Miami-Dade Community Relations Board Hears From Miami Beach Residents On Spring Break 2021
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The South Beach chaos that's come during this year's spring break period prompted an 8 p.m. weekend curfew and causeway closures and for many who live here, they are sick and tired of the bad behavior.
"It's not about the crowd, it's about the conduct and if the conduct is destructive then you must be uninvited," said resident Scott Schrey, "You're not welcome here if you're going to cause destruction and chaos," he said.
Miami Beach residents and business owners took part in a "listening session."
Members of the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board want a better understanding of the issues. "The people that are causing chaos, primarily are not spending money on Ocean Drive, are not spending money anywhere on Miami Beach," said David's Cafe owner Adrian Gonzalez.
"They have their flask, they have their to-go bags. They party in their car and they come out and cause chaos on Miami Beach," he said.
Much of that chaos is on Ocean Drive. "Address the incompatible and problematic MXC entertainment zone," urged Hotel Owner Mitch Novick. "Ocean drive, essentially today looks like a cheap carnival midway," he said.
People have some pretty strong feelings about parts of the entertainment district.
"We need to immediately remove all the tables off Ocean Drive, because it's a mess and they're being used as weapons and why are we once again rewarding these Ocean Drive operators. This stuff does not happen on Lincoln Road and that's 2 blocks away," said resident Tania Dean.
Part of the reason for this listening session was to discuss ideas and solutions, like using more license plate readers on all entrances to Miami Beach and looking into liquor laws while not penalizing those who follow the rules.
"What we're trying to do is eradicate a set of behaviors, not necessarily have responsible citizens, responsible visitors suffer in turn with some of the measures we're proposing," said Gregory Branch who's on the Miami Beach Black Affairs Committee.
Members of the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board will now take all this information and the ideas to their full board for their April 21st meeting.
At that point, they will discuss them and try to come up with recommendations to present to the Miami-Dade County Commission.
