Community Background Report

Little Gables

County

Miami-Dade

Boundaries

North: S.W. 8th Street
South: S.W. 16th Street
West: Cortez Street
East: S.W. 42nd Street

Community Type

Neighborhood

History

Born in the mid-1920s after an argument between two landowners, the Little Gables is an unincorporated Miami-Dade County community surrounded by the City of Coral Gables on three sides and the City of Miami on its northern most boundaries. Little Gables is bordered by Mendoza Avenue and Southwest Eighth, Salzedo and Cortez sStreets. More than 60 years ago, fruit grower John L. Stadler planted a sizable parcel of land with many orange trees and other fruits just north of the spot where a carefully planned “Mediterranean vision called Coral Gables was unfolding” (Macari 1984). The division between the two neighborhoods grew out of a dispute over orange groves. George Merrick, founder of the Gables, looked at incorporating John Stadler's acres of orange and fruit groves into his fledgling city. As Coral Gables inched northward, the man who envisioned the plan, George Merrick, set his sights on Stadler's groves. Stadler did not want to sell and neither did other adjacent property owners who originally had bought their land intending to sell it to Merrick. Much to Merrick's chagrin, the parcel went untouched, never to belong to his perfect city. Little Gables is surrounded on its eastern, southern and western sides by Coral Gables.

The Little Gables Neighborhood Association (LGNA) was founded in 1983 by residents of the community in order to better represent the neighborhood’s need before county and state governments. Little Gables obtains its Police, Fire and Trash collection services from Miami-Dade County. The police and fire station supporting the neighborhood is located inis in the Doral area. The community has one police officer assigned to the neighborhood during the day, after which they share one police officer with the Schenley Park community (De Valle 2006). In 2003 and 2006, surveys were been conducted among Little Gables residents in response of the City of Coral Gables’ effort to annex the Little Gables. Although most citizens were in favor of annexation, the county has put all annexations on hold to seek more details about what it would cost in lost taxes.

The Little Gables Neighborhood Association also won battles against a pawn shop to prevent gun sells in the community in order to prevent discordance and to preserve a safe community (De Valle 2006).

Community Dynamics

As of the census of 2010, there were 4853 people and 1721 households residing in Little Gables. The racial distribution of the Little Gables was 93.57% White, .1% African American, 2% from other races, and 4.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 82.94% of the population. 19.39% of the population is under the age of 18, 63.82% are between 18 to 64 years of age, and 18.79 are 65 years old and over.

The 2015 American Community Survey data shows that over 32% have a bachelor or higher degree, while over 33% has below high school education. The average per capita income in Little Gables was $39,188. Over 61% of the population were foreign-born, and 70% were migrated from Caribbean, while over 21% from Central and South America. About 13.55% of the population were below the poverty line.

Business Landscape

The neighborhood has a park and a number of historic houses within its boundaries. Little Gables received a County grant for street tree plantings in 2001 and again in 2002. The first grant of 50 shade trees came through a non-profit organization called “TREEmendous Miami”. The second grant of an additional 50 shade trees was from the Shade for Dade program. Both tree plantings were organized and completed by volunteers from „TREEmendous Miami‟ and residents of Little Gables (De Valle 2006).

Transportation

The main roads that pass Little Gables are Tamiami SW 8th Street and Le Jeune Rd, SW 42nd Avenue. Bus # 42 serves Little Gables. The mean number of vehicles per household is 1.5 and mean mile personally driven per household is 18, slightly lower than that of the Miami Dade County’s 20 miles.