MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said he and city officials plan to take steps to address the widely documented unruly behavior from revelers who flocked to South Beach for spring break vacation.
In an open letter to citizens released Monday, Gelber announced an emergency city commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning.
What I saw this weekend in #MiamiBeach was unacceptable. Click the link to read my message about how @MiamiBeachNews needs to do and will do a better job addressing these high impact weekends. https://t.co/FmCbL2Xk0D pic.twitter.com/EA1k9XmnMn
— Dan Gelber (@MayorDanGelber) March 18, 2019
Gelber said that two big dates on the calendar added up to one massive headache.
“I don’t want the next thing to be worse. We’re a city of 90,000 people, but we have 14 million visitors,” Gelber said. “When St. Patrick’s Day and spring break coincide, it’s almost a perfectly bad storm, and that’s what happened on Saturday night.”
Gelber said Miami Beach Police will be doing more enforcement on the beach.
“This is not a community where anything goes,” Gelber said. “We’re not that city, and we’re not that community, so we have to make that very clear to people. I don’t want anybody to be surprised if they come to Miami Beach over the course of the next few weeks, and they’re on the beach with an open beer. They’re gonna be asked to pour it out, and they need to do that, or they will be arrested.”
Unclear if related to the spring break chaos, a lifeguard stand caught fire along 71st Street and Collins Avenue, Tuesday morning.
.@MiamiBeachPD making the rounds on #OceanDrive…@MayorDanGelber calling an emergency meeting for tomorrow on challenges to keeping residents feeling safe & crowds manageable pic.twitter.com/7gAxX4hPCU
— Robbin Simmons (@RobbinSimmons7) March 19, 2019
Here is Gelber’s letter in its entirety:
“What I saw this weekend was unacceptable. We have to do a better job at addressing these high impact weekends when hundreds of thousands flock to our entertainment district in South Beach. I received so many calls and emails: from residents stuck on a Causeway trying to just get home; from people walking around Ocean Drive feeling unsafe; and from others who, like me, can’t stand the image this projects about the City we love.
I listen to every voice because I appreciate it is born out of both frustration with these events and affection for our community. If you want to talk about it, my cell phone is 305-345-7879. Don’t hesitate to call or text, or email me at DanGelber@MiamiBeachFL.gov.
The bottom line is we have become so attractive as a destination that we simply can’t process the volume of people that want to come here. And unfortunately, among the thousands that visit with the intent of suitably enjoying themselves are some who come with bad intentions, drink or smoke too much, or just are not capable of comporting themselves in a civilized way. We have tried many different approaches with some success. But often there are unintended consequences.
For instance, when we slow down traffic to limit access to our City and deploy license plate readers to identify drivers with outstanding warrants, we also create huge disruption for our residents returning to their homes. Many returning from the Heat game Friday night know what I mean. Also, policing huge crowds of young people, many of whom have been drinking heavily and might be predisposed to bad or reckless choices, poses other challenges for our cops.
Tomorrow morning, I have asked the City staff to break down what our challenges have been, how we have been responding, and what we plan on doing going forward to better control the problematic areas. Part of those plans will undoubtedly be increased enforcement on the Beach of violations of our open container and drug use ordinances. It will also include additional law enforcement and enhanced code enforcement. It’s important to me that we let the community know – including those who may be coming to visit – what to expect.
It’s critical that our residents feel safe everywhere in our community, that we don’t address these challenges at the expense of our quality of life, and that we clearly communicate to potential visitors that this is not a community where anything goes.
No one believes this is an acceptable normal, including my colleagues and our City Administration, and we will address it forthright.
Thanks,
Dan.”
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