As spring break crowds fade in South Beach, residents demand change

As spring breakers gathered in South Beach on Saturday, about 80 residents held a rally outside Miami Beach City Hall with a broad complaint that the city’s nightlife industry has gotten out of hand and elected leaders need a better approach before the party crowds return for Memorial Day weekend.

“We’ve had enough!” the crowd chanted as Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, a former city commissioner, began her remarks on a shared megaphone.

“We are a tolerant community,” Rosen Gonzalez said. “But enough is enough.”

She called for a city crackdown on hotels and bars along Ocean Drive, one of the city’s most popular nightlife destinations. And she urged the crowd to advocate for a moratorium on new hotel rooms, growth she argued would only make rates more affordable.

The event captured the tense dynamic unfolding across South Beach during the city’s spring break crackdown. The city imposed an 8 p.m. curfew in the entertainment district last Saturday, pulling the plug on the late-night party after incidents of vandalism and violence among the crowds made international news and angered residents.

The city’s treatment of large groups of Black vacationers in town for spring break led to criticism from some of Miami’s Black social-justice leaders. Last weekend, police enforcing the curfew fired pepperballs at a crowd. Cops carrying assault-style rifles stood outside a SWAT truck stationed nearby.

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Spring breakers say they ‘have a right to vacation’

On Ocean Drive, which has seen fewer altercations this weekend, news of the protest didn’t go over well among some spring breakers. A mix of annoyance and indignation slowly crept onto the faces of Black tourists who, despite being on vacation, couldn’t quite escape what they perceived as discrimination.

“We have a right to vacation just like they do,” said Tyanna Gill, 24, who drove by the protest hours earlier. “They always trying to put us in a box.”

Gill, who is visiting from South Carolina with a friend, said they wouldn’t let the negativity dampen their mood.

Mujahid Hamzah, an 18-year-old Cleveland resident, said complaints from residents won’t keep him from visiting South Beach.

“It makes me want to come back even more more,” he said.

Racial sensitivities framed some of the remarks before a largely white audience at Saturday’s rally, as speakers emphasized that Miami Beach needs to be welcoming to all but those who break the rules.

“Everyone belongs. Everyone is invited,” said Scott Schrey, 52. “But you must behave.”

Cynietra Copeland, 38, told the rally she was tired of rowdy behavior from visitors but said Miami Beach needs a more active approach to improving the situation.

“Most of the videos show people who look like me behaving badly,” said Copeland, who is Black and an account director for an energy-drink company. “It’s not fair to target one demographic, because it hasn’t always been one demographic.”

She said the forced closures of bars and clubs through city and county curfew rules left visitors to pack the streets. “We need to give people who come here something to do,” she said.

Mike Haynes, 56, came to the rally with his 10-year-old son, Colby, who climbed a tree to hold his “Bring Back the Love” sign, with a red heart drawn for the word love.

The elder Haynes, who has lived in Miami Beach for 15 years, had a sign with a more pointed message. Atop was an icon of a woman squatting into a twerking position — a dance made popular by hip-hop culture that’s become ubiquitous on the streets of South Beach during spring break.

Below was the logo for the Ultra Music Festival, a weeklong electronic music fest that neighbors fought to eject from downtown Miami but that some leaders tried to bring to Miami Beach to boost room rates and price out spring breakers. Next to the Ultra icon, Haynes had a check mark.

Haynes said the sign had nothing to do with race, but was meant to show his support for bringing an organized event to South Beach during spring break to replace the street parties.

“The whole vibe of South Beach has changed,” he said, reflecting on his 15 years in the city. “Now it’s chaos.”

The spring break crackdown didn’t seem to restrain the enthusiasm Crystal Comeaux, 22, and her two cousins had for Miami Beach.

“The beach, the scenery — everyone is naked,” said Comeaux, on vacation from New Orleans with two cousins, each wearing an “I’m in Miami, B****” T-shirt as they walked north on a crowded Ocean Drive. “Hell yeah, I will be back.”

They’re staying at a Holiday Inn by the airport, but spending the day in South Beach for lunch and beach time. “All the entrees are $40,” said cousin Jenel Alford, 30. “It’s so worth it.”

Restaurant tables were mostly full in the outdoor dining areas restaurants set up along an Ocean Drive closed to traffic. Some places had lines of people waiting their turns for a seating.

Angela Arnold, 34, was regrouping on Ocean Drive with her family of seven, including her husband and children, ages 9 to 17, plus a friend.

It was a beach day for the Little Rock, Arkansas, visitors who are staying in Miami, and Arnold said she didn’t have any spring break complaints.

“It’s been calm,” she said. “It’s a wonderful place to go to.”

South Beach resident Tania Dean, 49, organized the rally last Sunday night after the South Beach curfew pushed spring breakers into her Flamingo Park neighborhood, where some danced on cars and climbed onto apartment balconies.

But after police put a new crowd-control plan into place, residents said things have been pretty quiet this weekend — for South Beach, that is.

South Beach curfew caps quiet Saturday night

The typically packed Ocean Drive gradually cleared out when the 8 p.m. curfew rolled along, and police and city “goodwill ambassadors” began asking crowds to leave. It was similarly calm on Friday night, a welcome sign for residents and city leaders who had hoped the curfew would settle down the party atmosphere in South Beach.

At Eighth and Ocean, the music on the street pulsed from a battery-operated speaker on the corner, large enough for a seat. It formed the hub for a group of people dancing there as sunset approached, along with the arrival of the 8 p.m. curfew

One of the people identified himself as Vvs Ocho, a rapper from Newburgh, New York. “I’m about to shoot a video,” he said.

Minutes later, he was spraying Belaire Rose champagne into the crowd, followed by tossing dollar bills from a pouch as spectators scrambled to pick up the money and a friend filmed. “I gave out about 200 singles,” he reported after.

If the Vvs Ocho performance caused some commotion around 7:30 p.m., the performer and audience weren’t there long. The corner was all but empty at 8, after a crew of green-shirted goodwill ambassadors mingled with the crowd and told them it was time to go.

“It worked well,” said Shirley Plantin, director of Miami-Dade’s Community Relations Board and a member of the goodwill operation. “We spoke to people. We just informed them there was a curfew, and we don’t want you all to engage with law enforcement unnecessarily.”

Ocean Drive was mostly empty by 8:30 p.m., as a police officer on a megaphone ordered people on nearby Collins Avenue to clear the area or “be subject to arrest.”

The emergency rules upended a long-planned vacation for Miketia Baker, 37, and friends from the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. They were staying in South Beach in rooms booked months ago but found their destination of choice all but closed to them upon arrival Friday. That meant paying $95 for “a pizza and 30 wings” by delivery for dinner, since area restaurants were ordered closed for indoor dining during the weekend.

“What are our options?” Baker asked as she looked out on Collins Avenue, blue and red lights flashing from police cars deployed at intersections. “Nothing is open. We just want somewhere to have a drink.”