Miami Beach Leaders Unanimously Back State Of Emergency, Implementing Curfew
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Beach city commissioners unanimously approved a state of emergency declaration, paving the way for a curfew to curb the spring break chaos.
Starting Wednesday, dozens of restaurants and bars on Miami Beach will have to close their doors at midnight because of increased violence surrounding spring break.
This is a five-hour loss for many places which translates to thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Surprisingly enough, several businesses and servers are supporting this decision regardless, prioritizing their safety.
"Sometimes we are packed from 7 p.m. all the way until close," says Richard Harleston, Marketing & Operating Director at The Locust restaurant. "Four-hour loss, five-hour loss is definitely bad."
Gun violence, large crowds, and reckless behavior becoming too much for officers to handle.
"Spring break tourists have distorted the whole purpose of Ocean Drive and South Beach. This is supposed to be a luxury experience, a glamorous, electrifying experience, not a violent one," says Harleston.
One of the two shootings last weekend happened with several officers in plain sight.
"It's been just really really crazy and it's just dangerous. You have people running all over the place all over each other and who knows where the bullets go," worries Olga Semante, a server at The Locust.
In total, five victims were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"They've gotta slow down because they're messing up the vibe for the rest of us," says Rhodean Amersley, a spring breaker from Atlanta.
So, who's causing the violence? Since Sunday at least five people have been arrested on Miami Beach.
The charges they're facing range from armed robbery to selling cocaine in a stolen vehicle and even running down Ocean Drive while holding a gun. The five men arrested, live in Miami-Dade County.
"Honestly, with the crowd it's luring here, they're not even spending that much money to begin with," said Semante, who's happy they'll be closing early.
"If anything it's more trouble than it actually is making any profit," she explains.