Party crowds spark effort to turn down volume in South Beach

By KELLI KENNEDY
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Miami Beach wants to turn down the volume in the city’s South Beach party neighborhood. Officials cite increasingly raucous crowds, public drinking and growing violence. But efforts to curb the carousing have raised complaints about racism, classism and business practices along one of the nation’s most glamorous waterfronts. More than 1,000 people were arrested during this year’s spring break, when the city imposed a rare 8 p.m. curfew. Authorities sent military style vehicles to disperse predominantly Black crowds with rubber bullets. That prompted criticism from Black activists and spawned a parody on “Saturday Night Live.”