Can New Year’s Eve survive COVID? Miami Beach wants a curfew break from the county
Less than 15 minutes after deciding that Miami Beach should remain in a state of emergency due to COVID-19, the City Commission voted Wednesday night to request that Miami-Dade County push back its curfew to 2 a.m. for Christmas Eve and the New Year’s weekend.
The reason? Struggling businesses and rule-abiding residents deserve a break for the holidays — even if only for four days, said Commissioner Michael Góngora, who sponsored the resolution.
“I would go that route for that weekend because I think that our community needs to be able to recoup some money and people need to go out and hopefully have a little fun in a responsible way,” he said.
Góngora, who is recovering from cancer, said he would stay home this year but wanted to make the request for “the rest of the world that’s healthy and looking to celebrate the new year.” The commission is asking Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to relax the midnight curfew countywide, which is in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, for the following days: Dec. 24, and Dec. 31 to Jan. 2.
Mayor Dan Gelber, who opposed the request, stopped short of criticizing his colleagues for supporting the resolution. It passed with only Gelber voting against it. Commissioners Micky Steinberg and Ricky Arriola were not present for the vote.
“I didn’t want to support telling the county mayor what she should do,” Gelber said Thursday. “I’m going to support what she does because I think the disunity in the county has been unhealthy, literally and figuratively.”
Gelber, who has been vocal in his support of COVID-19 restrictions, accidentally voted in favor of the item before later explaining that he misunderstood its exact wording.
He criticized the city of Miami for refusing to enforce the curfew in recent months, which he said puts responsible business operators in Miami Beach at a disadvantage.
“I think the commission, understandably, is frustrated that our businesses have been at a disadvantage to the Miami businesses,” Gelber said.
On Thursday, the Miami commission voted unanimously to begin enforcing the county curfew after directing police and code officers in October to stop enforcing it.
“This is about the health and safety of everyone,” said Commissioner Joe Carollo, the sponsor of the resolution.
Gelber, who said he agreed with Miami’s proposed “retreat,” would not say whether he supported keeping the curfew at midnight for the New Year’s weekend. He said he would urge the city to follow whatever Levine Cava decided.
“Navigating lives and livelihoods is a very hard thing, and I trust that she will do it thoughtfully,” Gelber said.
Levine Cava’s office issued a statement Thursday afternoon that didn’t sound supportive of a looser curfew.
In the statement, the mayor said “it’s more critical than ever that we continue taking steps to keep ourselves and our community safe — especially over the holiday period... The measures we have in place now are an important part of our protection plan to ensure we can move safely into the New Year together.”
Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who has long criticized the lock-down approach to battling the virus, said Wednesday’s vote will leave commissioners vulnerable to scrutiny from residents and business owners who may question why the city doesn’t urge the county lift its curfew altogether.
“Everything is disingenuous, everything is politics,” said Arriola. “This notion that 2 a.m. is more dangerous and more virus-friendly than 8 p.m. is silly, and it’s just an example of politicians who know they don’t have a lot of tools to fight the virus making it look like they’ve got tools.”
Góngora proposed that the city stop enforcing the curfew for those four days if the county does not act on the commission’s request.
“Regardless of what happens, I think we should come to some kind of agreement tonight as to what hours we will enforce or not enforce because our business community deserves an answer,” he said during the meeting. “They need to know what’s happening.”
Gelber and other commissioners said they would not support openly violating the curfew. Commissioner Steven Meiner, who said going against the county could be a “slippery slope,” supported the request to temporarily relax the curfew countywide. He proposed including Dec. 24 for residents to attend midnight mass for Christmas.
“I would really like for the county mayor to allow us this,” he said. “I think that would be great for our restaurants, and we’re really talking about a couple of nights.”
Miami Herald staff writers Joey Flechas and Doug Hanks contributed to this report
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 4:39 PM.
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