The City of Miami Beach will be ready to enforce an emergency curfew next year during two “high-impact” weekends in March, after commissioners voted to give the city manager the power to do so on Monday.
The vote follows another chaotic spring break in Miami Beach this year that saw 488 arrests — more than 230 of which were felony offenses, according to Miami Beach Police. More than 100 firearms were seized.
Two deadly shootings also put Miami Beach in national headlines as crowds swarmed Ocean Drive, which led to a brief liquor sale curfew, which expired on Sunday.
Commissioners clashed on ideas to curb the violence during a meeting on Monday.
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Commissioners Steven Meiner and Alex Fernandez appear to be ready to take the strictest approach seen in recent times.
“Spring break as we know it is over, completely over. We’re done,” said Meiner.
“Let’s announce to our community and the world that we are putting a curfew for next spring break, so the criminal behavior does not come back to our city,” said Fernandez.
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Fernandez is strongly in favor of implementing a curfew on businesses and alcohol sales during spring break season, but not all commissioners were on board for such a strict approach.
“If you’re going to get rid of spring break, what does that look like? Spring break is a month long. You can’t shut down the city for an entire month,” said commissioner Ricky Arriola.
But Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez pushed back.
“We’re going to have to sacrifice a couple of years of revenue for a bigger picture,” said Rosen Gonzalez.
She also said she favors “shutting down” spring break but establishing curfews.
Other commissioners pitched setting up a ticketed event that would establish perimeters on Ocean Drive and could include metal detectors that visitors would have to pass through.
But Mayor Dan Gelber expressed legality concerns for the city that could expose it to lawsuits.
“The problem is that you’re talking about almost a mile of the public promenade with businesses on one side and a public beach that has to have legal access to residents on the other side,” said Gelber.
The mayor also wants the city to create “a team” to evaluate potential solutions and best practices to implement them by 2024.
