Scofflawry Continues at South Beach Las Olas Cafe Intersection

8/12/2019 Scofflawry Continues at South Beach Las Olas Cafe Intersection

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

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June 25, 2014 at 8:00 am, MBPD Motor Unit with legal parking steps away, and violations in plain sight

June 23, 2014 at 12:39 pm, Parking Dept officer entering at lunch, other violations in plain sight

SCOFFLAWRY CONTINUES AT LAS OLAS DRIVE-IN CAFBy David Arthur WaltersMIAMI MIRROR

July 15, 2014

MIAMI BEACHI was happy to see Miami Beach Police Officer Deborah Martineau standing inthe street, a half block away from the Las Olas Caf, speaking with the driver of a double-parked police car. Deborah has been of considerable assistance to residents of the former crackhood over the years. In fact, I met her at a conference held at Las Olas Caf several yearsearlier, and reported on an assurance I received there that there is no such thing as selective


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enforcement in Miami Beach, although old-timers say that selective enforcement is the onlysure thing on the beach.

Feb. 12, 2014, Legal space is available in adjacent metered space

The caf is popular with officials, particularly Police Department officers, Parking Departmentofficers, Public Works officers, and, until the most recent wave of F.B.I. arrests, CodeCompliance Department officers. Naturally, officials who patronize Las Olas and who park onthe four corners in No Parking zones do not hand out citations to civilians who do the same.However, illegally parked Parking Department officers and tow truck drivers have been seen

leaving there to hand out tickets and tow cars nearby.

June 25, 2014 at 12:22 MBPD Motor Unit and squad car, with 3 violations in plain sight


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After exchanging pleasantries with Deborah, I pointed out that a large Sanitation Departmenttruck was parked in the No Parking zone on one corner, blocking the view of a stop sign at Sixthand Euclid, where the Las Olas Caf is situated. I said I had seen pedestrians nearly struck bycars whose drivers were not aware of the stop sign there. I told City Manager Jimmy Morales

about it, and Public Works came out to repaint the yellow curb and extend the No Parking zonethere, while a van parked there during the process the remake had no effect at all.

Jan 27, 2014 at 1:13 pm, illegal parking during curb repainting and re-signing Commercial sign blockingstop sign since removed, No Parking zone extended, curb recoated yellow

I assumed the driver of the Sanitation truck, a large trash picker, was having coffee. Deborahsaid she had thought so too, but had checked it out, and saw the driver had entered anotherbuilding. Other regular parking spaces were available at the time, and several cars were thenparked illegally in plain view from where we were standing. When the truck moved away, I sawa police unit parked in the cross walk on the corner, which she said was her vehicle, and saidshe had parked there to check out the sanitation truck.

I said that, as far as I was concerned, the more cops around the hood the better, but theyshould be close to their cars when on break. Indeed, I am all for having a police neighborhood ifnot a police state, given what I have experienced in the hood right around the Las Olas Cafe.However, police officers tend park on the yellow curbs even when parking is permitted in thevery next space. And their practice gives everyone else the impression that scoffing at traffic

laws there has police protection.

I said my main concern is that someone will eventually get hurt or killed. I knew of only oneaccident, a T-boning of a cab at the intersection, with two tourists shook up badly. However, Ihad seen several instances where pedestrians were nearly hit by vehicles, whose drivers couldnot see the stop sign, when they walked out in front of the parked vehicle. In addition,


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numerous pedestrians have been irritated by blocked crosswalks, U-turns in crosswalks, carsrunning the stop signs, etc.

She asked if putting one of the little stop for pedestrians sign in the middle of the street atthe corners would help. Drivers who could care less about the big stop signs would just run overthem, I said, and wondered how much they cost. Three-hundred dollars, she said, and manywere run over.

May 13, 2014 at 1:27 pm city officers illegally parked

She said she would contact former assistant manager, Lynn Bernstein, who is now at PublicWorks. I was glad to hear the name, as I had also met Bernstein at the Las Olas Caf conference.Maybe a traffic study could be done, said Martineau: Traffic would measure the traffic, look athow many accidents occurred at the intersection.

Feb. 24, 2014, at 1:32 PM


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I informed her that I had prompted a study of several intersections in the hood, including theLas Olas intersection, and that All Way stop signs were placed at two of them, one of themwhere I had submitted photos of two cars spinning on their tops. As far as the engineers areconcerned, efficient traffic flow for all should not be deterred by only a few injuries and deaths,

which is just the cost of driving. Nothing was done at the Las Olas intersection, like erectingstop lights or regularly enforcing the law, causing residents to again observe that the place isprotected by the police.

I noted that a Parking Department officer told me that he had given a couple tickets there inthe past, and had no inclination to go there for coffee or food because caffeine and meat wouldpoison his body. He attributed the permissiveness there to, people are only human. And aMotor Unit officer, who was parked in the No Parking zone when all four corners had carsparked on yellow curbs, said he was liberal when it comes to coffee. A high ranking policeofficer explained that the caf was very popular. Therefore I petitioned the city commissionto legalize the illegalities there, change the signs to Parking for Las Olas Customers Only, causethe business to change its name to Las Olas Caf Drive-in and to pay annual fees for the parkingspaces. Not a single city official responded to the plea.

Officer Deborah Martineau

When our conversation was ended, I wondered why a woman was brought in from Texas to beour new deputy police chief when Deborah Martineau could have been promoted to theposition.

-XYX-


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NOTES:

Welcome to the crowded intersection - a Mexican Standoff MBPD responded 30 minutes later

Drivers arguing over double parking space in bicycle lane

Accident at intersection near Las Olas it is now a All Way Stop

Scofflawry Continues at South Beach Las Olas Cafe Intersection

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