“Eat, Drink and Be Wary.” That was the clever, front-page headline in Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times that chronicled law-breaking in the boozy afterhours along South Tampa’s SoHo strip. It’s hardly a crime-laden area, but there was that recent drive-by killing outside a hookah bar at 4:30 a.m. It doubtless helped prompt such a prominent piece.
One photo in the Times’ layout was particularly telling. A sign outside a SoHo establishment read: “Open Crazy Late.” It spoke volumes about what can turn a party scene into a crime scene. When your market niche is the already drunk, nothing good is ultimately in the offing.