After weeks of violence, unruly crowds and hundreds of arrests, the City of Miami Beach has passed proactive measures to "end" spring break in 2024.
On Monday, the office of Commissioner Alex J. Fernandez released an email with the subject line “SHUTTING THE DOOR ON SPRING BREAK,” in which he outlined his proposals to put the kibosh on the annual bacchanal.
The city commission approved his proposal for a curfew ahead of next spring break. The curfew would go into effect during two high-impact, Thursday-through-Sunday weekends in March 2024.
Officials also voted in support of shutting down liquor sales early next March, though no final decision or details of the crackdown have been announced.
In addition to two execution-style fatalities on Ocean Drive, a total of 488 arrests were made in Miami Beach between February 27 and March 27, more than half of which were felony arrests. In the same span, 105 firearms were impounded, according to a report released by Miami Beach police.
“This is not an all-inclusive resort where people can do what they want,” Mayor Dan Gelber said in a Monday commission meeting. “We certainly aren’t Las Vegas or New Orleans.”
Additional preventive measures include a resolution to bring in a private entity to “plan and produce a private event on Ocean Drive and surrounding areas” during spring break 2024, with the idea that ticketed events with metal detectors would bring order and help make South Beach less attractive to spring breakers.
On Sunday, March 19, the City of Miami Beach declared a state of emergency, imposing a midnight curfew and a 6pm off-premises alcohol sales cutoff to mitigate "dangerous and illegal" spring break conduct. Although a second weekend curfew was not passed, liquor stores were ordered to cease alcohol sales at 6pm in the wake of the deadly spring break shootings.