Miami residents say Ultra brings loud music, vibrating walls: "It's nonstop"
MIAMI — Ultra Music Festival is happening this weekend at Bayfront Park in Miami.
It's one of the biggest electronic dance music festivals around.
Juan Carlos Riano lives across the street. "Do you feel it in your apartment?" CBS News Miami's Ted Scouten asked. "Of course. It's right over there. For me, it's fine because I like the music," he said.
"People from across the world come to Miami, 170,000 participants over the weekend. We get the best DJs in the world, we're the envy of the world," said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. He said the three-day festival is, among other things, a big money maker.
"This is a huge revenue generator for the park, which keeps the park looking beautiful. It's a huge revenue generator for the city. I think you're going to top a billion dollars in economic activity over the life (of it,) a quarter century.
In the past, there have been issues with drugs and theft.
"The main issue that we always have is the theft of electronic devices. Make sure you keep your phone well in hand. We recommend you put it in your front pocket," said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales. He said federal, state and local officers will be on the scene to help.
"We have undercover officers working on the inside not only looking for individuals that are looking to prey upon our victims but any type of suspicious individuals," he said.
And get ready for some difficult traffic. Beginning Thursday at 9 p.m. northbound Biscayne Blvd will close. Detours will be in place using southbound Biscayne Boulevard and downtown streets as alternatives. For some, between the traffic and the loud music, it will be a long weekend.
"It's like hell. It's hell for 3 days. It's nonstop music," said Jose Palma, who lives across the street. He says it's a tough few days for his family.
"It's not only the music we get it's the huge vibration. The walls are vibrating the floor is vibrating you hear this electronic music, right. It's very intrusive," he said.
To keep that loud music in check, there are noise monitors in 3 nearby buildings. If the music gets louder than it's supposed to, the device picks up on it and sends out an alert letting organizers know it's too loud. The Downtown Neighbors Alliance and Ultra monitor it.
"We do have noise monitoring on several buildings downtown. Everything is done in real time. There are certain decibel levels that Ultra can not pass," explained Jose Torres, President of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance.
Those levels are 95 or 85 for low frequencies like base.
Police urge people who are attending to use public transportation. They point out the heaviest traffic is expected on Friday and Sunday. There are other events downtown on those days.