Miami
Miami is a major city in the southeast corner of Florida, in the United States. Miami and the surrounding metropolitan area are situated on northern Biscayne Bay between the Everglades and the Atlantic Ocean. By population, Miami is the second-largest city in Florida (after Jacksonville), and the county seat and largest city of Miami-Dade County. It is also the largest city in the South Florida metropolitan area, which comprises Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, making up the largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States and the sixth largest in the country as a whole.
Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a voting population of just over 300. In 1940, 172,172 people lived in the city. According to the 2000 census, the city proper had a population of 362,470, while the larger metropolitan area had a population over 5,000,000. The U.S. Census Bureau estimate of the population of Miami in 2004 was 379,724.
Miami’s explosive population growth in recent years has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country as well as by immigration. Greater Miami is regarded as a cultural melting pot, heavily influenced both by its very large population of ethnic Latin Americans and Caribbean islanders (many of them Spanish- or Haitian Creole-speaking). This has created an explosion in the real estate market in Miami, with high demand for housing to buy, such as homes, condominiums, and townhouses, and housing to rent, such as apartments. Condo growth in particular has exploded in particular in Miami. The demand for houses has also grown in a steady rate.
The region’s importance as an international financial and cultural center has elevated Miami to the status of world city; because of its cultural and linguistic ties to North, South, Central America, and the Caribbean it is sometimes called “The Gateway of the Americas.” Miami, ranks along with Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, and New Orleans, as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States.
Two vessels of the U.S. Navy have been named USS Miami in honor of the city.
Pinecrest
Pinecrest is a village located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 19,055. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 19,432. Pinecrest is governed by a five member Village Council and operates under the Council-Manager form of government.
Pinecrest’s projects since 1996 include the addition of several new parks, deployment of Wi-Fi technology and beautification projects which included thousands of trees being planted, unique street signs being posted Village-wide, and roads being repaved. Rapid growth and local issues during the 1990s inspired a movement led by residents Evelyn Langlieb Greer and Gary Matzner to incorporate the area.
The Village of Pinecrest was officially incorporated on March 12, 1996 and adopted the name “Pinecrest” from the Pinecrest Elementary School. Greer was elected the first mayor and was succeeded, after serving two terms, by Matzner in 2004. The founding Village Council, including Greer, Cindie Blanck, Barry Blaxberg, Leslie Bowe, Robert Hingston, together with Village Manager Peter G. Lombardi, are credited with establishing well-regarded municipal services including police, parks and recreation, building and planning services, and public works.
Palmetto Bay
Palmetto Bay is an incorporated village located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the area that became the village had a total population of 24,469. Palmetto Bay includes two census-designated places defined in the 2000 census, Cutler and East Perrine.
As of the census of 2000, there were 24,469 people, 7,970 households, and 6,783 families residing in the village. The median income for a household in the village was $64,114.23. The per capita income for the village was $25,998.16. There are many beautiful parks in Palmetto Bay, such as Coral Reef Park, Perrine Park, Perrine Wayside Park, Deering Estate at Cutler, and Bill Sadowski Park.
Little Havana
Little Havana (Spanish: La Pequeña Habana) is a section of Miami, Florida. It is called Little Havana because Cuba’s primate city is Havana.
Little Havana hosts its annual Spanish-language Calle Ocho street festival (part of the overall Carnival Miami celebrations), one of the largest in the world, with over one million visitors annually. It is a free street festival with a Caribbean carnival feel sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club.
Calle Ocho is Spanish for Eighth Street. This festival takes place between 27th Ave and 4th Ave along South West 8th Street. Over 30 stages and hundreds of street vendors participate in the live-music street festival now in it’s 27th year.
Calle Ocho earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records when 119,986 people formed the world’s longest conga line on March 13, 1988.
Miami Beach
Miami Beach is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Originally incorporated as the city of Ocean Beach in 1915, the city changed its name to Miami Beach in 1917. As of the 2004 census, the city had a total population of 89,104.
In 1979 Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Art Deco District is the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world and is comprised of hundreds of hotels, apartments and other structures erected between 1923 and 1943. Mediterranean, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco are all represented in the District. The Historic District is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East, Lenox Court on the West, 6th Street on the South and Dade Boulevard along the Collins Canal to the North. The movement to preserve the Art Deco District’s architectural heritage was led by former interior designer Barbara Capitman, who now has a street in the District named in her honor.
South Beach is one of the most popular areas of Miami Beach.
Lincoln Road is a nationally known spot for great outdoor dining, bike riding, and shopping.
Miami Beach and environs is home to a number of growing Orthodox Jewish communities with a network of well-established and growing synagogues and yeshivas. It is also a magnet for thousands of Jewish retirees and people who own second homes when the cold winter sets in to the north. They range from the Modern Orthodox to the Haredi and Hasidic - including many rebbes who vacation there during the North American winter. There are a number of kosher restaurants and even kollels for post-graduate Talmudic scholars.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,322, and the median income for a family was $33,440.
