MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Miami Seaside broke up with spring break final yr, and metropolis leaders nonetheless aren’t fascinated about {couples} counseling.
Officers lately introduced they have been bringing again enhanced safety measures for virtually all the month of March, together with parking restrictions and elevated charges for nonresidents.
The brand new guidelines have been launched final yr after three consecutive years of spring break violence. Town is once more warning guests to anticipate curfews, bag searches on the seaside, early seaside closures, DUI checkpoints and arrests for drug possession and violence.
“Final yr’s spring break was a hit on any stage you measure it,” Miami Seaside Mayor Steven Meiner stated. “We had zero fatalities, zero shootings, zero stampedes. Nearly all of our companies did very nicely and really thanked us for the measures we took.”
Most spring break exercise facilities round a 10-block stretch of Ocean Drive identified for its Artwork Deco lodges, eating places and nightclubs. Earlier than spring break final yr, metropolis officers launched a advertising and marketing marketing campaign that stated, “Miami Seaside Is Breaking Up With Spring Break.” A video featured residents “breaking apart” with spring breakers and warning them to anticipate restrictions in the event that they determined to return anyway.
This yr, officers adopted up with a “Actuality Examine” video that includes a bunch of younger individuals on a fictitious actuality present having their spring break ruined by the town’s enhanced guidelines.
“We broke up a spring break,” Meiner stated. “Some individuals ask, are you getting again collectively? No, we’re finished.”
Metropolis leaders need guests to return and benefit from the seashores, lodges and eating places, so long as they behave, Meiner stated, noting that total resort occupancy truly elevated in 2024 over 2023.
“And that’s as a result of if you walked round Ocean Drive and South Seaside, you felt welcoming, you felt secure,” Meiner stated.
Different Florida cities battle with spring break crowds
Miami Seaside isn’t the one Florida metropolis bracing for spring breakers this yr. Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Tampa are among the many high 10 home spring break locations, based on AAA reserving knowledge.
Following a very rowdy Presidents Day weekend in Daytona Seaside, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood lately introduced plans to crack down on unhealthy habits from spring breakers.
“They don’t deliver any monetary profit,” Chitwood stated. “All they do is deliver chaos, and in the event that they wish to deliver chaos, I’m going to deliver chaos in return.”
Companies have blended reactions
Some Miami Seaside enterprise house owners see the restrictions as essential to make sure public security, whereas others are involved that driving away spring breakers may irreparably harm Miami Seaside’s standing as an iconic vacationer vacation spot.
Louis Taic, proprietor of the Z Ocean Lodge, stated he welcomes guests to Miami Seaside any time of the yr, however he understands why metropolis officers have taken to actions that they’ve.
“What we don’t like is folks that benefit from Miami Seaside, that take benefit by doing issues right here that they’d by no means do at house,” Taic stated.
David Wallack, proprietor of Mango’s Tropical Cafe, stated Miami Seaside has thrived as an leisure vacation spot for practically a century, even by Prohibition and the Nice Despair.
As an alternative of making an attempt to scare individuals away, metropolis officers want to prepare occasions reminiscent of live shows, artwork festivals and sporting occasions to draw individuals who will spend cash, Wallack stated.
“Miami Seaside is magical, however you’ve acquired to nonetheless give prospects what they need,” Wallack stated.
Are restrictions linked to race?
Some civil rights advocates imagine the restrictions are racially motivated.
South Seaside grew to become standard amongst Black vacationers about 20 years in the past as promoters organized City Seaside Week in the course of the Memorial Day weekend. Many locals have complained about violence and different crime related to the occasion, which led to an elevated police presence. However the occasion’s continued recognition correlates to a bump in Black tourism all year long.
Stephen Hunter Johnson, an lawyer and member of Miami-Dade’s Black Affairs Advisory Board, stated metropolis leaders are utilizing a short spike in violence as an excuse to discourage Black guests.
Many of the issues skilled by Miami Seaside in recent times started in the course of the pandemic, when Florida remained open whereas different standard vacationer locations across the U.S. have been locked down, and officers are unfairly crediting the brand new spring break restrictions with reducing violence final yr, Johnson stated.
“Arrests have been down, and nobody was shot,” Johnson stated. “These issues have been going to happen anyway, as a result of the farther we get away from COVID restrictions, the extra normalized issues are.”
Meiner has repeatedly rejected the notion that the restrictions are racially motivated. He all the time hates the thought of anybody getting injured, however as an elected official he feels an extra sense of duty when persons are shot and killed within the metropolis he serves, he stated.
“We’re going to preserve individuals secure,” Meiner stated. “Regulation and order is the primary precedence in our metropolis. There isn’t any compromising on that.”
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