Miami Gardens (a war zone???) (Hialeah, Carol City: high crime, credit, houses)

[deckardc]

Originally Posted by blackklight

funny i LIVE in hialeah and have not heard a word of any of this

Click on the link below:

Person Shot Following Hialeah Carjacking -
Occupants Of Car Shoot At Police, According To Reports

1 Person Shot Following Hialeah Carjacking - News Story - WPLG Miami (http://www.local10.com/news/14014259/detail.html - broken link)

[nicsma2002]

Below are some excerpts from a recent Herald story about the current crime situation in Miami Gardens:


33054: Dade's most dangerous ZIP for teens
Miami Herald, The (FL)
August 12, 2007

The deadliest ZIP Code for teenagers in Miami-Dade County is a place where boys play ball on the street, other children ride their bikes up and down sidewalks, and teenagers congregate on the neighborhood wall.

The placid scene belies the tragic reality of ZIP Code 33054, which includes parts of Opa-locka and Miami Gardens. A review of five years of statistics from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office shows a higher rate of gunshot deaths among children 17 and younger in this area than in any other part of the county.

The ZIP Code is bordered by Northwest 167th Avenue to the north, Northwest 119th Street to the south, and West Fourth Avenue in Hialeah to Northwest 17th Avenue, west to east. The tragic incidents of teen violence are part of a broader story in the larger Miami-Dade communities, long plagued by violence. In one week in July, the county medical examiner's office had five homicide victims from Miami Gardens alone, including a 19-year-old man gunned down in a double homicide.

One in 10 homicide victims in Miami-Dade are teenagers, said Larry Cameron, a spokesman with the office. There were 258 homicides in Miami-Dade County last year. Cameron said current homicide trends suggest that Miami-Dade could end the year with almost as many. "Twenty-six of them will be teenagers," Cameron predicted. "Almost all of them will be gunshots."

Founded in 2003, Miami Gardens is only 22 square miles. The young city acknowledges its problems, and Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, a former Miami-Dade police officer, says the city is trying to implement programs to help youths in the community.

"We are working on interaction, bringing people together. We are trying to link hands between adults and teens," Gibson said. "It's not just a children problem, a youth problem. It's an adult problem."

Adding to the concern is the recent number of high-profile shootings, especially in the Miami Gardens area.

In June, Darnarius Green, 16, was shot and killed. His crumpled body was left in Bunche Park on the Miami Gardens side of 33054. Darnarius reportedly had played high school football and was trying to escape his troubled youth by moving to a high school in a statistically safer district.

On Aug. 6, 2006, 17-year-old Otissha Burnett was shot to death at a party in the 1500 block of Northwest 31st Avenue on the Miami Gardens side. Today the nondescript home where Otissha died shows no signs of violence. Its lawn is well groomed and full of cars.

[Lauderdale81ave]

i've been to the miami gardens area plenty of times recently and it does look like ****, to be honest with u... it looks like a ghetto and i understand it is supposed to be a "black suburb" but its not. there are MANY shootings and murders that occur in miami gardens on a REGULAR basis, i've heard 5 stories of babys being killed by gunfire... i've heard of fast food places beging shot up by unsatisfied customers, i've heard of random innocent victims being killed in driveby shootings and shootings at random cars... it sounds hectic over there, when i visit (in broad daylight) i always see someone being arrested for drugs or SOMETHING... miami norland high school which is right down the street has ON CAMPUS shooting during the school year, and it doesnt even break the new because its a regular occurance... residence of miami gardens have often expressed their desire to move... i;ve seen worse places but miami gardens is definetly a hellhole, not as bad as other neighborhoods with projects to highlight the community but its not safe AT ALL, i wouldnt live there... theres ghettos in Broward that I would never live in and Miami Gardens is worse than any ghetto in the 954 area, including Sistrunk Blvd.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by blackklight

wow you guys are REALLY over exaggerating on this one. miami gardens is easily one of the nicest areas in dade county. i've never even heard of someone being shot there in my life and i've lived in dade for nearly 8 years. you may be confusing miami gardens with carol city though, which is almost on top of miami gardens at certain points. things can get a little messy there but still, it is nowhere near the description of any of these posts.

i am seriously beginning to wonder if people just slander miami and miami-dade county to feel cool because they live in a dangerous area.

Miami Gardens is one of the most dangerous sections of Dade County (isn't portion of it in Broward County too though?). It is made up of several of the poorest cities of the past, including a major chunk of the old Opa-Locka.

However, Riviera Beach, FL, the northern neighborhood of West Palm Beach, is home to the most dangerous zip code in all of Florida.

[blackklight]

miami gardens is close but not part of broward county.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by blackklight

miami gardens is close but not part of broward county.

Well, it WAS part of Broward County previously:

Miami Gardens, Broward County, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[blackklight]

oh. to the guy who posted that 33054 is the worse area code you're sadly mistaken. opa-locka is home to the worse area codes in south florida, per capita it has one of the highest violence crimes in the entire us.

Opa Locka has a very high per capita violent crime rate. In 2005, its population was 15,673, with 352 violent, and 1,529 nonviolent crimes reported (8 murder/non-negligent manslaughters, 4 forcible rapes, 176 robberies, 164 aggravated assaults, 703 burglaries, 626 larcenies, and 200 motor vehicle thefts).[7] Per capita, it has one of the highest violent crime rates in the United States. (Compare to St. Louis, Mo and Baltimore,MD).[8]

source: Opa-locka, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by blackklight

oh. to the guy who posted that 33054 is the worse area code you're sadly mistaken. opa-locka is home to the worse area codes in south florida, per capita it has one of the highest violence crimes in the entire us.



source: Opa-locka, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

33054 IS Opa-Locka...

But that does not say it's the most dangerous, it says it's ONE of the most dangerous.

I believe 33404, which is in Riviera Beach, the northern neighborhood in West Palm Beach, had the highest crime in 2006.

Here's some info based on this site:
Gunned down in Palm Beach County:Many wounded by bullets share two local ZIP codes (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2006/06/11/m1a_GUN_INTRO_0611.html?imw=Y# - broken link)

The county claimed two of Florida's five most violent ZIP codes in 2004, measured by the number of gunshot wounds treated at hospitals.

• The number of people killed by gunfire in Palm Beach County last year remained roughly

the same as 10 years before, even as shooting deaths dropped 25 percent across Florida and 48 percent in Miami-Dade County in that time.

• Palm Beach County hospitals billed an average of $55,000 to treat each shooting victim in 2004, up 88 percent from 1994.

• The level of gun violence remained high despite the fact that authorities destroyed more than 7,000 firearms seized by law enforcement officers in Palm Beach County during the past five years.

[blackklight]

it's comparing it to baltimore and st.louis... i'm pretty sure it's higher but even if it wasn't it isn't a contest or something to be proud of.

[DoveDiva]

Originally Posted by PBCboy

Well, it WAS part of Broward County previously:

Miami Gardens, Broward County, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Correction:

That portion of Broward County was NEVER a part of the city of Miami Gardens. It's just a neighborhood.

That being said, there are parts of Miami Gardens that I wouldn't set foot in, but at the same time, there are parts of Miami Gardens that are exceptionally nice. The extreme northeast area of Miami Gardens--it used to be called Andover--is very nice, well kept up, and filled with educated individuals. I lived there growing up and my family still lives there now. There has NEVER been a shooting, stabbing, etc. in our part of town as far as I remember. Thugs walking up and down the street--nope, don't see that. The most we have is home invasions, which, well, that's a part of living in an urban area.

Another well-kept area of Miami Gardens is the Rolling Oaks neighborhood. I have relatives that live in that neighborhood and I know for a fact that a judge lives over there, a couple principals, and other successful white collar professionals. It's common to see folks at the park playing tennis on a Saturday afternoon--clearly something you wouldn't see in a "war-zone".

Norland Senior High--yes, it's a hellhole, and I'd never set foot back in that school again. Luckily my parents pulled me out of that school in the mid 90's and put me in a top magnet program--School For Advanced Studies. A sizable number of the students who attended during my time were from the Miami Gardens area. Off the top of my head, one is now an attorney, one just completed medical school, another is in local politics, and another runs this great non-profit here in Atlanta.

I say all this to say that while I would not classify Miami Gardens as a hell hole, I do agree that some parts are garbage, but there are also some exceptionally wonderful areas filled with educated individuals.

Instead of completely bashing a city that you probably simply drove through on your way to the stadium or to Broward county, just don't comment on areas that you really don't know about.

One thing I learned about relying on the Miami media for information: If it bleeds, it leads. Otherwise you aren't going to hear about the great things going on in a city.