Miami Beach enacts emergency curfew amid spring break crackdown

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – In what officers say is a reaction to an inflow of spring break crowds and a “commitment to protecting public safety,” Miami Beach has set a weekend curfew from 11:59 p.m. on Friday, till Monday at 6 a.m. for a big swath of South Beach.

In a news liberate, a town spokesperson stated Miami Beach City Manager Alina Hudak enacted “discretionary emergency measures” for as much as 72 hours, except the Miami Beach City Commission grants an extension.

“In consultation with our public safety leadership, we have determined that a midnight curfew is necessary and appropriate to assist in maintaining public safety on this Spring Break weekend,” Hudak stated within the news liberate. “We did not make this decision lightly, but it should not come as a surprise. We have been very clear about our intent to protect the public from the dangerous mayhem that has accompanied Spring Break crowds in recent years.”

Last 12 months, town fee handed a solution endorsing Miami Beach’s goal to put in force a spring break-related curfew.

City leaders have additionally publicly cautioned native companies to “expect curfews” all over spring break, specifically over the March 16-17 weekend, “when South Beach historically has experienced the highest level of disturbance and violence,” the news liberate states.

According to town officers, the next emergency measures are being imposed:

• “Effective each night from March 15, 2024 through March 18, 2024, from 11:59 p.m. until 6 a.m., a curfew will be imposed for that area of the city bounded by 23 Street and Dade Boulevard on the north (including properties fronting the north side of 23 Street or Dade Boulevard), Government Cut on the south, Biscayne Bay on the west, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Businesses within the affected area must close sufficiently in advance of the curfew so patrons can avoid violating the emergency measures.”

• “Public safety officers will patrol the curfew area to ensure compliance by businesses, visitors and citizens. People will be asked to immediately vacate the streets and return to their homes, hotels or other accommodations.”

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• “Businesses may continue to operate from 11:59 p.m. to 6 a.m. for delivery services only, and all city residents requiring access to or from their homes, guests requiring access to or from their hotels, and employees of business establishments requiring access, including business deliveries, are permitted. The curfew does not apply to designated essential services, such as fire, police and hospital services, including the transportation of patients, utility emergency repairs and emergency calls by physicians. The curfew also does not apply to people traveling to work or returning to their homes after their work has concluded.”

• “The sale or distribution of any alcoholic beverage(s) for off-premises consumption — with or without payment — will be prohibited in the curfew area after 6 p.m. each day.”

The curfew will probably be in impact within the following highlighted spaces:

In conjunction with the applied weekend curfew, Miami Beach officers have established a Special Event Zone, efficient from 8 p.m. on Friday, till 7 a.m. Monday, masking a particular space.

The designated zone encompasses the next barriers: seventeenth Street to the north, Washington Avenue to the west, South Pointe Park to the south, and the Erosion Control Line to the east. Furthermore, it comprises all of Fifth Street from the MacArthur Causeway within the west to the Erosion Control Line within the east.

The zone encapsulates Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue, Washington Avenue and all adjoining aspect streets.

Within this specified zone, town officers said drivers will obtain double fines for noncriminal site visitors infractions and could have their automobiles impounded for violations.