ALL WIRED UP
BY THOMAS BARKER
IT’S NOT A BLACK ISSUE; IT’S A SIZE ISSUE Well another Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone, and I cannot say that I am surprised that the City of Miami Beach has been – once again – left in shambles. Year after year, the City of Miami Beach is turned into one of the largest unsanctioned festivals in the country. Dubbed as Urban Beach Weekend, Memorial Day Weekend continues to attract close to 300,000 people from all over the country.
Adding fuel to the fire, the whole thing was caught on video and blasted across broadcast media outlets and blogs around the country, making South Beach literally look like a warzone to hundreds of thousands of potential tourists.
Since Monday, we have seen an endless supply of articles recapping all of the scandalous tales associated with a weekend that has prompted many residents to head for the hills to avoid what has become one of the most violent weekends in Miami Beach.
What it really boils down to is that Miami Beach is home to about 90,000 residents, and during Memorial Day Weekend, more than 300,000 people descend upon our sandy shores for a weekend of fun and debauchery, filling a very small area of about 15 blocks – less than a mile in length. That’s more than three times the local population!
Since this weekend began 10 years ago, there have been multiple fatal shootings, hundreds of violent crimes committed, thousands of arrests, and hundreds of confiscated automatic weapons. This year alone, we saw a rise in arrests with a total of 431 arrests, as opposed to the 382 arrests from last year. To make matters worse, 66 of these arrests have been filed as felony charges. And if even that were not enough, Miami Beach was subjected to at least three known shootings, resulting in one dead, four injured civilians, and four injured police officers.
After perusing the various conversations on Facebook and reading the dozens of published articles regarding the weekend, I am continually frustrated by the perception that this is a race issue. THIS IS NOT A RACE ISSUE, and anyone who believes so is obviously not intelligent enough to see the facts as they are.
As a result, millions of dollars go into hiring off duty officers to provide additional security, hundreds of thousands of dollars go into shutting down one of the most famous streets in the world – Ocean Drive, and even more money is spent on cleaning up the city during and for months after the weekend’s festivities. And that is still not enough. Inevitably it is not about black, white, green, or purple. What it is about is the fact that the City of Miami Beach does not and will never have the resources to ensure that an event of this size will not negatively impact the lives of residents and visitors alike.
When you have close to 300,000 people drinking, partying, and hanging out for four days straight in such a small area, there is bound to be some violence and crime – I don’t care what the race or social background of a person is. It is just inevitable. So when someone says that the only reason things are so horrible during Urban Beach Weekend is because of the predominantly black community in attendance, I can’t help but think how ridiculous they sound. And on the flipside, when I hear a person or an organization such as the ACLU say that trying to ban Urban Beach Weekend from South Beach is racism, and that the city is targeting the black community, I also can’t help but think how ignorant and lazy these people must be that they can’t even come up with a descent argument. Instead, they just continue to fuel the flames of racism by making such false claims. In the end, Urban Beach Weekend must move to another city because there just isn’t enough room for it here in Miami Beach. We cannot comfortably host a weekend festival that attracts 300,000 people. Come on people! The entertainment district of South Beach is only 15 blocks. Not including residents, on average that puts 20,000 people in a block that is no more than one eighth of a mile in length! It’s not about race; it’s about size, and Urban Beach Weekend just doesn’t fit!
COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF: SUMMER SHORTS
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