'Spring break of the past is gone': Miami Beach leaders outline plan for March

Aaron Leibowitz, Miami Herald on Feb 24, 2026

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MIAMI — Miami Beach leaders gathered Tuesday to send a unified message about the upcoming spring break season: yes, the city is relaxing some of its strictest rules and restrictions from recent years, but no, the party is not back on.

Speaking at Miami Beach Police Department headquarters in South Beach, Police Chief Wayne Jones said the city has “divorced spring break.”

“Spring break of the past is gone. We will never, ever go back there,” Jones said. “This is a new era for this Police Department and for the city.”

Earlier this month, the city released a marketing video and advertising campaign that struck a different tone than its 2024 and 2025 messaging, promoting Miami Beach as an inviting home for wellness and fitness activities — with less emphasis on the rules and huge law enforcement presence aimed at keeping the party crowd away.

The city will host several fitness events in March, including the Life Time 305 Half Marathon & 5K on March 1 and the Gymreapers Wodapalooza fitness festival from March 12-15.

“This is a new day for Miami Beach,” City Manager Eric Carpenter said. “We are making a deliberate pivot away from a party-centric spring break of the past and towards a month that celebrates all Miami Beach has to offer.”

Carpenter spelled out regulations for the month of March, including increased parking rates, license-plate reader details and doubled towing rates, but fewer parking closures, beach closures and barricades than before.

The changes come after back-to-back years in which spring break crowds were relatively small, and there were no stampedes or shootings on Ocean Drive as there had been in prior years. Some business owners in South Beach have pushed for a loosening of restrictions, saying they felt the financial pain of the city’s crackdown.

One popular Instagram account that promotes spring break events in the Miami area seized on the announced changes in a Feb. 16 post, sharing an AI-generated image of a jam-packed beach with the caption: “Miami Goes 100% Open for Spring Break After Pulling Curfew & Restrictions!”

But Miami Beach officials said Tuesday that young people looking for a spring break destination shouldn’t be fooled. If things get out of hand, they said, the city could still impose a curfew and take other safety measures.

“If folks are going to come down here and want to have a good time, you’re welcome here,” said Jones. “But if you want to come down here and get into mischief, break our laws, disrupt our way of life, then we’re going to lock them up. We’re going to take them to jail, and we’re going to ruin their spring break.”

Under the city’s plan, beach entrances on Ocean Drive will still have security checkpoints but will no longer close at 6 p.m. like they did last year.

Sidewalk seating on Ocean Drive will remain in place.

And parking garages and surface lots south of 23rd Street will remain open. Last year, they were closed entirely during two peak weekends.

Carpenter said Tuesday that, starting the weekend of March 5-8, four municipal garages in South Beach — from Fifth to 16th streets between Washington Avenue and Ocean Drive — will start at a flat rate of $40. Street parking and surface lots will be $20 per hour for non-city residents.

On subsequent weekends, Carpenter said he has the option to increase garage parking rates to $100.

Miami Beach residents will still be allowed to pay $1 per hour for parking if they are registered with the city.

Carpenter also announced 24-hour shuttles from the parking garages at Fifth Street, Sunset Harbour and 42nd Street, intended to “lessen the burden” on employees at local businesses. Parking rates will not be elevated at those garages, the manager said.

Shuttles will run every 10 minutes from the Fifth Street garage to and from Seventh Street and Washington Avenue from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., and every 20 minutes during other hours.

From the Sunset Harbour and 42nd Street garages, Carpenter said, shuttles will run every 15 minutes to and from 12th Street and Washington Avenue during peak hours and every 30 minutes otherwise.

Police will operate a license-plate reader detail on the eastbound lanes of the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle causeways on March 13-15 and March 20-22, starting at 10 p.m. There will also be a license-plate reader detail along the Fifth Street corridor on March 6-8.

DUI checkpoints will be in place on March 13-14 and March 20-21.

Like in the past, operations for businesses renting Slingshots and other motorized vehicles will be suspended from March 12-15 and March 19-22.

Each weekend in March, towing rates will be doubled to $548 for non-city residents.

Details of the spring break plan are outlined on the city’s website under the tag line, “Wake up to a new March.”

“We are going to be a city with incredible events that our residents and visitors can enjoy,” Mayor Steven Meiner said during Tuesday’s press conference. “Miami Beach is back.”

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