HomeMy WebLinkAboutLTC 271-2002 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Ma.nager
Letter to Commission No.
To:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez ~'- ~/~
City Manager A ~
11TH STREET D~IER
Date: December 4, 2002
This letter to Commission is to provide an update on the incident at the 11th Street Diner
referred to in the WIRE Newspaper article and the subsequent actions taken by the Police
Department.
The WIRE newspaper article described a violent disturbance between black gang
members and gay patrons at the 11th Street Diner on October 26, 2002. The article also
mentioned several incidents of black gang members cruising on Washington Avenue and
verbally assaulting pedestrians they believe to be gay.
Following the publishing of the article, the Police Department initiated an action plan to
address the alleged verbal "gay-bashing" and narcotics sales on Washington Avenue. This
included undercover detectives from the Strategic Investigations Unit, plain clothes Patrol
Officers, and the use of a marked decoy vehicle. The midnight Patrol shift has also been
directed to spend more time patrolling Washington Avenue and near the Diner at 11th
Street.
During the investigation a meeting was held with the 11th Street Diner owner Andy
Sawides and night manager Toby Grimes. They described the article as being an
inaccurate portrayal of recent events. Instead they believed it to be a compilation of
various incidents over the past several years. The main concern expressed was regarding
activity occurring between the hours of 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. The diner is very busy
during this time period. The recently instituted action plan has addressed this issue with
great success. During the past seven days, 43 arrests were made in the Entertainment
District for Quality of Life issues. Mr. Grimes and Mr. Savvides are pleased with the action
taken by the Police Department.
JMG:[~D:tr
C: Donald W. De Lucca, Chief of Police
F:~POLI'~,DMI~$CHI~2002~Itc 11th st diner, doc