I was chased out of the Seminole Boat Ramp
Early this morning, on my way to the gym (yes, that gym), around 7 am, I stopped by Seminole Boat Ramp to get some photos, like these. The light was so beautiful, I wanted to get some pics.
I was the only one there aside from one boat going into the water at the ramp. I started taking photos and suddenly a security guard shows up, an older man. He started yelling at me and told me I had to leave. I told him I was leaving in a minute, I just wanted a few photos. He said, "No, you have to leave now. This is private property!"
I was the only one there aside from one boat going into the water at the ramp. I started taking photos and suddenly a security guard shows up, an older man. He started yelling at me and told me I had to leave. I told him I was leaving in a minute, I just wanted a few photos. He said, "No, you have to leave now. This is private property!"
I thought my taxes paid for that property and it was not private. I guess not. Are all those boaters from outside the Grove who are using the boat ramp allowed, but Grovites are not? The guard was talking with and helping the people putting the boat into the water. Me, he chased away!
I ignored him and he got louder. He started screaming like a nut, flailing his arms and saying, "GET OUT! GET OUT!"
I told him to get away from me and that I was not leaving. He then said, "You have five minutes!"
I told him to call a cop if he had a problem. He walked away cursing me and I took another photo or two and started to leave. I then turned back and went to talk with him, I wanted to get his name and photo but he was walking out on the yellow dock and I didn't want to follow him and make him feel threatened with nowhere for him to go. So I just left.
Is this what the Grove has become? We talk all the time about opening up the waterways with a bay walk and things like that, but I guess it's all talk. What if I was a tourist from a nearby hotel, or an new resident in one of the new condos across the street? Is this the way we are treating people in the Grove now?
Very unfriendly and un-Grove-like. I don't like being chased out of my own neighborhood.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:30 AM
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14 Comments:
That's crazy. I run the pier all the time and have never had an issue when I stop and take pictures or just enjoy the view. Maybe there's been some concern with thefts that he's reacting to. Nonetheless not the image we want to portray in the Grove.
I've used the Seminole rape to launch my boats 500/600 times since 1965. On occasions the boat ramp guards have appeared Gestapo towards me in the extreme & on several occasions city police got involved. Plus it can be a nutty crowd of boaters backed up 10/15 trucks & boats taking a hour or so to launch while other exit. Many thoughtlessly block the traffic, in & out, yelling & screaming in Spanish, removing & securing tiedowns, coolers, overloading their vessels and music so loud no one can function. One guy put 21 girls/women on one open 30'. I advised him the USCG was making inspections and asked if he had life perseveres - he didn't understand English. He was ordered back to Seminole. The guards try to refuse entry to people entering without a boat & trailer. But, if you were walking the guards should mind their own business. I never go to Seminole on Saturday or Sunday or use my boat these days anywhere about Miami or the Keys - it's a nutty disrespectful ignorant crowd on the Bay. Same as what you wrote about the lobster several days ago & stopped taking comments. Same as road rage, but on the Bay I'd call it ignorant/stupid something or other. Please print this and the comments will be self-evident & say it all
Similar thing happened to me recently. I was just riding through on my bicycle.
Anon 9:25, respectfully, these private security personnel are changed frequently & paid minimum wage. Observation reveals most boaters in Miami/Dade overload their vessels & many of these groupie young males pool their resources to purchase a boat together to rape the ocean and hang out @ sand bar parties. What happens @ our boat ramps is simply a clash of cultures between the haves & have nots where the low paid security guards, and many boaters vent their station in life against the haves. You don't see this on the West Coast or beginning about Jupiter, Stuart, Fort Pierce & Vero Beach, Florida, where people share similar civilized values.
I got kicked out of Cocowalk 20 years ago for taking a photo of my family of 2 by the steps in the middle. Told no photos allowed, move along or we will have you arrested! I've barely set foot in the place since and I live one block away.
Tom,
You handled the situation perfectly. Security guards have no authority and yet have this "God" mentality. Your suggestion to have him call police was correct. As a former cop, I can tell you that IF an officer arrived (it's not an emergency and is a low priority call), most officers would simply keep the peace and prevent a fight. Ignore these guys. They cannot touch you (battery) or threaten you (assault) or they'll be arrested.
Photgraphy Is Not a Crime.
MARAVILLOSAS FOTOS.PERFECT HANDLED.GONZALO
I'm thoroughly confused by this situation. I was under the impression that the boat ramp was city owned property, basically a public park. If that is the case, why the hell is a security guard telling you to leave?
Couldn't agree with the sentiment that the Grove is quickly becoming an unwelcome place. I don't know how else to say, but these changes arrive with the rapid cultural shift that hit Miami and the Grove is one of the last neighborhoods where this is happening in earnest. Everyone I grew up with on Avocado, Palmetto, Loquat and Poinciana are either in the process of selling or have moved out. This happened 15 years ago when I was in high school to all my friends in Pinecrest and Kendall. Now it's our turn. My family moved to Sewall's Point a decade ago and couldn't be happier. So bizarre I stayed. These people don't value community, they think of everything as property. Even when they start constructing on a lot, they direct their construction workers to act like third world security henchmen protecting their private estate. You can see it in the palatial ugly white boxes they build, so aspirational and new money. They have to set themselves apart from those that serve them and so that's why everyone in the Grove is now having to play a role in this new feudal order the rich Latins are building here. Just ask your local valet guy or waitress and they'll happy to dish out all the gossip. The last remnants of the old Grove are dying fast, we'll just turn into Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, Doral and all the other rich entitled Latino hoods.
I ignore overzealous security guards and ask them to call the police if they like.
On the bright side, you captured gorgeous shots. Nice play with the light.
I mentioned to Ken Russell that the it's unreasonable for the City to rent out the boat ramp to private parties. Sounds like it may be the situation here. Ken listened to me but did nothing. Consider that residents pay taxes for the full year but only have use of the facility, part-time. The City is "double dipping".
Something similar happened to my wife and me on Sunday morning. As we walked to the North end of the boat ramp parking lot driveway, the guard intercepted us and told us we had to leave because it's "a restricted area." I replied it's a public area and kept on walking. He then stopped a woman who was walking her dog and told her the same nonsense. She said she walks there all the time and also disagreed with the guard. After that, we saw him accost a jogger and his dog, who waved off the power-hungry guard.
This has to stop-- these guards are a joke and are actually dangerous.
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