Last night, on the tv news, there was a report, which actually was an announcement about a DUI checkpoint in Coconut Grove from 8 pm to 1 am. It was some sort of "drunk driving awareness program."
Ironically, this comes out right after the 5 am bar closing issue was talked about and since when do the police announce a DUI checkpoint? Isn't the point to catch people unaware and not warn them to "avoid the Grove" or get caught? Who set this up and then leaked it to the news in time for the nightly report?
This reminds me of many Thursday nights when flashing police cars are set up on Commodore Plaza for hours on end, with no other business than obvious punishment to the businesses for 5 am talk -- it's a way to scare the business away from the Grove on one of their busiest nights.
As you all know by now, freedom of speech is dead in the Grove these days. You speak out, you get punished, usually where it hurts -- in your pocketbook.
So since the news outlets were told ahead of time about the DUI checkpoint in the Grove, many feel that the Grove was singled out, and all the partiers knew to keep away and hit South Beach, South Miami, Mary Brickell Village and other entertainment districts, where the situation says, "Welcome -- we want you here!"
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