Miami Beach spring break may see big changes as officials contemplate a crackdown to curb chaotic scenes that have taken place this season.
Spring breakers overwhelmed Miami Beach last weekend, forcing police to temporarily block incoming traffic on the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday night, the Miami Herald reported.
Some ideas include increasing the parking rates on "high impact" weekends, while city manager Jimmy Morales proposed limits on liquor sales, WSVN-TV reported. He also suggested that police officers work 12-hour shifts like they do during Memorial Day, another high-attendance weekend.
The Herald said one change already made is a ban on scooter rentals during "high-impact" periods, or dates when officials expect huge crowds concentrated in the South Beach's entertainment district.
Residents complained of public drunkenness, people urinating in public and rampant marijuana use as the spring break crowd grew to 6,000 people, more than what police said they could handle, the Herald said.
"We don't want this kind of spring break," said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, per WSVN-TV. "Everything ought to be on the table."
Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates said, per WSVN-TV, that his officers were outmanned, but authorities said they made 74 arrests, 39 of them were felonies.
"We had at least three stampedes," Oates said. "It felt like a fraternity party where everything goes."
Morales said police officers will be moved from other locations in the city to South Beach and parked cars on Ocean Drive will be removed after the street is closed for pedestrians only, the Herald said.
He also suggested increasing police presence with officers from other cities, and advertising the city's rules to student groups at universities that might have a lot of students coming to South Beach.
The Herald said Rosen Gonzalez, a Congressional candidate, suggested that city officials should blast music that spring breakers would hate, like John Philip Sousa or some Mozart.
"I think we should do something radical," Gonzalez said, per the Herald.
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