Spring break is seriously broken
We’re not quite sure what to call what’s going on in South Beach, but it sure isn’t spring break.
Not with exponentially larger volumes of people now than in the past. Not with peaceful days turning into raucous, combustible nights. Not with two men from North Carolina under arrest, accused of drugging and raping a woman who later died in her hotel room, Not with college students — particularly Black college students — here for nothing but fun being unfairly lumped in with gangs who have imported their warfare from far beyond Miami Beach and brought their guns with them. At least 102 weapons have been confiscated over the past few weeks, Police Chief Rick Clements told the Editorial Board on Monday.
“They were not supposed to be carrying, they had no concealed-weapon permit,” Clements said. “Or they were convicted felons or the gun was used in a felony.”
And did police overreact by firing tear gas and pepper balls to clear a post-curfew crowd? Was the Coral Gables SWAT van necessary? Clements said that, “Coral Gables sent us an interdiction team, in case there is an event that requires that they use the vehicle to extract officers who are trapped.”
But according to some prominent African Americans locally, that vehicle was just another sign of law-enforcement overkill.
This breakdown in perspective is a perennial. Public safety and fair treatment should not be at odds. “I want to be able to make this work, no one wants to have to mobilize to keep people safe,” Clements told the Board. “How do we get there? I want to sit down from people from all areas of responsibility in the community to get there.”
Clements should follow through. And aggrieved leaders should, too.
But this much is clear, as Mayor Dan Gelber told the Editorial Board on Sunday: “One, there were too many people, a volume of people we’re not accustomed to having. Two, a small percentage of people come with bad intentions. Rival gangs come in. We’ve had bad incidents at The Licking,” a popular Washington Avenue restaurant that, in the past, has been the site of shootings outside its doors.
“Three, there’s a pandemic,”
Gelber said. “It’s bizarre that it’s almost an afterthought.”
“We distributed 6,800 masks on a single day,” he said.
In an emergency meeting on Sunday, city commissioners approved extending on a weekto-week basis a curfew the mayor imposed the night before and keeping causeway closures in force for the rest of spring break. Smart move, by the way, to exempt Beach residents, hotel guests and local business employees from the causeway shutdown. They were really ticked Saturday night, when it took them up to four hours to get home.
While some commissioners were overly concerned about “messaging” that is being seen around the world, we appreciate the mayor’s clear-eyed view, the better to lead to solutions. “People are mad when I say things are bad,” he said. “But there are videos on every single channel.”
He added: “I’m not going to say everything’s great.”
He’s absolutely right. It’ll be Memorial Day weekend soon enough — another Miami Beach party weekend and another test of how Miami Beach handles itself, and the young crowds.
Because it’s clear that spring break is broken.