Halloween

Getting rid of Halloween is the subject in Coconut Grove again, it was brought up at the recent BID meeting and it's been an ongoing topic. For some reason, some people want to see it gone. They don't like thousands of people coming to the Grove on Halloween night. I'm not quite sure why, because it is a money maker for the restaurants and bars and most of the other businesses are not affected because they are closed at night.

While some think there is trouble, it's not really out of the ordinary for any big event, the police have said that themselves at many meetings, they call it business as usual. The fact remains that there is sometimes trouble, but nothing that affects the Grove itself. There is not damage to businesses, windows are not broken, nothing is vandalized and it's a good time. If any one entity would complain, it would be CocoWalk since they get so many people in one small location, but they are in favor of leaving Halloween as it is.

I asked at the BID meeting what the concern was, why does anyone care about the crowds? I was told that the trash is an issue and the cost for police is another issue -- over 100 police officers are deployed here that night. But this is not a sanctioned event. No one is claiming it, no one runs it. It is an event that just happens. People show up. So the Grove is not paying for the police or city services which is the case with so many events.

At the end of the night the city cleans the streets and at the end of the day, the police are paid by the city. The police are going to be paid by the city no matter what and trash is going to be picked up no matter what. I am sure that most communities that deal with Halloween deal with this, too. As the Grove is off the hook for any responsibility, what is the problem?

Years ago, Ft. Lauderdale got rid of Spring Break, almost overnight, I think they may regret it now. But regarding the city expense to clean up and the police expense, keep in mind that this expense may always exist for the City of Miami because if people are pushed out of the Grove, they may end up at Mary Brickell Village or Wynwood or Midtown and all these places are part of the City of Miami, so in the end, the city is still paying police and paying for clean up. If Coconut Grove was it's own city, like say Key Biscayne or Coral Gables, I would understand the issue with all the expenses. But this is the City of Miami's expense.

One interesting concept that came up was port-o-potties. There aren't enough now. So perhaps all the bars and restaurants can chip in for those and that will solve what probably is a major problem. But the businesses may be hesitant simply because no one wants to claim ownership to this mad night in Coconut Grove and if they pay for port-o-potties, are they claiming ownership in some way?

The Grove is the Halloween place to be for so many. Early in October, usually October 1 or 2, I write a Halloween story about Coconut Grove, even if I am not sure of all the activities that might be planned, because that's a top search term on Google. Starting October 1, people are searching "Coconut Grove Halloween," and so I put a story there for them to find.

That's how popular it is. While South Beach has their wild event, we still have our wildness here and people are planning on it.