Blasting Mozart Pot arrests Miami mulls ways to control spring break
Issued: 2018-03-23
By Joey Flechas
jflechas@miamiherald.com
March 21, 2018 09:28 PM
Miami Beach commissioners are considering a range of ideas for killing spring break’s buzz in South Beach, including making marijuana arrests, banning scooter rentals, limiting alcohol sales and even blasting classical music from loudspeakers.
Elected officials took no votes at the commission meeting Wednesday, but they discussed the fallout from a hectic spring break weekend that attracted an overwhelming amount of partygoers — enough to force the police to temporarily block incoming traffic on the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday night.
On Wednesday, commissioners brainstormed ideas for how to better manage the increasingly larger crowds each year and instructed City Manager Jimmy Morales to engage an outside consultant to help the city develop a plan for crowded spring break weekends.
Several commissioners said all ideas should be put on the table. Among them: revisiting the city’s policy for issuing fines for possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana instead of making an arrest. This approach was adopted in June 2015, when the police department said it would save $40,000 year in costs associated with arrests and prosecution of possession cases.
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“We need to reverse the marijuana legislation,” said Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. Fellow Commissioner Ricky Arriola — who often spars with Rosen Gonzalez on the dais — didn’t disagree.
“We should look at our marijuana policy,” he said. “There was some wisdom behind why we did it, but we might need to revisit it.”
Rosen Gonzalez, a Congressional candidate, made another suggestion: Blasting music that spring breakers would hate to break up the party on the sand. Perhaps marches by John Philip Sousa or some Mozart.
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