Miami Beach lays out Memorial Day weekend public-safety, parking and boating plan

Kevin Pulido, neighborhood affairs division director for the City of Miami Beach, outlined the city’s Memorial Day weekend plan on a public briefing that included staffing, traffic and parking measures, and a boating closure for Flagler Monument Island.

The measures are intended to manage an expected influx of visitors for Memorial Day weekend and the Hyundai Air and Sea Show on May 24 and 25, city staff said, and include enhanced police and emergency staffing, a temporary flat parking rate in downtown lots, expanded trolley and shuttle service, and a temporary closure of Flagler Monument Island to boaters.

Pulido said the Miami Beach Police Department will use 10-hour overlapping shifts in an "alpha bravo" configuration and that local and federal law-enforcement partners will assist, including the Florida Highway Patrol, Miami-Dade County departments and the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office. He said other city departments — Miami Beach Fire, Ocean Rescue, Code Compliance, Parking, Public Works, Sanitation, and Parks and Recreation — will have enhanced staffing in high-impact areas.

The Hyundai Air and Sea Show will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25, and Pulido said the event is free and open to the public. He described the display area along Ocean Drive roughly from 15th Street down toward 11th Street and said the event will include a kids zone, an FPL village and an area for aircraft and parachute demonstrations. Pulido also noted there will be rehearsal flights on the day aircraft arrive.

For parking, Pulido said the city will impose a flat-rate schedule beginning Friday, May 23, at 9 p.m. and running through Monday, May 26, at 9 a.m., with a $15 rate for residents in city lots near the entertainment district. He named several parking locations that will be subject to the flat rate: the lot at Seventh Street and Collins Avenue, Twelfth Street and Washington Avenue, Thirteenth Street and Collins Avenue, and the anchor garage on Sixteenth Street. Pulido directed visitors to a city web page for maps and lot lists.

The city will provide enhanced public transportation during the weekend, he said. A free, citywide trolley will run with additional vehicles assigned to the Collins Express route, with service expanded from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The city will also operate free parking shuttles from the 40 Second Street garage on Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25, and noted Citi Bike stations will remain available.

A traffic mitigation plan will run from Thursday, May 22, through May 26, Pulido said, and will include protected residential zones (including Flamingo Park and South of Fifth neighborhoods), barricades, and additional Miami Beach Police deployments to prevent cut-through traffic. He said a license-plate reader detail will operate at Fifth Street during weekend night hours from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and the city is working with traffic-management contractors.

Pulido announced that Flagler Monument Island will be closed to boaters starting Friday, May 23, and will reopen at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27, citing past littering on the island as the reason for the temporary closure. He said high-impact-zone restrictions will be in effect from 8 p.m. Friday, May 23, through Monday, May 26, and will include local access restrictions and the suspension of rentals for certain vehicles such as golf carts and low-speed vehicles.

Pulido encouraged residents and visitors to sign up for traffic text alerts by texting "m b alert" to 888777 and said maps and additional information will be posted on the city's event web pages. He also reminded residents that the city’s Memorial Day ceremony, organized by the Miami Beach Police Department with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and local Girl Scout troops, will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 26.

"It's my favorite weekend of the year," Pulido said. "We always have a huge influx of residents and visitors that come from around to join us and celebrate here on our beautiful beaches."