MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber held an emergency city commission meeting to restore order amid spring break chaos.
Following St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the mayor held the meeting Tuesday morning after releasing a statement that more action needed to be taken to address the influx of visitors for the remaining spring break season.
The amount of people visiting this year for spring break was said to be more than a third more than 2018.
Gelber has ordered a crackdown after videos of the chaos on South Beach began circulating on social media.
“There are gonna be waves of police [officers] walking on the beach, especially in the areas where we think there’s a lot of alcohol and drug use and say, ‘Look, you gotta quit that,'” Gelber said.
Officials said close to 100 arrests have been made during the spring break festivities.
“I think we wanted to send a message that the kind of behavior we’re seeing, even if it’s intermittent, cannot be tolerated,” Gelber said. “People have to know when they come to our beaches that you can’t get liquored up, you can’t get high, you can’t go on Ocean Drive and decide you’re going to stampede or get in fights. That’s just absolutely unacceptable.”
Commissioners discussed safety, traffic and quality of life during the meeting.
Among the challenges the city faces throughout the spring break season includes the unpredictability of crowd sizes, the promotion of events on the beach through social media and the fact that the crowds are formed by local residents as well.
“It’s just this little area of the entertainment district which attracts these large parties that becomes like an anything goes area, and it’s up to us to put a stop to it,” Gelber said.
Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews responded to two separate scenes on Tuesday morning of a lifeguard stand that caught fire and a man that was beaten. It is unclear if the instances were related to the spring break chaos.
Miami Beach Police said officers will be doing more with new enforcement on the beach.
Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates said, “It’s almost a full Memorial Day planning in regards to the traffic, the exclusion zones, the no parking on Collins Avenue. All of those things are new. We haven’t done those before for spring break. We’ll be wearing appropriate gear to protect the officers. We wear gear to protect officers. It would be, you know, a helmet and some sort of protection on the arms and legs and that kind of stuff.”
This past weekend alone, 11 college students were arrested. The spring break festivities have resulted in a total of 97 arrests so far, mostly for narcotics and disorderly conduct.
“I want people who are thinking about coming here to know that this is not a city where anything goes. If you do something wrong, you’re going to go to jail, and that’s just the way it is. It’s not fair to our residents. It’s not fair to our visitors. It’s not fair to bystanders to allow that behavior to happen,” Gelber said.
Oates said around 180 additional officers will be patrolling the area.
“We’re gonna have more resources this weekend, and we’re gonna do some more enforcement,” Oates said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to do enforcement. Hopefully, people get the message, and they’ll behave.”
Traffic on Ocean Drive will be shut down for vehicles as police monitor the area and use license plate readers to check for potential criminals.
Hours after the emergency meeting, residents were angry about the state their city is in.
Resident John Deutzman said, “Who is gonna shut this thing down? This is a public safety emergency! We’re over capacity! Just like an over-capacity swimming pool, an over-capacity beach, it has to be shut down!”
“I no longer recognize the city that I love,” another resident said. “We must shut down right now! Get rid of this image!”
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