Miami Beach declares state of emergency amid crowds of spring breakers

Source: The Hill | March 20, 2021 | Jordan Williams

Miami Beach, Fla., declared a state of emergency Saturday over concern about large crowds of spring breakers gathering in the city.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (D) said during a news conference Saturday that new measures will be implemented that are “essentially purposed to reduce the number of people” coming to the area.

Gelber announced an 8 p.m. curfew in the Entertainment District, and a restriction of east-bound traffic on city causeways that will only be accessible to residents and hotel guests.

The measures go into effect at 9 p.m. Saturday, and will remain in effect for 72 hours. Gelber said he will hold an emergency meeting with the City Commission on Sunday to address the measures.

The city later posted the emergency order to its Twitter account. According to the order, these actions are separate from those that the city has put in place to combat COVID-19.

The news comes as photos from the area show crowds of people who have flocked to the city and gathered on its beaches, ignoring COVID-19 protocols.

Miami Beach’s interim City Manager Raul Aguila said Saturday that he’s received emails from businesses that have voluntarily closed or don’t want to open due to the crowds.

The state of emergency marks a point of escalation in the issue following reports of rowdy spring breakers this month.

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  • Consistent March 20, 2021 at 11:23 pm #48045

    Consistent March 21, 2021 at 12:40 pm #48054

    Consistent March 21, 2021 at 12:45 pm #48055

    EVERYDAY March 21, 2021 at 1:44 pm #48058

    Florida has a dilemma. Tourism is the state’s main industry and any business connected to tourism should, in theory, make a killing on spring break. Unfortunately, these kids don’t know how to behave themselves; so it ends up they cause destruction which ends up costing these businesses more than any profit they could have made.

    A friend and I are regular yearly visitors to the Gulf side of Florida. We used to stay at one hotel run by a native of western PA. He once told us that he closes the hotel for spring break. Other hoteliers told him he was nuts to pass up the business from these kids, but this owner said because of all the trouble and damage the kids cause, he was actually losing money by accommodating the kids.

    And now Florida has the added problem of spring break being a COVID super spreader. Obviously, the governor doesn’t care about that, so it is up to local governments to reign in the kids.

    Consistent March 21, 2021 at 2:18 pm #48060

    Consistent March 21, 2021 at 2:19 pm #48061

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