Facing COVID and spring break concerns, Gelber addresses Beach as he seeks reelection
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber is the leader of a city in a state of emergency.
Over the past year, the COVID-19 health crisis has sickened scores of residents, cut city revenues by $71 million and spawned an economic crisis for hospitality workers and business owners who suffered through months of shutdowns.
The pandemic has also fueled big crowds of cooped-up spring breakers in South Beach, stretching police thin and increasing calls from residents to crack down even harder on rowdy tourists — all while shining a national spotlight on the city’s struggles.
With that as his backdrop, Gelber on Monday addressed residents for the first time since filing to run for reelection this November, saying during his annual State of the City address that he remains committed to leading a city that has been “knocked down” during the pandemic.
“If you want to know the state of our city, how we’re doing, it has never been more apparent,” he said. “The state of our city, the state of our community, is stronger, tested and more resilient than ever.”
The two-term mayor, who currently does not have a challenger, did not mention his campaign during the speech but later said in an interview that he is running to help the city emerge from its recent troubles — those wrought by the pandemic and by what he called an “anything goes” party atmosphere in South Beach.
“I feel very strongly that we have a real opportunity to emerge from this even stronger,” Gelber told the Miami Herald. “I just would like to be part of that.”
During his speech, Gelber laid out a plan to diversify the city’s economy, focus on arts and culture and reform the South Beach entertainment district. He stressed that despite the hit to the tourism industry, the city did not raise taxes last year. He predicted federal aid would help bridge the looming budget gap. And he said 80% of Miami Beach’s seniors have been vaccinated, some through the city’s own vaccination program.
Among his goals for the coming year if he is elected, he said, are deciding on a development plan for eight city-owned lots across Collins Avenue from the North Beach Oceanside Park and putting a citywide referendum on the November ballot to allow the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach to expand.
“I want to see this stuff through,” Gelber told the Miami Herald. “The pandemic has only enhanced that desire. I want to help us emerge from this. I think we’ve got all these great possibilities that are around the corner.”
But as Gelber seeks a third and final two-year term in office, the stress and demands pulling the city in different directions are beginning to cost him some support. Some outspoken residents said Monday that the mayor’s 30-minute speech focused too much on the city’s perceived accomplishments and its hope for a better future and not enough on the more urgent issue of maintaining public safety in South Beach during spring break and beyond.
“We’re all over the news nationally in terms of the influx of not just college kids on spring break but the influx of people who have been locked down or unable to vacation or even leave their communities,” Ellen Schmertz Bowen, a Mid Beach resident who voted for Gelber in 2019, told the Miami Herald. “This is not a surprise. We’ve been talking about it for months.”
Over the weekend, Miami Beach made national news for its influx of maskless spring breakers and a Friday night confrontation between police and a large crowd near Ocean Drive. Police arrested a 19-year-old from New York, slamming him to the ground after they said he pushed an officer and refused commands to leave, and used pepper spray to clear the crowd.
A recent poll commissioned by former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine found that half of the 300 residents polled disapprove of how the city is handling crime and a plurality believe reducing crime is the top issue facing the city other than the coronavirus.
“It is abundantly clear that Miami Beach voters believe the increase in violent crime is a significant and tangible problem and want to see action to correct course,” states a summary from McLaughlin & Associates. “Considering the intensity behind these opinions and the fact that they are largely driving the negative sentiments towards the City, it is very likely that this issue will continue to be at the forefront of voters’ minds for the foreseeable future.”
Schmertz Bowen, 66, said Gelber’s speech “irritated residents” and “fell on deaf ears.”
His talk of upgrading every park in the city or touting Miami Beach’s leadership in imposing a mask mandate could have been saved for another time, she said, adding that the city should have been better prepared to handle the crowds.
The Connecticut native, who moved to the city two years ago, said she generally feels positive about the city’s outlook and loves to live in Miami Beach. But she is not sure she will support Gelber this year because of how “scary” the city has become during busy weekends and how little she feels the city is doing to stop it. She has recommended closing the city’s causeways at 10 p.m. to visitors — a drastic step for a city whose lifeblood is hospitality and tourism.
“If I can fault our mayor, it’s that he has identified the concerns but I haven’t seen anything actionable,” Schmertz Bowen said. “Is the National Guard going to be on every corner from 15th down to First? What are the plans?”
Some residents, like newly registered Florida voter John Vest, said the city should hire more police instead of killing the party scene that made it world famous.
Vest, a 65-year-old Mid Beach resident, said Gelber has “tunnel vision” when it comes to South Beach. The New York native, who bought a condo in Miami Beach in 2005, described that vision as “art, art, art, dinner and go home.” He said he doesn’t see the harm in going out to a club after dinner, part of what attracted him to Miami Beach. Vest, who has split time between Miami Beach and New York for 16 years, became a full-time Florida resident last June.
“He wants to kill off that entertainment district, but that’s really what created Miami Beach,” Vest said, adding that he would not vote for Gelber.
Gelber said he was “candid about the challenges of South Beach” during his speech.
“I don’t want to downplay them or blame someone else,” he said. “I want to try to solve it.”
Gelber, a former state lawmaker, ran unopposed in 2019, two years after he handily defeated three opponents with 82% of the vote. His only true competition, now-state Rep. Michael Grieco, dropped out of the race and resigned as a city commissioner amid a campaign finance scandal.
During his speech Monday, Gelber called for the temporary hiring of more police and the establishment of a real-time crime center, and. He also demanded continued assistance from police in Miami-Dade and other cities.
He also repeated his call to “reimagine” South Beach as an Art Deco cultural district rather than a 5 a.m. party strip.
Over the summer, the City Commission began to consider major changes to the South Beach area, including limits on alcohol sales and proposals to up-zone the area to attract more development. So far, the commission has approved some noise restrictions beginning at 2 a.m. on Ocean Drive and stricter penalties for sidewalk cafe operators that violate city code.
Gelber, who organized a South Beach panel to develop further recommendations, said the last 10 years have brought a steady decline to South Beach.
“The time for baby steps is long past,” he said. “It’s time to demand change.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 7:18 PM.
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