About that incident on Matilda Street

I was awakened yesterday morning by a text from someone (about 6:15 am) and then others emailed, tweeted and called. They said it was about an armed robbery, right outside Coconut Grove Elementary School, but it ended up being a rape, too. This was about 5 to 5:30 am.

I was called today by some high end figures in our community, including a couple of politicians, a lobbyist and many disgruntled business owners as well as neighbors. They want action and they want it fast. They wanted me to write about the crime, but I held off until I saw it elsewhere first.

Now that the Miami Herald and other news agencies have reported the crime, I guess I should address it. I am always torn about what to write. I am told by some that when I write about unpleasant things it only tears the Grove down. I am told that since I am sort of the authority on all things Grove, that I should be only writing nice things since tourists see the Grapevine first. I suspect that is why other blogs were started recently -- to draw the attention away from the Grapevine and the real world. If you read them, you think we live in Wizard of Oz land or something. But I am writing for the locals, not the tourists. If the tourists want to check in, too, that is more than ok, but I am trying to cover the news and events for those of us who are here every day.

I am always torn. Are the tourists reading stories like this and not coming here? Of course not. They come to other areas of Miami with worse crime than the Grove has. Besides, I am told by many tourists that they visit because of what they read in the Grapevine, not despite it. 

Bike thefts proliferate all over the county, so do robberies, hold ups and rapes, and we are just a part of it in Coconut Grove, we are part of society and this is what's going on in society. Today there was a shooting near the Empire State Building in NY. We aren't immune from crime here. Are people going to stop going to New York now because of this shooting? I don't think so.

One of my callers today suggested more lighting on the streets, that's a start, but I think we need more than that. Maybe more of a police presence in high crime areas. Matilda Street, the street in front of the school where the rape occurred is notorious for car break ins in the middle of the night. Maybe police should enforce that one particular street. At City Hall, they are fighting over the budget, they are trying to make our City look like a budget mess while throwing the Mayor under the bus. How about you all stop that nonsense, hire more cops and do the right thing?

The rape was the final straw.