We don't know a lot about the circumstances of the shooting or anything about the victim and whether he/she was part of the Urban Beach Weekend crowd, but the question that definitely deserves some discussion here at SFDB this morning is...
Should Urban Beach Weekend continue?
My answer: I think Urban Beach Weekend is roughly comparable to Bike Week in Daytona Beach in terms of the crowd that police have to handle and the uptick in crime stats that the community experiences during the event. I can almost betcha that there are some locals that leave the area during that week because of the mayhem.
For example...
Police have focused on dropping crime during Bike Week, cutting arrests from more than 500 in 2005, to 419 last year. Outlaws members have been accused of drug and weapons crimes, even murder and a firebombing in Florida in the 90s.But yet no one is calling for the end of Bike Week.
But for those who are saying enough is enough, tell me, how do you keep Urban Beach Weekend from happening? People are going to continue to come whether it has a name or not.
Bottom line: The City of Miami Beach and its residents are going to have to learn to cope with it in whatever way they can.
-photo via Miami Beach 411
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7 comments:
The City of Miami Beach can do what the City of Atlanta did to end Freaknik. Strict enforcement of the law made Freaknik attendees feel unwelcome and the event fell apart.
no, make the scum go away
How does Urban Beach Weekend differ from Bike Week, Jim?
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Fort Lauderdale got rid of Spring Break!
Daytona's population is much much larger than that of South Beach. So for residents of SoBe getting that huge crowd during Urban Beach Week is def more of an impact than for Daytona during Bike week. After UrbanBeach Week the streets are a mess, trash everywhere, cars scratched, people harassed by drunks... many businesses even close. If you don't want residents complaining, the city has to be better prepared to handle this and make it safe, clean and fun for all. (I've heard it's been improving, but still not enough)
Are we so afraid of kids gone wild?
Somebody needs to take control of Urban Weekend. Right now it's an informal event, therefore, nobody is held accountable or is in control of anything.
The city of Miami Beach is just trying to do its best to avoid disaster every year. Instead they should become proactive and make Urban Weekend a formal event.
By doing so they then would be able institute more control and coordination over what occurs during the weekend WITHOUT incurring the wrath of the ACLU or being accused of being racist.
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