Miami Beach seeks end to spring break as we know it

Next year’s spring break in Miami Beach may not look the same, as city officials said they will work the police and the business community to end spring break as we know it.

After two people were fatally shot in South Beach on March 17 and 19, the city commission on Monday passed an ordinance declaring an intent for curfews from Thursday to Monday during the most intense weeks of next year’s spring break, to potentially roll back alcohol sales hours citywide, to shutter businesses early in the entertainment district south of 23rd Street, and to close the perimeters of South Beach to produce an enclosed program with access points and metal detectors.

The city administration would put together a working group with the police department and the city attorney’s office to look at the challenges of producing a program within an enclosed perimeter in South Beach, said Mayor Dan Gelber. Those challenges include the businesses that are situated within those perimeters, public access to the beach, and more police officers to secure such programming, which the city’s legal department said would have to be a private, ticketed event.

To do this, the city drafted a resolution to direct the administration to identify a private event operator, said city attorney Rafael Paz. “[It’s our recommendation] for a private event organizer to activate the entire area of Ocean Drive and surrounding areas, to implement the secured perimeter with strict security measures.”

This would be a resolution for 2024 alone, “because we’re finalizing the discussions right now with Goodwood [Festival of Speed] to come in 2025 for a long-term agreement.”

Goodwood organizers are expecting a significant financial commitment, said City Manager Alina Hudak.

In addition, the city has determined that an anticipatory curfew should give businesses within the entertainment district time to prepare. Also, closing businesses in the area south of 23rd Street along Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue would be considered. The city administration would have the authority to determine the times, days, and location of curfews.

The city can only declare curfew for 72 hours and can only impose emergency measures for a maximum of 42 days. After those 72 hours, the city would then determine an extension of the emergency measures in seven-day increments. The city can’t officially issue a declaration until the appropriate time frame to comply with statutory restrictions the legislature imposes.

“Right now,” said Mr. Paz, “the resolution is an endorsement of the declaration of a state of emergency for next year.”

There have been 424 arrests during this year’s spring break and four shootings in the city, said Commissioner Alex Fernandez. Police Chief Richard Clements said that during the past week, the city took 27 firearms off the streets.

“These are lawbreakers. They don’t care about laws, they don’t care about police presence, they don’t care about programming,” said Mr. Fernandez. “Not until we take drastic actions to end spring break will the message be clear.”

The city would also end alcohol sales citywide. Whether it would be alcohol sales until 2 a.m., midnight or earlier would be later determined by the city, in accordance with what could be legally feasible. In a November referendum, residents approved the 2 a.m. rollback of alcohol sales, but the city has not been able to implement it due to on-going litigation by some entertainment establishments.

“I think we’ve got to do this early,” said Mayor Gelber. “We’ve got to get our best shot out there early, so that we can find out whether a court is going to support it or not.”

The city is drafting separate ordinances for the April 28 commission meeting to put these intentions to a vote.

“When hurricanes are coming, we adapt and declare emergency in advance of the hurricane,” said Mr. Paz. “This is our hurricane.”