Crime is down, so are Grove visitors

I don't want to pick on one person or group, but I found this quite telling about the All Grove Crime Watch organization at the Village Council meeting last night. They seem to either be so against one person -- John El Masry at Mr. Moe's or they seem to be so blinded by their fearless leader Commissioner Marc Sarnoff or they are just selfish NIMBY people and really don't care about other areas of the Grove, or the rest of the City of Miami for that matter.

Regarding the 3 am vs. 5 am debate, Robert Lupo, head of All Grove Crime Watch, stood up before the Village Council and used the same old drunk drivers killing nurses and teachers story as the reason for being against the change back to 5 am for the bar closing time. (Someone forgot to send him the memo that that lame excuse is too laughable and stupid to use now).

But either way he and his group don't seem to be too worried about most nurses and teachers because when Liliana Dones, on the Village Council, asked about Flanigan's, on Bird Avenue, not too far from Robert's own house, he said he is indifferent to Flanigan's, which closes at 5 am. This is on tape, thanks to the Grand Avenue News, who taped the whole meeting for future broadcast.

Robert actually said, he doesn't care about the rest of the City of Miami. Just his area. Guess dead nurses and teachers (what about nuns and school children?) are ok as long as it isn't on his block.

As for the rest of the neighbors who stood up and spoke, they were brief and really did not give a reason for being against the change back to 5 am. They just don't want it. Keep in mind that these were the neighbors who showed up, I am assuming that most of the Grove neighbors don't care about the issue or want to play fair and feel that the Grove needs to be on the same playing field as the rest of the city when it comes to bar closing times.

As for the police, Commander Jorge Martin was asked about crime statistics. They didn't have many figures, but it appears that crime is down about 23% (including disturbance calls), but of course some people were quick to bring up that crime would be down since Grove attendance is down. If no one is in the bars and restaurants and on the streets, then who would be out there to commit the crimes. No one.