Miami Beach officials vote not to extend midnight spring break curfew this weekend

The Miami Beach City Commission voted not to extend a midnight curfew in South Beach through this coming weekend in response to two deadly shootings and unruly spring break crowds on Ocean Drive.

The vote was 4-3 against implementing a curfew from Thursday night until Monday morning.

Commissioners instead voted, 6-1, to support a ban on all alcohol sales for off-premises consumption in South Beach after 6 p.m. this weekend. That will include package liquor stores and any other stores that sell alcohol. Commissioner Ricky Arriola was opposed.

City Manager Alina Hudak had called for the midnight curfew she imposed on an emergency basis Sunday night to be extended, as it was last year after a pair of shootings injured five people during spring break over the third weekend in March.

But several elected officials raised concerns about punishing local businesses during peak tourist season and said they expect this coming weekend to be less crowded and rowdy than the last one.

READ MORE: Here’s what spring break in South Beach looked like Sunday ahead of a midnight curfew

The commission chambers were packed Monday during a boisterous meeting at which local business owners shouted over elected officials multiple times to voice their opposition to the curfew.

Music Week is this week’s big event

This week is Miami Music Week, which features events throughout South Florida including Ultra Music Festival in Miami’s Bayfront Park and other shows in Miami Beach. In a press release Monday, the owners of M2, a nightclub set for its grand opening on Washington Avenue in South Beach this week, said they plan to sue the city of Miami Beach if the curfew is extended.

Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez said she saw the proposed curfew extension as a “knee-jerk reaction” to incidents this past weekend that would punish businesses for the city’s failure to implement better safety measures ahead of time.

She voted against the extended curfew along with Commissioners Arriola, David Richardson and Laura Dominguez.

Mayor Dan Gelber, as well as Vice Mayor Steven Meiner and Commissioner Alex Fernandez, supported it.

“I don’t think you balance public safety with anything,” Gelber said, referring to local business interests. “I think we’re making a big mistake. I hope it’s not one that results in something much worse.”

City manager can still impose emergency curfew

Hudak still has the authority to impose a curfew for up to 72 hours at a time, and only formally needed the commission’s permission to extend her Sunday state of emergency beyond Monday and through the weekend. City spokesperson Matt Kenny said after Monday’s meeting that Hudak “does not plan to implement a curfew at this time.”

The original declaration was in effect from 11:59 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday and applied to all of South Beach, an area south of 23rd Street. It similarly banned the sale of alcohol for off-premises consumption after 6 p.m.

Two shootings rocked Ocean Drive this past weekend amid huge spring break crowds. On Friday night, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting around 10:30 p.m. On Sunday at around 3:30 a.m., another man was killed in a gruesome shooting on a crowded sidewalk.

Miami Beach police have said they believe both incidents were isolated and “targeted.” But both took place in crowded areas and put bystanders at risk, according to surveillance videos circulating online.

Spring break typically brings massive crowds to the sand on South Beach during the day and then to the strip of clubs and bars on Ocean Drive at night. This past weekend, the atmosphere shifted numerous times between calm and chaotic as stampedes of people ran away from Eighth Street and Ocean Drive for unclear reasons.

At Monday’s commission meeting, several elected officials said they want access to Ocean Drive to be limited during next year’s spring break to a few entry points with metal detectors.

“I don’t view any other option at this point other than doing metal detectors,” said Meiner, the vice mayor. “I am not going to go through next year and have dead people on our streets.”

City Attorney Rafael Paz said such an approach might be possible at a ticketed event, but that “wanding people in the public right of way without reasonable suspicion would implicate constitutional concerns.”

Hudak and Police Chief Richard Clements added that it would be logistically difficult to implement.

“We can certainly explore that,” said Hudak. “But not for this weekend.”