MIAMI.- “Dear neighbors, I am pleased to announce that at the end of the second weekend of spring break in Miami Beach, our city remains safe,” Commissioner Alex Fernández informed the residents of the Spa City in a message.
Fernández compared what was happening a year ago to this spring break: “no shootings, no stampedes, no fatalities. What a difference!”
But he wanted to be cautious in his optimism, recognizing that historically it is the third weekend in March when the challenges arise.
He stated that the city has managed to bring calm and avoid chaos on Spring Break by taking a group of proactive measures that include everything from curfew, increasing parking fees to $100, increasing police presence, increasing parking fees tow truck service, placement of breathalyzer controls, early closing of bars and places where alcohol is sold, all to achieve “break with spring break.” This was the city’s campaign this year: “We are Breaking up with Spring Break”, matching the meaning of Break Up, breaking up or separating from someone, and Spring Break.
Of course, Miami Beach breaks with the chaotic Spring Break that brought so much violence and destruction to the city for years.
“Imagine how much you have to piss off an entire city to be able to run a campaign like that. The residents of a city don’t have to deal with a group of people who can’t act properly when they have alcohol in their system and completely destroy their city,” @eliteSnake commented on the campaign.
“I’m with this campaign 100,000% and I can’t believe Florida is finally taking a firm stance!!!! Damn!!!”, said @emilysnapka4513.
Some local businesses claim to be suffering financially due to the measures taken by the local City Council, the commissioner himself stated. An owner of a Washington Ave nightclub admitted that he had lowered his turnover by 50%. “But if what we do is necessary to finally get rid of violence, then it’s worth it.”
Miami Beach is one of the favorite destinations for thousands of young people to spend their spring vacations. These visitors, in addition to joy, bring chaos to one of the most emblematic cities in the United States. This may be the first year that a spring break without violence occurs.
@menendezpryce
