Amid ‘fraudulent’ use of disabled parking permits in South Beach, city considers action
It can be hard to find street parking in touristpacked South Beach, even for those who pay for residential parking access. But resident activists and city officials say there is something more suspicious at play than a simple supplyand-demand issue: the fraudulent use of disabled parking permits.
Videos taken in the city’s South of Fifth neighborhood and shared to social media purport to show restaurant workers parking in resident-only spots using disabled parking hang tags that bear the recognizable blue-and-white wheelchair symbol.
Resident-activist David Suarez, who leads the neighborhood group Save SOFI, said workers are abusing a city policy that allows those with disabled parking permits to park for free in resident-only parking spots. This, he said, is making it even harder to find parking spaces for those who pay for residentonly privileges and residents with disabilities.
In one video, taken in October, Suarez counted 34 blue tags hanging from cars’ rearview mirrors along First Street in the one-block stretch between Washington and Meridian avenues.
“What’s happening is restaurant workers are abusing a very old, outdated policy that was supposed to protect handicap and disabled people but has now actually displaced handicap and disabled people,” Suarez said in an interview.
In response to Suarez’s concerns, the city adminisapproaching tration is considering a code change to “address possible placard abuse,” a city spokeswoman wrote in an email. Police and parking enforcement staff have also been working in the South of Fifth neighborhood to evaluate the use of disabled placards, she said.
“The abuse of disabled placards is a nationwide problem that we believe also exists in Miami
Beach,” spokeswoman Melissa Berthier said.
At a meeting in November, Parking Director Monica Beltran said the city’s policy is leading to “the fraudulent use of disabled placards” and that valet runners, restaurant servers and chefs are using disabled placards in the South of Fifth neighborhood.
“We’ve observed anywhere from restaurant employees to valet operators to just any employee in the area slapping a placard on their car and parking in the residential on-street spaces,” she said.
Miami Beach Police and Parking Department staff were dispatched to the South of Fifth neighborhood last month to check disabled parking permits. In November, in that neighborhood alone, they confiscated 14 parking permits, issued nine criminal citations and towed 33 cars, among other enforcement actions like parking violations and non-criminal citations, according to data provided to the Miami Herald.
Asked whether the city had contacted any restaurants or valet companies believed to be involved in the practice, city spokeswoman Melissa Berthier said in a statement, “We are
this effort from multiple angles.”
The Herald reached out to South of Fifth businesses about the use of disabled placards. A spokesman for one restaurant, which the Herald will not name because it has not been accused of wrongdoing, said management is “not aware of any improper use.”
Miami Beach’s inspector general, Joseph Centorino, has been asked to investigate the matter, alongside police and parking officials. Commissioner Alex Fernandez placed an item on the Dec. 8 commission agenda asking that Centorino review the “pervasive fraudulent misuse of disabled placards by non-disabled employees of establishments in the South of Fifth neighborhood,” including whether any businesses are “unlawfully” distributing disabled parking placards to their employees.
‘THE VALET RUNNERS ACTUALLY HAVE THEIR OWN VALID PLACARDS’
Currently, if someone displays a disabled parking permit, they can park for free in residential zones, metered parking spots and municipal garages, Berthier said.
Suarez and Beltran have said the proposed policy change would end the practice of allowing anyone with a disabled parking placard to park in residential spots. Miami Beach residents with disabilities would be required to apply for a separate, free permit to park their cars in a residential spot, but only if they belong to that parking zone, they said.
The language of the proposed code amendment has not yet been finalized and Suarez said it might not be ready for a City Commission vote until January.
Suarez and the city administration have consulted with the city’s Disability Access Committee to ensure the new legislation would not overburden residents who have disabilities and currently have disabled parking permits.
At the committee’s Nov. 16 meeting, Beltran said the city honors disabled parking placards issued by the state of Florida, other states and even those from other countries. Some of the restaurant workers and valet drivers have valid disabled permits, she said.
“These people are actually getting placards registered to their name,” she said. “I myself verified registration on a few of them. The valet runners actually have their own valid placards.”
She said finding a fix to the improper use of placards will be difficult. Under state law, she said, people with disabled parking permits are allowed to park at metered parking spots for up to four hours, but the city is more accommodating.
“Let’s continue the conversation,” she said. “Let’s work on something that protects the needs of people with disabilities but also protects the rights of residents.”
David New, a member of the committee, told the Miami Herald that he would like to hear from police about their enforcement efforts before supporting any policy changes. He said requiring those with disabled placards to apply for a new permit might not be the right approach. New said he would also consider enhancing penalties for those caught using improperly obtained placards.
“I think it’s a travesty that the valet parkers and restaurants and other people are using those placards illegally and that they should be fined accordingly,” he said.