LTC 144-2018 SPRING BREAK 2018MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC#
144-2018
LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: March 18, 2018
SUBJECT: SPRING BREAK 2018
As you know, we are in the heart of the Spring Break season for colleges and universities. This
past week, we had the largest number of colleges on break (including all Florida public colleges).
This past weekend we had some of the largest crowds we have ever seen, especially last night
on Ocean Drive. The large crowds on Ocean Drive yesterday particularly challenged law
enforcement and some of the businesses on the west side. We also had major traffic coming
into South Beach last night, which led to gridlock on Collins Avenue. As reported by local media,
we temporarily closed the MacArthur so that our officers could clear the cues.
Although the crowds appear to be much smaller this afternoon (hopefully the large group is
heading back to school), we are implementing some changes this afternoon to improve the
situation.
1. We are not evacuating the beach area on Ocean Drive early. Although we had been
doing this to allow our cleaning crews to get out there before it got too dark to clean the
beach, the result was a major migration of students all at once onto Ocean Drive. This
certainly contributed to last night's issues.
2. We are removing all parked cars off Ocean Drive at the time we do the street closing for
pedestrians only. Signs were posted warning parkers that the cars had to be moved by 5
p.m. or they would be towed. The presence of parked cars at night created issues with
people partying at their cars and then traffic issues when the cars wanted to leave during
the road closure. This aids the police in crowd control and prevention of criminal
behavior.
3. Police officers will be assigned as needed at critical intersections on Collins Avenue in
the Entertainment district tonight to encourage traffic flow if there is a bottleneck.
4. Additional officers are being deployed tonight on Ocean Drive and the Entertainment
district.
5. Some of the sidewalk cafes on Ocean Drive between 7th and 11th will be voluntarily
closing their sidewalk cafes tonight from 6 pm to 10 pm depending on crowd size. If this
proves effective, I will consider including it as part of the High Impact weekend strategy
going forward this spring break season and thereafter.
In discussions with Police and members of the Ocean Drive Association, there are other
measures that we may consider in the future (particularly addressing the issue of scooters and
other motorized 2 -wheel vehicles). For now, we hope that our modified strategy combined with
a smaller number of schools at break will enable us to get through the remainder of the spring
break season without major incident.
We welcome college students that come here to have safe fun and enjoy our many natural
resources and hot spots. But we want them to do that in a climate that protects our residents,
businesses and visitors alike.