i'm not sure if we done this before but w/e


what things do you hate about miami,lack of parks,lack of architecture,bad mangement etc...

Miami sucks b/c everything is so spread out.

I don't think Miami is that spread out, maybe compared to Manhattan, but have you travelled and seen the rest of Florida? Miami does pretty well in that regard.

What I don't like about Miami is the crime rate and poverty. It's still way too high in too many places. It basically makes a good chunk of the city off limits to me and places I avoid like the plague. But it's getting better, slowly but surely. The land is worth too much to keep Overtown looking like a bombed out third world country. It'll gentrify whether the residents like it or not.

Traffic.

But then again, all the things that suck about Miami usually can easily be applied to other cities (although the crime rate is said to be higher in Miami than anywhere else in America). That should be fixed.

Also, there should be better job growth in the area -- and I mean the ones that would be in Fortune 500. Unfortunately Miami isn't seen as a business city because they don't really have that many companies that are well known (outside of the film, entertainment, modeling, etc). This is obvious if we looked at downtown Miami -- a large chunk of the skyscrapers consist of condos, not offices. While that's good for the vibrancy of the city, it may not be that great for the workers if they don't have any place to work at. If the condos are selling out well, then the buyers are probably trying to make a second home in the city or something. But I do believe the business outlook would eventually look better.

OH... and lack of curbs. I think the curbs would make residential areas look "cleaner." And more shade in medians/parking lots would be good as well.

obviously the perception lingers (even among Miamians) that Miami has a high crime rate, even if the perception is not borne out by the facts.

I would agree with Traffic as a major concern for most residents.
A tidbit from a conference over the weekend quoted Miami as being the 7th worst Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in length of commute. It's 52 hours per person per year in 2003, up from 11 hours in 1982.

As for being spread out, I couldn't disagree more. The City of Miami is great and getting better, The City of Miami Beach is amazing. If you haven't seen it before....check out what you can WALK to in about an hour in Miami Beach.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=188202 (http://)

Traffic. Although I don't commute anymore. I had to take I-75 and 826 everyday.
Just a headache, sitting in the car for hour and 25 minutes. There's so much construction on the 826, Hopefully we'll see the results soon, just like the Turnpike, unless there's an accident, traffic is almost non existing now.

I don't think Miami is that spread out, maybe compared to Manhattan, but have you travelled and seen the rest of Florida? Miami does pretty well in that regard.

What I don't like about Miami is the crime rate and poverty. It's still way too high in too many places. It basically makes a good chunk of the city off limits to me and places I avoid like the plague. But it's getting better, slowly but surely. The land is worth too much to keep Overtown looking like a bombed out third world country. It'll gentrify whether the residents like it or not.

I agree with logybody 100%

i think the lack of big business is miamis biggest problem... we have a good amount, and certain industries are quite strong (banking and such), but as for large corporations, miami could so much better in this area

and i have notices that miami doesnt really have many curbs, dunno why, just a weird thing, my parents grew up in chicago and always joke about miami not having any curbs... i wonder why...

a general lack of pedestrian oriented neighborhoods, but... were fixing that rite now...

Highest car theft rate in North America!*

















*tied with Vancouver

Not enough people live downtown.
Maybe when all the condo towers are done Miami's downtown will be like San Francisco's or Vancouver's.

whoa i could say many things that i hate about miami but theres one thing that stands out above the rest.

the crappy architecture that we have,i hate the fact that every building in miami,even b.o.a,onyx2,premiere towers are and have boxy crapass architecture.i wish that architects would be more unconventional.

another little thing i dislike is the fact that miami cares more about the waterfront neighborhoods,if you look at the worst neighborhoods in miami all of them are landlock,while the most well -off neighborhoods are near water except for coral gables.

Here's something that definately *does not* suck about Miami ...

www.karinanuvo.com/music.html

Click and play #4 "Love is in my Life".

*gives me chills*

What sucks is Miami's office market. There is not enough luxury office towers for a city of Miami's size and the city has done a lousy job of luring major American corporations to the city.

CSI Miami sucks too.

^ Really ? I like CSI: Miami better than CSI. I guess because, unlike CSI, the protaganist - Horatio Kane - is so authentic.

never seen the regular csi... but i personally like csi miami, and i hate most of the crap on tv, and they ocassionally squeze in some nice shots of miami, tho unfortunetly the vast majority of the show is shot in la

touraccuracy Highest car theft rate in North America!*?

Is this true, I was thinking it was New Jersey

Without using a word as strong as "sucks", one thing that could use some improvement is the perception of Miami's business climate from long time residents.
Business leaders are giddy with excitement from the fact that Miami turned the corner about 4 years ago. The public perception will catch up eventually.
We don't have to look back to far to the "almost recession" of 2000 when the cities in the US with the major corporations were reeling from an economic slowdown and the South Florida economy was and still is roaring.
The absence of large corporations insulated us from the corporate downsizing trend that rocked nearly every other major MSA.
Of course it would be nice to have a couple more major corporations, but I don't think that it "sucks" to have 57 "Latin American Headquarters" or branches employing 15,000 instead of a One Major company hiring 15,000.

Miami-Dade County Leads South Florida in Job Growth
Wednesday April 20, 8:09 am ET
State of Florida Leading Nation

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2005--The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's official economic development partnership, is pleased to announce that the unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County in March 2005 was 4.8 percent, down from 5.7 percent in March 2004. According to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (FAWI), the South Florida area (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties) added more than 62,000 jobs in the 12-month period. South Florida continues to lead the State, and Florida continues to lead the nation in new job growth.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050420/205458.html?.v=1 (http://)

There was an article in today's hearld that had be think about this discussion. It seems like Miami doesn't need big corporations to move here....we like to start are own.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP


Florida ranks high for new businesses

A new study finds Miami is one of the nation's top cities in terms of fostering new businesses and BB Designer is happy to go along for the ride.

BY CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN AND JIM WYSS

jwyss@herald.com


Donna Diaz and Karyn Sturgis formulated their idea for a new business during a mother to mother conversation about party favors for a child's birthday. Within a week, the two began incorporating their Miami company and creating product samples.

The best friends now have their unique miniature almond-filled baby outfits in children's boutiques and have made more than 500 custom-designed shower favors. They have appeared on Spanish television, showcased their wares on their website and at baby fairs, and expect to roll out their products to boutiques across the country by the end of the year.

This yen for entrepreneurship is strong in Florida, where more than 20,600 new business are formed each year.

According to a just-released study, six of the top 20 cities for new business creation in the United States are in Florida -- more than any other state. Miami ranked number 7, generating nearly six new businesses per 1,000 people in the city. In addition, Miami is in the top quarter of cities that foster entrepreneurs, according to the Small Business Administration study.

For Diaz and Sturgis, their company, BB Designer, has been a bootstrap operation. They invested their own money into the five-month-old business and have spent hundreds of hours drumming up customers. The marketplace has been receptive, they say.

''Florida is a very diverse and open market; it's a fantastic market to start a new business,'' Sturgis said. ``It's been very rewarding.''

And what's rewarding for BB Designer is rewarding for the community. According to the study, cities that support entrepreneurship show greater growth in employment, wages and productivity.

And with an increasing number of local organizations catering to entrepreneurs, the cycle is likely to continue, said Jane Teague, the executive director of the Enterprise Development Corporation at Florida Atlantic University.

''I think this report shows the amount of support there is for entrepreneurs,'' she said.

For its part, the EDC is helping some 200 high-tech entrepreneurs turn their bright ideas into viable companies.

Although BB Designer was self-financed, the local SBA office said it has put more than $210 million into the hands of 1,400 entrepreneurs in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach during the first half of the fiscal year.

''Much of the small business growth in the tri-county area is due to our relentless drive to give entrepreneurs the tools they need,'' said SBA District Director Francisco Marrero. ``Not only to start and expand their businesses, but also to sustain them.''

Diaz and Sturgis say already they've learned about trademarks, incorporation and closing the sale -- all the basics for starting a business. Now, like most local entrepreneurs, they plan to pursue their goals for expansion.

''We are starting by expanding regionally and then will go national,'' Diaz said. ``You will know we've made it when you see us on Oprah.''

My biggest gripe about Miami is obviously that the Metrorail is not extensive enough but that goes without saying. Plus we are (slowly) working on that.

I don't know if any of you guys saw 60 Minutes this past Sunday night, but they had an author/columnist who lives just south of Miami on one of the Keys. His basic quote about Florida as a whole was that if you were a car thief in Detroit and you could move to Miami and be a car thief, wouldn't you rather do it in Miami?

As a fairly frequent visitor to Miami, I find that crime is the biggest problem. Maybe Atlanta and Miami have the same murder rate, but I feel 200% safer walking and driving in 95% of metro Atlanta than I do in most parts of Miami.

I think Miami-Dade is a great place, but it just lacks the "feeling" of safety of metro areas of similar size and even those much larger. I went to grad school in New York, and I felt a lot safer in New York than I do in metro Miami.

i will say the same thing ppl in atlanta say,which is crime is high but its still a fairly safe place to walk around.

and trust me i've been in every neighborhood in miami from redlands to aventura and never been shot or mugged so i feel safe.

I don't know if any of you guys saw 60 Minutes this past Sunday night, but they had an author/columnist who lives just south of Miami on one of the Keys. His basic quote about Florida as a whole was that if you were a car thief in Detroit and you could move to Miami and be a car thief, wouldn't you rather do it in Miami?

As a fairly frequent visitor to Miami, I find that crime is the biggest problem. Maybe Atlanta and Miami have the same murder rate, but I feel 200% safer walking and driving in 95% of metro Atlanta than I do in most parts of Miami.

I think Miami-Dade is a great place, but it just lacks the "feeling" of safety of metro areas of similar size and even those much larger. I went to grad school in New York, and I felt a lot safer in New York than I do in metro Miami.

I'm pretty sure that Atlanta's murder rate is significantly higher than Miami's, notwithstanding your 'feeling'.

Here is My Reply to the Question:

Nothing!

Miami is Paradise...

In Miami-Dade County, I really can't see how anyone could not feel perfectly safe in.......Aventura, all coastal communties (Sunny Isles, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbour Islands, North Bay Village, Surfside, Miami Beach), Coral Gables, South Miami and Brickell. Although if you look at even these cities on a street by street level, there are always going to be sections more desirable than others and more crime-ridden. There are lots of places in south beach that are a drug dealers paradise, for example. And Washington Avenue is still a little sketchy in parts. I don't feel comfortable walking there at night, especially when a lot of the thugs from miami go over there to party.

I avoid Miami north of Brickell because the neighborhood is still developing and sketchy in a lot of places. While you don't see as many whores walking on biscayne blvd and crack addicts as you did in the 80's and 90's, they are still there! I really feel uncomfortable at red lights on certain stretches on biscayne at night, cause homeless, drug addicts, and whores are all around so I avoid it.

Also, I do not speak spanish other than some basic phrases and the cuss words. ;) So lots of sections of Miami-Dade.....Little Havana, Western Miami-Dade County, Hialeah, Kendall, feel like complete foreign countries to me and I don't feel comfortable in so I avoid them.

Similiarly, as a "gringo" I do not feel comfortable at all in the largely high crime ghetto areas of Overtown, Little Haiti, Liberty City, a good chunk of Northern Dade, parts of North Miami west of biscayne, parts of North Miami Beach west of biscayne. I just have no place being there, don't feel comfortable if I was there, so I don't go.

I rarely venture out to other communities because almost everything I need to do in my life can be accomplished visiting the cities mentioned above when I am in South Florida.

For all the multi-culturalism in the city, Miami-Dade is a VERY segregated county. If you look at the census demographic maps, the white-non hispanics are concentrated in the barrier islands, along the bay east of biscayne blvd and down into brickell, coral gables, south miami, and pinecrest.

The black population is concentrated in a large swath west of biscayne blvd from county line south to overtown.

Hispanics are pretty much everywhere else.

In Miami-Dade County, I really can't see how anyone could not feel perfectly safe in.......Aventura, all coastal communties (Sunny Isles, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbour Islands, North Bay Village, Surfside, Miami Beach), Coral Gables, South Miami and Brickell. Although if you look at even these cities on a street by street level, there are always going to be sections more desirable than others and more crime-ridden. There are lots of places in south beach that are a drug dealers paradise, for example. And Washington Avenue is still a little sketchy in parts. I don't feel comfortable walking there at night, especially when a lot of the thugs from miami go over there to party.

I avoid Miami north of Brickell because the neighborhood is still developing and sketchy in a lot of places. While you don't see as many whores walking on biscayne blvd and crack addicts as you did in the 80's and 90's, they are still there! I really feel uncomfortable at red lights on certain stretches on biscayne at night, cause homeless, drug addicts, and whores are all around so I avoid it.

Also, I do not speak spanish other than some basic phrases and the cuss words. ;) So lots of sections of Miami-Dade.....Little Havana, Western Miami-Dade County, Hialeah, Kendall, feel like complete foreign countries to me and I don't feel comfortable in so I avoid them.

Similiarly, as a "gringo" I do not feel comfortable at all in the largely high crime ghetto areas of Overtown, Little Haiti, Liberty City, a good chunk of Northern Dade, parts of North Miami west of biscayne, parts of North Miami Beach west of biscayne. I just have no place being there, don't feel comfortable if I was there, so I don't go.

I rarely venture out to other communities because almost everything I need to do in my life can be accomplished visiting the cities mentioned above when I am in South Florida.

For all the multi-culturalism in the city, Miami-Dade is a VERY segregated county. If you look at the census demographic maps, the white-non hispanics are concentrated in the barrier islands, along the bay east of biscayne blvd and down into brickell, coral gables, south miami, and pinecrest.

The black population is concentrated in a large swath west of biscayne blvd from county line south to overtown.

Hispanics are pretty much everywhere else.

Wow, that sounded almost biased. I can understand segregation, but I don't believe that it should serve as a limit on where I should feel comfortable. It's like saying whenever I go to the redneck country, I feel uncomfortable, therefore it is not safe. It's easier to avoid the country than a community that is only blocks away even though the culture may be a world apart.

I probably won't feel comfortable in some places because some of the communities and cultures may seem so foreign to me, but I think it would also add spice to my life. I would be daring enough to check out Little Haiti, especially by the Caribbean Marketplace, simply to savor the diversity of Miami even though the city may be as segregated as it may seem or as it may be. As a Hispanic minority in America, it's easy to feel unsafe in many areas but they simply get used to it. Ghettos are frequent in many places even while gringos maintain the highest percentage of the homeless population. But it would be putting a damper on our local economy and community building skills to avoid them -- helping small businesses start in the ghettos, not in rich and wealthy areas where people could easily dump millions into a small and risky venture.

In terms of other safety feature such as ample amount of lighting, wider sidewalks (further away from streets), and various other things that may make the area "feel" safer, the responsibility of improving those lies in the hand of the city or the county and so it's mainly the voters that have to put this forward. But I certainly wouldn't single out the ghetto communities in this regard. There's plenty of places in Coral Gables even that are not well lit and I probably would feel uncomfortable there.

So don't take it out on the segregated minorities to place the blame on safety unless if you want tensions between communities to continue on. I would like to encourage photographers to take pictures of these areas and see a community life that exists, even in urban Miami as some of these ghetto places do have some pedestrian minded corridors and/or urban areas that remain as a focal hub of a run down community. These people naturally won't shop in Coral Gables but in their own communities where affordable means are given not because of choice but because of need. And the needs of individuals speak through thousands of languages.

It's time to open up and loosen up, Miami.

Wow, I had no idea that Kendall was thought of as a Hispanic community by some people. Yes there's a lot down here, but it's a very big mix. Many of the hispanics here seem to be 2nd generation English speakers. There's still a lot of Jews down here. I'm seeing more and more Asians. I don't get it.

Anyway, it leads to my biggest complain with Miami. There's too much hate, fear and meanness. People here have no clue how to be civil to each other. The more I travel the more I become aware of how bad it really is here. I've yet to figure out why this is. Maybe it's the distrust between races/ethnic groups, maybe it's the suburban mentality that is so pervasive here, maybe it's just all the heat and humidity. Can't we all just get along and smile every once in a while? This carries over into customer service as well. I can't count how many times I've gone into a store or restaurant and was completely ignored.

That and traffic.

Wow ! A lot of this is taking the sheen off of Miami for me. Seriously, it's hard to maintain an enthusiasm for a city for its building boom alone.

Personally, what I think really sucks about Miami is that its 3.5 hours drive away. takes too long to get there from Orlando.

Ok, from a historical perspective, as I dont live there anymore. First of all the crime as many have said. Its not just a perception, look at the numbers and you will see Miami Dade has a very high crime rate, and a very high violent crime rate. It was the murder capital for a while. I admit things have gotten much much better but there is still a long way to go on this avenue.
Second there is a great deal of poverty. I grew up in Little River (now called Little Haiti I believe, not far from n.e. 2nd ave and 79th street) and before that in Larchmont Gardens houseing projects just off the interstate and 81st street. The entire area was poor, and crime ridden, and lacking in hope. The best thing my parents did for us was get us out of there and to the midwest where were we had a chance at life. Poverty is crushing, its demeaning and demoralizing and causes hopelesness which in turn leads to drug and alcohol and crime. Its a vicous circle but a very real one.
Miami still has a bad perception too. One of the MDs that I work with was in Miami just a few weeks ago (for the record, he isnt white, the whole race thing above), I told him I used to live there and where I lived wasnt a good area and he said there are no good areas in Miami. So that is something that still needs work.
Lastly I think one thing that truely sucks about Miami has been overlooked, its something that seeps into every day life, that is nearly impossible to stamp out, though many have tried, myself included. You can run them off, kill them, but in the end you cant beat the really really big fucking roaches you have there, damn I am so happy it gets cold here so we dont have them. Hell if we did (and when I first moved away I did because the got in my stuff) I just turn the heat off overnight and freeze them to death and thats the end of that. Those things are gross, end of story :D.

miami crime rate has gone down 75 percent

miami neigborhoods are now seeing water and sewer installations and sidewalks some are even lucky and getting street lighting while others get even luckier and get landscaping.

not sure why anyone would say anything bad about miami

only thing we need is more mass transit

highways are atleast better then out west
where highways become parking lots untill around 10pm

Miami Beach is a very good place to live. It is safe, historic, energized, convenient, friendly, and loaded with a mix of different nationalities. The parks are fantastic, the beaches are active and nice. It is really hard to find something negative to say about Miami Beach.
There are about 36 clay tennis courts in the center of the 7 sq mi city....there is a championship caliber golf course open to the public, the beaches are open to the public...there are festivals and parties and street fairs almost every weekend. Outsiders may complain that there isn't enough parking, there is if you look for some of the municipal parking garages. True, they are often camaflouged by shrubbery, ground floor retail, or clad by townhomes, but if you look for the street signs with the big green P them parking is easy.
True story: I was in the Starbuck on West Ave. and some cat was complaining that his order was taking long and he was afraid that his car would be towed. Then he proceeded to complain that there wasn't any parking in the area. I kindly mentioned to him that he was in a parking structure and that there about 4 floors of parking above him...

as somebody who grew up here for the last 30 years I can tell you that crime, although a problem is nowhere near as bad as it was in the early 80's...does it exist?..of course but remember that we live in a major metropolitan area.

Urban infill will eventually take care of those economically depressed areas in the city but unfortunately it will push out the poor as I've seen this coming for some time now.
What gentrification did for South Beach it will eventually do it to most of Miami's inner city neighborhoods, in fact it has already happened in many areas across south florida.

I would list transportation as the #1 issue facing metro Miami...somehow people had the foresight to build & vote for Metrorail back in the 70's but then failed to act upon it when it came time for local funding in addition to foregoing new highways which in reality weren't feasible considering the density and built environment at the time.
It wasn't until road congestion became unbearable that the public finally realized that no matter how many roads you build nothing is going to solve it except viable alternatives such as mass transit which at least gives you options.

:bash: You have to own a car to get from point A to point B.

You have to own a car to get from point A to point B.Not if you live in South Beach....less than 50% of the residents that live in South Beach own cars. Some will say it is too expensive to live in South Beach...well throw out your car payment, subtract the monthly car insurance payment, forget about $30 a week in gas, and you now have an additional $400 + for rent.

I used to live in Atlanta- in Sandy Springs. I don't know which 95% of Atlanta Nick in Atlanta is talking about. He must be talking about the suburbs. I've been EVERYWHERE in metro Atlanta including downtown, midtown, and neighborhoods near downtown, as far as Atlanta proper is concerned, not to mention all of the suburbs.

GWCC-- walk across the street from there and you'll see more homeless and riffraff than in Liberty City any day. I know b/c I set up shows at the center before and took side streets there and saw how the other half lived closeby.

Downtown-- I took MARTA to five-points station to get my power turned on when I first moved there. I had to walk ten more blocks to the utilities bldg.-- there was a cop at every corner. You wanna know why? B/C there were more gang-bangers and homeless on that main drag between five-points sta. and where I needed to go than I've even seen south of downtown Chicago.

New York-- Manhattan-- I love the Big Apple. The only thing safe about the island is downtown, midtown, the park area and upper east and west sides (and I'm sure that some residents will say I'm being generous), and places in between. take the subway up past 110th street into Harlem-- then tell me how "safe" you feel then. Also, go into Brooklyn by yourself as well.

Back to Atlanta. When I lived in Atlanta, I knew some black folks-- in their forties and fifties-- and they told me that they would "dress down" on purpose when they went downtown just to blend in and not be noticed by the undesireables there-- for their own safety.

By the way, "feeling safe" is also correlated to one's familiarity with a specific place.

BUT, by no means is Atlanta a panacea for safety as an alternative to Miami.

I don't know if any of you guys saw 60 Minutes this past Sunday night, but they had an author/columnist who lives just south of Miami on one of the Keys. His basic quote about Florida as a whole was that if you were a car thief in Detroit and you could move to Miami and be a car thief, wouldn't you rather do it in Miami?

As a fairly frequent visitor to Miami, I find that crime is the biggest problem. Maybe Atlanta and Miami have the same murder rate, but I feel 200% safer walking and driving in 95% of metro Atlanta than I do in most parts of Miami....

I don't think so man. I've been to Atlanta, New York and Chicago many times and I've lived in Cleveland, Baltimore, DC, and South Florida....and I've never seen more crackheads and heroine addicts roaming the streets as I did when I went to ATLANTA. Do you live in the real Atlanta? Not Buckhead or other nice neighborhoods but real Atlanta.

You can't even go to a gas station near downtown Atlanta without being swarmed by addicts and homeless people begging for money.

Five Points(the very center of the CBD, for those not familiar with ATL) is like a refugee camp for homeless people. The first time I came to Atlanta I thought there was some type of homeless people's march going on in Five Points. The native I was riding in the car with assured me that Five Points looks like a crackhead convention everyday.

Come on...You couldn't possibly feel safer in Atlanta than you do in Miami.

Atlanta... the home of the Bankhead Bounce.

Bankhead Bounce = Mid-90s hip hop dance where dancers mimic Atlanta crackheads/addicts twitching and trying to dance in order to panhandle money from pedestrians.

wow JZ that is a scathing indictment on the situation of race relations in Atlanta.
There was a documentary regarding streets or highways named after MLK and Miami came out on top as being one of the best in the nation.

Forget Atlanta, who cares about Atlanta this is a MIAMI forum.

Back to the MIA.

I think downtown Miami should have a central downtown park like Boston Common or even some small green space like Union Square in S.F. It should be in the interior of downtown so that the area surrounding it could be rejuvenated and help give Miami a real downtown.

Imagine a city square or park surrounded by office towers, condos and retail similar to Washington Square in NY or Union Square in SF....

Pix of Union Square San Francisco
http://www.volker-koch.de/images/pics0001/union_square.jpg

http://www.visionflow.net/places/unionsquare/people.jpg
In Miami's heat more shade trees would be desirable.

Miami's skyline is misleading from afar. Those of us who live in SoFlo know that Miami's skyline is just a long linear strip of tall buildings not to be confused with a multi-dimensional, real downtown core of skyscrapers. Downtown Miami is very vibrant but it's mostly midrises with skyscrapers scattered around.

Biscayne Blvd. should be more of a grand pedestrian boulevard like the Embarcadero in San Francisco...
http://members.shaw.ca/allisongallery/images/22-Embarcadero.jpg
http://img139.echo.cx/img139/6535/embarcadero12807vy.jpg
Notice the large median for pedestrians, events and transit.

The Embarcadero and Biscayne are already very similar and Biscayne will be even better with the groundfloor retail built into the new condo towers. Hopefully Biscayne will be more pedestrian friendly when all the construction is complete.

Maybe it will become a shopping destination like Chicago's Michigan Avenue with nordstrom, bloomingdales, virgin megastore, apple, H&M, etc.

The entire strip from Bayfront Park and Bayside to the Performing Arts Center could be a destination with shopping on the west side of the street, a median with trolleys in the middle and a waterfront path/park on the east side connecting all of the parks, the arena and future musuems.

Ok, the best way to settle the Atlanta Miami battle is to go to the numbers.

City population violent crime rate property crime rate total crime rate
Atlanta 431,000 1970 8870 10840
MSA 4,595,000 512 4320 4832

Miami 381,000 1878 6921 8799
Miami bch 91,200 1285 10348 11633
MSA 5,328,000 813 5030 5843

For comparison sake
NYC 8,098,000 734 2183 2917

Also I want to point out that Miami the city has less than half as many murders as atlanta, and the Miami MSA has about 60 fewer murders than the Atlanta MSA even though it has 700,000 more people. This may be due to the proximity to the ocean and everglades for disposing of bodies, or maybe they were eaten by those damn roaches. Just kidding of course.
Fact is Miami has a lower crime rate, but NYC is safer than both of the..the high crime rate of New York is a perception just like the Miami vice image of Miami. These are official government statistics from 2003. From what I have seen the 2004 numbers will be lower

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/xl/03tbl06.xls
PS. when mentioning safe areas in a recent post the city of Biscayne Park was not mentioned, its crime rate is less than half of Miami's and is one of the safest place in Miami Dade county. The worst is probably Florida city with an overall crime rate of 18250, more than double the city of Miami's.


The crime rate where I live 3448 of which 118 is violent, very safe.

It just hit me that NYC has a lower crime rate than where I live, more violence though. I dont lock my car at night and never feel afraid, NYC has changed a great deal in the last 10 years.

I don't know if any of you guys saw 60 Minutes this past Sunday night, but they had an author/columnist who lives just south of Miami on one of the Keys. His basic quote about Florida as a whole was that if you were a car thief in Detroit and you could move to Miami and be a car thief, wouldn't you rather do it in Miami?

As a fairly frequent visitor to Miami, I find that crime is the biggest problem. Maybe Atlanta and Miami have the same murder rate, but I feel 200% safer walking and driving in 95% of metro Atlanta than I do in most parts of Miami.

I think Miami-Dade is a great place, but it just lacks the "feeling" of safety of metro areas of similar size and even those much larger. I went to grad school in New York, and I felt a lot safer in New York than I do in metro Miami.


^^Sad to say, but apparently perception is reality for some people.^^ Since we're comparing metros, I have a friend who has a condo in Boca, near a commercial area at that. The guy NEVER locks his door, even when he leaves to go somewhere. I've never felt I was in any kind of immenent danger whenever I would be in the Miami area. It just depends on what area you're in and at what time of day. This is true of any place.

the crappy architecture that we have,i hate the fact that every building in miami,even b.o.a,onyx2,premiere towers are and have boxy crapass architecture.i wish that architects would be more unconventional.


Not wanting to start a fight, but when I made the observation that Miami's buildings were largely rectangular or 'boxy' in shape, and criticized Architektonica for designing buildings with that shape in a separate Jax thread, you took issue with me and accused me of liking "ugly stuff". Why the change of heart suddenly? Also, why would you start such a negative thread about your own city. I don't see any Atlanta people starting threads of things that suck about Atlanta, same for other cities. Miami isn't perfect, but it's still a very cool place!

rider of rohan did you know that Miami unfortunately has the dubious distinction of the greatest number of murder-suicides in the country?
You are more likely to die in Miami at the hands of somebody you know than just being randomly killed in a crime.
Other than that the perception that Miami is a very violent place are highly exagerrated.
As long as I haved live here I've never been a victim of crime of any kind.

Bob I didnt know that. I havent been there in a while. I do recall that when I lived there they had a stat in the paper about what percentage the murders were by race (this was in the 80's when there were like 600+ murders a year), and whites were only 10% of those murdered, and most of those were domestic killings (family members killing each other) so I didnt worry much about that. I did worry about getting ripped off though. People killed each other for really stupid reasons then too. I recall a story about a guy who killed his sister because she hid the kool aide and wouldnt give him any. I remember a story too about a mentally ill guy who cut off his girlfriends head, then walked naked, with her head to her families house several blocks away and threw rocks at their house (wondered why noone called the police, even if thye didnt see the head) anyway, I am glad things are better there.

Miami isn't that bad. People make Miami out to be a warzone. Remember, that title is for Los Angeles. Yes, Miami's violent crime wave was out of control back in the 80s and early 90s, but that was because of the drug turf wars. Miami gets about 70-75 murders a year, which is far less than cities more than 3 times its size.

I don't like extremist Cuban-Americans.

wat the hells that supposed to mean?

I don't like extremist Cuban-Americans.


niether do i,i must say cubans don't know how much there disliked in miami.

L.D.Gator :) , in your recent Pics of san fransico, at least Miami don't allow roof top Billboards :bash: , they really suck in those pics, makes an ugly look of the skyline there. :cheers:

niether do i,i must say cubans don't know how much there disliked in miami.


what the hell?... care to elaborate on that...

what the hell?... care to elaborate on that...
Please for the love of Pete...DO NOT elaborate on that. Take that to some forum where the lonely kids that shoot up schools go.

Hey first time poster here in miami subforum... Let me just say that WHERE THE F*** DO PEOPLE LEARN TO DRIVE HERE???? WHY IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY??? The backup by the airport in the Dolphin Expressway is the most imbecil and moronic thing I have ever seeeeenn!!! God whyyyyy?!!!! Have'nt they seen an airplane in their life before?!!!!!! Oh well thanku, i feel better, no offense, im sure ur not one of "them" :)

Sorry about the tone in the prevoius message... Is that, it really frustrates me that there is always backup because some dude has like 20 cars of space infront of him, and he doesn't want to move.. At least he could have the decency of moving into some other lane! People are so self envolved sometimes it is mindblowing...

Oh and BTW, I would've hit the edit option button, but considered it neccesary to dab a little into the racist problem there is in miami. It's all a load of crap. To say that "white poeple are in such area, and then hispanics are everywhere else" is propostrous. One can never entirely know if the person you see is hispanic. Hispanics come in all shapes and sizes. To prove this, just make the "raise hands" test... If you are in any place that one thinks they are hardly any hispanics, just ask for a raise of hands of people who speak spanish and you would be surprised. Hispanity is not just the last name, or medium skin...

Oh and to say cubans are hated in miami is kind of contradictory. They do not have a certain look, so the person you could be laughing and sharing a good time with can suddently be cuban - then realize one never saw that coming.

Another thing that bothers me is that generally people think miami is redneck country, and do not quite understand why this is so. Miami is so vibrant, urban, glamourous and cosmopolitan, it is hard to comprehend why anyone would think that.

Edit: A quick note: most of the times hispanics will talk in english even if spoken to in spanish because of all the racist sh*t that ignorant people associate with all latinos. In the bank I frequent I've learned that appearence means ZERO. The other day I was sitting next to a client whom I believed was the repair man, only to find out he had an account in the bank of over 30 million$. Im telling you guys, do not fall into the stereotype trap.

There is no need for such a negative thread in this forum so I have taken the liberty of closing it...