE. Hell even in Asian countries (Korea, China, and Japan) who are noted for having the most disciplined kids. If your kid is getting bullied, the solution is simple, toughen him/her up! There are many ways to do it.
*Do Universities look at students from Miramar? YES! During my brief stint with the football team, I noticed that there were scouts from various universities checking certain players out. Also, In my class alone our valedictorian went to Harvard and our 2nd ranked person went to Dartmouth while nearly all of the top 10% (out of a class of 415)minus myself basically went to the universities they chose to go to, so that should tell you everything you need to know right there.
I know parents are likely to ask a lot more questions than that but I'll leave it with what I have since it can go on for awhile.
Ok for the last part, the cost of living! It is true that the property taxes, home owners insurance, and even the HOA fees are pretty darn high considering the size, the lack of hurricanes actually hitting Broward, and the lack of amenities to justify the HOA fees respectively. The housing prices however are not so bad compared to the likes of the neighboring town of Pembroke Pines and pretty much anywhere else north of it minus Coral Springs which although is cleaner, is too far from any companies with decent paying skilled labor positions. There are some very nice communities on the west side, but unless you don't mind living in a condo and cramping your entire family in there, the houses are only affordable to those that make over 100k a year which after looking at the South FL job market for over 5 years, seems like an extreme rarity for my profession. The central side does have very affordable homes and the HOA fee's aren't too bad, but don't go expecting them to cut your grass for you, paint your house every 5 years, or even maintain your local park or pond. For those that dislike HOA, there is always the eastern side of Miramar which are all private homes, and pretty darn cheap ones at that, but those homes are quite old (1970s+). I would be confident in the fact that it can definitely withstand a hurricane better than those newer homes made of cheap dry wall, but keep in mind the closer you are to 441, the higher the crime rate.
I know I've written a lot, but when I write about my hometown, I tend to go overboard. Miramar has its flaws like every other city in the world, but it is definitely a good place to live.
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