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A Picture Worth a Thousand Words
[Re: “Party
Police,” by Ben Torter and Angie Hargot, published May 22.]
Rare — a
picture-perfect beauty of poetic irony as illustrated in your
photograph on pages 18 and 19 in the May 22 issue. These are the
elite motorcycle police commonly known to all as the “a-hole
patrol,” as they can be seen daily busting all kinds of criminals
— mothers in minivans, grandmas in Grenadas, maids in Malibus and
tourists in Toyotas. It’s the usual four-man tag team — one works
the laser gun, one signals them over in one of the two rush-hour
lanes (rather than using a side street to ease congestion, they
cause it), one to write the citation and the last to spell-check
it. Real case-cracking troglodytes. If I may be so bold to borrow
a phrase of yore from the BLA (the ’70s radical group that created
the ire of law enforcement) — “PIGS,” as the police have so
endeared themselves to a nation of race, war and social
protesters, or “phat pigs,” which seems to be the appropriate
moniker of the moment. Not that the Miami Beach Police stereotype
black folks or anything....
Thanks
SunPost for the truly amusing and beautiful irony a simple
picture can present.
Victor
Vargaz
North Miami
Beach
Jail Isn’t the Answer
[Re: “Bum a
Dime, Do the Time,” by Angie Hargot, published May 29.]
This is a
really troubling response to a problem I deal with every day. I
cannot go to a gas station without someone asking me for money. I
say no and that is it. I cannot believe that we would waste
taxpayer money to stigmatize someone down on their luck as a
criminal and pay all that money to lock them up for 30 days. It
would take less money to train them to do something — anything
else. People do not realize how hard it is to actually ask for
money. I have been down on my luck, and I did not have the
strength to even ask for the help. To humiliate yourself to random
strangers all day long is not a “carefree, easy lifestyle.” Their
skills can be used to pass out fliers, inform the public and that
kind of thing, giving them legitimacy to be there asking for
change. The issue is harassment, which is an entirely different
problem. I wish I could do something more to help those less
fortunate in our community.
Jason V
Tell It Like It Is
[Re: Letters,
“What Do You Mean It Wasn’t So Bad?” by Marco Lerra, published
June 5.]
Good for
Marco Lerra to tell it like it is (was) on Memorial Day this year,
and every year. It is always a mess, a costly mess, a dangerous
mess, and brings shame, not glory, to our fine city. It is far
past time for Miami Beach to outlaw the elements that bring crime,
confusion and litter here. For the city to crow that it wasn't so
bad is double-speak hypocrisy at its worst. None of what happened
— the guns, the arrests, the drugs, the bodily harm to innocent
citizens and damage to property — should be tolerated. For city
officials to suggest otherwise is unconscionable.
Are we a
grown-up city that respects its residents or party central, where
anything goes? Bad tourism drives out good tourism. That is a
fact. This particular weekend of the year also has the distinction
of driving out its own citizens. Businesses shut down. Restaurants
suffer. It's outrageous that this is tolerated. Urban Beach
Weekend? What a joke. We are talking thugs and thuggery.
I wager,
too, that few of those urban beachers here for the weekend have
any idea what Memorial Day is all about. Don't get me started on
the disrespect to our veterans!
Grow up,
Miami Beach. Respect yourself as a city and have some respect for
what this weekend memorializes.
Jo Manning
Miami Beach
Thanks for Your Fairness
[Re:
News, “Graduation Disparities,” by Jordan Melnick, published June
5.
Good article
on graduation rates. I appreciate your fairness.
John
Schuster
Spokesman,
Miami-Dade County Public Schools |
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