MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

MEXICAN STANDOFF AT LAS OLAS CAF

13 January 2014 By David Arthur Walters MIAMI MIRROR So youre just going to sit there? Asshole! shouted the driver of the green car to the driver of the westbound white car in the intersection who had blocked the eastbound lane on 6th Street while attempting a left turn to go eastward on Euclid Avenue, It was one of those shortcut left turns we see a lot of in Miami Beach. Instead of waiting for oncoming cars to pass, and then making a sharp let turn slowly, the driver cuts corners, taking a diagonal path across the oncoming lane, startling any pedestrians who happen to be in the crosswalk. This time the oncoming eastbound car rolled through the stop sign, another common practice, confronting the errant vehicle as its driver tried to negotiate the turn. It was a Mexican Standoff in front of the Las Olas Caf. Both cars just sat there in the intersection, blocking traffic, neither driver willing to budge. Witnesses were hoping the drivers

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

would get out and make a scene, perhaps throw punches, but they stayed put in their seats. One of them got on his cell and was apparently calling the police.

I got out my cell and took a picture 3:17 pm because I had been reporting the traffic hazards at intersections in that four-block area to the police and traffic officials for several years. The hazard was often caused by careless drivers. For example, a witness told me she saw the driver of truck talking to a passenger when he struck a bicyclist in the crosswalk a block from Las Olas Caf. The passenger fled the scene, and the driver lied to the police, she said. When I asked her to tell the police officers, and walked forward to present her to them, she fled. Welcome to South Beach.

Stop signs were installed at two intersections as a result of my reports, making them four-way stops. The Las Olas Caf intersection was already a four-way stop, but I had asked, to no avail,

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that an additional stop sign be installed on 6th Street so that eastbound drivers would see stop signs on both sides of the street as they approached Euclid Avenue.

coff The one sign there was often obscured by trucks illegally parked there while the drivers got ee and breakfast at the caf. In fact, the yellow curbs are ignored by everyone as if they do not know why they were colored yellow. As a consequence, drivers unfamiliar with the intersection blow through the stop, endangering pedestrians walking out from in front of the trucks that obscure the stop sign as well as endangering cars entering the intersection.

I pointed this hazard out again to a police captain who takes an interest in traffic hazards, reminding him of a vehicle that was T-boned there in October 2011. Two tourists were shaken up badly but were fortunately not seriously injured.
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

The Las Olas Caf is very popular with locals, and is frequented by city employees including police and code compliance officers among others. Sources I developed there liked to spin conspiracy theories after recent F.B.I arrests; for example, about alleged high level corruption of code compliance in respect to wheeling and dealing on citations and liens. The caf changed hands recently, and its sidewalk caf chairs and tables had to be removed after code compliance officers cited the establishment for having no permit. The current scuttlebutt was that the caf was not permitted all along but was allowed by code compliance because the place was under police protection, withdrawn because the Mexicans had taken over from the Cubans. Research by the Finance Department turned up evidence that the caf did in fact have a sidewalk caf permit all along, but the new owners had failed to apply for one hence the citation. End of conspiracy theory.

As for police protection, law abiding residents are happy to see cops around. Their visibility along with pro-active undercover work has made a marked improvement in the neighborhood. The Las Olas Caf is as busy as ever, so we have the usual traffic issues on the corner, doubleparking in yellow zones, big delivery and garbage trucks blocking sightlines, pedestrians cursing drivers for ignoring stop signs and making u-turns as cops stand by chatting over coffee, not seeming to understand why anyone gets mad. Parking officers were sent over at one time they had caf con leche. Today there was not a cop in sight as the Mexican Standoff dragged on, so I called dispatch myself. Weve got two cars blocking traffic, but there was no accident, they are just sitting there, has someone called this in? Yes, officers are on their way.

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

As we waited, two drivers disputed over parking in the yellow zone. The dispute was resolved by double-parking. We were amused as some vehicles careened by the obstacles no problem!

A visitor from Philadelphia of Egyptian stock said there were many such scenes in Egypt but drivers there got out of their cars and yelled at each other. That is why this is a Mexican Standoff, I said, and what makes it more interesting than television. A young man who lives nearby remarked that the intersection is dangerous to pedestrians. This is typical, shows how things are with the cops. Its been a half hour and they have not shown up. Not typical, I said. I have not witnessed this kind of delay since a few years ago when two guys held down an impatient Kinkos customer for twenty minutes after he tried to whack the assistant manager in the head with the Please Wait Here sign. The captain told me a year ago that response time is around three to five minutes now on emergency calls, but this thing is bullshit, they must be doing something else. Suddenly and without warning, the Mexican Standoff ended with the obstinate drivers backing up their vehicles and leaving the scene, as they should have done in the first place. Idiots!
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

One minute later, or 35 minutes after the showdown began, two black-and-whites arrived. Youre too late, twenty minutes or more after the call, someone could have been hurt! yelled the young man. We were on another call. There are only two of us, one officer responded from his car window. Never mind, there was no accident, just bullshit, I said, wondering how long response time would have been in case of two emergencies at the same time, and left for the gym with my leading news story for the day. ## PLEASE SLOW DOWN AND WATCH OUT FOR PEDESTRIANS AND CARS WHEN MAKING TURNS

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