South Beach celebrity crime file

Back in February I wrote about a small group of South Beach parking scofflaws who use spaces marked "No Parking" as their own personal parking spaces.

Seven days a week at West Avenue and 10th Street, there's a constant parade of people in pricey cars, who shuttle in and out of the spaces oblivious to the fact that they're breaking the law.

Some park just long enough to grab a cup of coffee at the Starbucks. We've all done that.

But then there are the select few who feel the rules don't apply to them. They pull ito the spaces clearly marked "No Parking," run inside Starbucks and get a cup of coffee. Then they come back out and sit down for 30 minutes at a time, confident that they'll never get a ticket because Miami Beach parking enforcement rarely shows up here.

Today was such a day.

I watched as a woman deftly maneuvered her Saturn SUV into a space a few feet away from a fire hydrant and just ahead of another illegally parked car.

But this wan't just any lawbreaker.

Look closely...it's one of Miami Beach's newest faux-celebrities: Maria Lankina of the Bravo reality show, "Miami Social," which debuted this week to rave reviews.



Maria waltzed into Starbucks and got a cup of coffee and then came back outside and sat down with her laptop, her car safely parked in her own personal parking space just feet away.

So while Maria might struggling with the inner turmoil that goes along with being part of one of worst reality shows in recent years ever; she can rest assured that the red carpet always awaits her at the Starbucks at West and 10th.