On April 6, 2022, Commissioner Mark Samuelian requested a referral to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee to discuss lessons learned from the March 2022 spring break.

Historically, the month of March has been a period when increased visitors put added stress on citywide services as well as on residents who live around the Art Deco Cultural District (ADCD). During this seven-week period, Miami Beach Police, Fire, Code Compliance and Sanitation increase staffing to in the ADCD area. This year, the city launched Miami Beach Live! as the city’s first programming effort to change the narrative of spring break and create a platform for expansion in future years.

On June 23, 2021, the City Commission formally approved March 2022 programming with Tom Bercu Presents to activate the area in and around Lummus Park as well as the beachfront areas from 7 to 13 streets with the condition that the proposed programming and production fall within a cost of $1.4 million for infrastructure and $1 million for talent acquisition via Resolution NO. 2021-31758.  On Oct. 13, 2021, the Mayor and Commission approved additional funding of $750,000 for Miami Beach Live! due to limited talent availability and higher production costs bringing the total budget to $3.2 Million.

The Tourism and Culture Department and production company Tom Bercu Presents in collaboration with the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and its agency of record VMLY&R, and the Miami Beach Visitors and Convention Authority, launched Miami Beach Live! as a four-weekend concert series.

Despite significant public safety staffing deployments, the weekend of March 18-20, 2022 saw two random acts of gunfire. On Thursday, March 24, 2022, the City ordered a State of Emergency effective each night from 11:59 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the area of the City bounded by 23 Street and Dade Boulevard to the north (including properties fronting the north side of 23 Street or Dade Boulevard), Government Cut to the south, Biscayne Bay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

The last concert scheduled for March 26, 2022 was postponed. Businesses other than hotels were permitted to operate delivery services between 11:59 p.m. to 6 a.m. In addition, the sale or distribution of any alcoholic beverage(s) for off-premises consumption, were prohibited in the curfew area after 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, 2022, after 6 p.m. on Friday, March 25, 2022; and after 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, 2022.

This emergency effort significantly reduced the congregation of revelers along our public spaces, which contributed to the events of the previous week.

CODE COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT
During the period from Feb. 28, 2022– April 3, 2022, the Code Compliance Department transitioned to an enhanced staffing deployment schedule. All shifts commenced with a roll call and training session where officers were instructed regarding high-priority items, changes under the high-impact period, officer safety and personal care. The dedicated Art Deco Cultural District team was assigned to patrol the ADCD on foot, ATVs and bicycles. In addition, proactive patrols were assigned to address conditions citywide focusing on licensing issues, illegal vendors and noise concerns. The dedicated Short-Term Rental (STR) team was assigned to conduct investigations citywide throughout all shifts. There was also an ATV Beach Detail that conducted daily patrols during the entire period.

The Code Compliance Department addressed 5,525 calls for service/proactive inspections/complaints/investigations and noise complaints during this spring break period. A total of 831 notices of violation were issued. Four establishments were shut down for operating without a business tax receipt. Three establishments were shut down for not abiding by the curfew during the weekend of March 24 - March 27. One single-family home was conducting a commercial event (advertised on social media) and the party was shut down with assistance from the Police Department.

Code Compliance conducted sweeps throughout the city to ensure compliance with the order.   

Breakdown of Violations

o      222 City Code violations (business tax receipt, graffiti, special events, ROW, artist vendor, Styrofoam, short-term rentals (no BTR and platforms), signs on public property, business on public property)

o        44 Noise violations

o        60 Property maintenance violations

o        422 Sanitation violations

o        83 Zoning violations (short-term rentals, unapproved speakers, signage, storefront coverings, certificate of appropriateness)

Short-Term Rental Investigations and Violations 

During spring break our dedicated STR team investigated a total of 189 short-term rental investigations resulting in a total of 79 notices of violation. Ten short-term rental properties were vacated during this period in a prohibited zone.

Spring Break 2022 (02/28/2022 – 04/03/2022) reflected a 22% increase in STR calls for service and investigations when compared to Spring Break 2021. In 2021 (02/22/2021 – 04/12/2021) there were 155 calls for service and in 2022 there were 189 calls for service. This year showed a 216% increase in the number of violations issued from 25 in 2021 to 79 in 2022.

Spring Break 2022 reflected a decrease in calls for service and investigations when compared to 2021. In 2021 there were 7,945 calls for service (including COVID-related issues) and in 2022 there were 5,525 calls for service. This year showed a decrease in the number of violations issued from 1,000 in 2021 to 831 in 2022. This decrease was attributed to certain COVID-related issues during 2021 when the department was tasked with enforcing Emergency Orders. In addition, proactive enforcement of illegal charters at the Miami Beach marina has led to a reduction in the number of illegal charters. Code Compliance issued a total of seven violations in 2022 compared to 354 violations issued in 2021 during this period.

POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) entered the spring break period with full mobilization of department personnel beginning on Feb. 18, 2022 through April 4, 2022. During this period, MBPD made 788 citywide arrests, a 17% decrease from 2021. Of those arrests, 288 were for felony charges. The Department also impounded 134 firearms during the same period.

MBPD employed two additional shifts during the spring break deployment, adding 25 officers during the day and 25 more in the evening. During peak weekends, we added a total of 35 additional Miami Beach officers. In addition to all the city staff who assisted during this deployment, the Police Department received assistance from the Miami-Dade Police Department, which provided 25 officers each Thursday through Sunday during March and the first weekend of April. The Florida Highway Patrol, Miami-Dade’s Multi-Agency Gang Task Force (MAGTF) and the County’s Goodwill Ambassadors also assisted throughout our deployment.

TOURISM AND CULTURE DEPARTMENT

The Tourism and Culture Department created a March 2022 advisory group comprised of the Marketing & Communications Office, GMCVB, VMLY&R, Miami Beach VCA, Spectra Partnerships and Tom Bercu Presents to discuss the event's naming, marketing and public relations. Through a partnership with the GMCVB, VCA and others, Miami Beach Live! was introduced. A local and national campaign was created to highlight events for residents and visitors.

The curation of each weekend considered the recurring Miami Beach visitor, as well as an inclusive and diverse audience with a demographic between 25 and 65 years of age.

The Commission approved programming plan consisted of:

·Four weeks of weekend long programming Friday through Sunday in March.

·Thematic weekends in the order of LGTBQ/Dance, Pop, World/International and    Symphonic/Classical/Broadway.

·Each weekend featured a Friday night movie followed by a Saturday concert and Sunday Dine-Around. Additional activations included the Carillon Wellness Village and a beachfront basketball court.

Miami Beach Live! Weekend Concert Series Talent:
Given the programing challenges with booking talent during COVID-19, the production company was able to secure 2022 Grammy Award Winners for Best Album of the Year Jon Batiste and Latin Rock Album of the Year Juanes.

·       Weekend One: Erasure and Ultra Nate Wilson Phillips

·       Weekend Two: Alanis Morissette and Jon Batiste

·       Weekend Three: Juanes and Nu Deco Ensemble with CimaFunk and Antibalas

·       Weekend Four: Bernadette Peters and Brian Stokes Mitchell

Miami Beach Live! Attendance:
The following is a breakdown of attendance by event:

Daytime Activation Attendance for Kids and Family Zone:
In partnership with The Bass, Miami New Drama and Miami Beach Music Festival

Movie Attendance:

Concert Attendance:

Ticketholder Zip Code:

Through the Universe/Ticketmaster platform, staff was able to capture the point of origin from the Miami Beach Live! attendees. The graph below depicts that 67% of concert attendance was local Miami Beach residents. The remaining 33% were visitors with zip codes from the surrounding tri-county area.

OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
City staff worked in partnership with the GMCVB and their agency of record, VMLY&R, on the creative look and media execution plan for Miami Beach Live! With an approved budget of $500,000 identified from the existing funding allocated to the GMCVB as per their Mayor and Commission approved contract, the campaign was executed in both English and Spanish, and was comprised of paid social, search engine optimization, targeted geo-fenced events, radio, bus shelters, digital ‘out of home’ (billboards), magazines and articles by a selection of bloggers. The campaign began on Dec. 13, 2021, and steadily built presence over the following weeks, with the bulk of the media buy hitting between mid-January – March 20, 2022. To ensure our campaign was both diverse and inclusive, we partnered with various Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ focused media companies who have the authority and experience to engage with those individuals, and to ensure our campaign reached a breadth of audiences in a trusted way.

The campaign had a twofold approach, focused on the local tri-county area (Miami-Dade, Broward and West Palm) as well as Orlando and Tampa, and a larger out of home billboard / digital component executed in our top fly-in markets — Atlanta, Chicago and New York City.  With the hyper-targeted aspects of the campaign, we partnered with some of the industry’s largest media outlets (Amobee, Simpli.fi, and Outdoor) to execute programmatic DSP, finite targeting, and geofenced programs. The estimated impressions were set at 34,493,318 unique impressions, with the tactical elements of this vertical to include geofencing at the NY Art Show, the Chicago Show, and the NY Boat Show.

In total, the Miami Beach Live! media campaign was expected to return 59,904,750 impressions. The campaign achieved a 123% return on investment, as outlined below:

•   73,864,174 total impressions (+23% of goal)

Digital: 46,594,889 (+10% of goal)

Outdoor: 25,236,885 (+75% of goal)

Clicks – 129,900 unique clicks with a CTR of 0.27%, which was above the estimated                      0.19% CTR benchmark

To complement the Miami Beach Live! marketing campaign, the Office of Marketing and Communications launched a public safety campaign titled “Take Care of our City” to run from Feb. 18 – March 30, 2022. This campaign engaged visitors who were already present in Miami Beach, with a three-pronged approach focused on educating and reminding them about our local laws, while welcoming them to our City and promoting the myriad of things we have to offer — including cultural entertainment, culinary, health and wellness, events, shopping and more.

Our market research showed that in order to reach our intended demographic, the message would be best received if delivered by a trusted and recognizable source. With that in mind, we enlisted the help of various local influencers to deliver our message in a voice and tone that our visitors could engage with and trust.

The second piece of our campaign relied on local businesses and cultural institutions to join the campaign. On Feb. 10, we held a community webinar to inform residents about our campaign and let them know how they could join. This webinar was promoted via the Clerk’s office, included in our biweekly e-briefs and supported by posts on social media. A link to the recorded webinar was also sent to residents via our e-briefs newsletter on Feb. 11, for anyone who was unable to join.

The campaign was supported by a $65,000 media spend, paired with informational outreach seminars to community organizations, colleges and universities, student unions, and fraternities and sororities in order to educate them on Miami Beach laws, as well as to get ambassadors on campuses to help spread our safety message.  We used multiple tactics to relay our message, including digital web banners, targeted social media posts, street pole banners, bus shelters, trolley wraps, and Out of Home installations at the airport with the following results:

Paid Social Media – 2,704,162 unique impressions

Organic Social Media – 164,201 unique impressions

E-Blasts – 148,721 impressions

Digital Web Banners – 3,916,244 unique impressions

Bus Shelters – 9,439,280 unique impressions

Pole Banners – 545,224 unique impressions

Trolley Wraps 1,754,000 unique impressions

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS: 18,671,832 impressions

BEACH FRONT / STREET SAFETY SIGNS

BARRICADE COVERS

INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN