As Miami Beach puts a squeeze on spring break revelry, Hollywood Beach blinks not an eye, nary a twitch, with officials signaling a business-as-usual approach for the sun-soaked stretch frequented by locals and retirees. In statements gathered by CBS News Miami, Mayor Josh Levy of Hollywood insisted, "We are more of a local beach destination, a lot of snow birds and families. I don't see the spring breakers ever really thinking about Hollywood Beach as their spot, we're not a party beach." Fort Lauderdale's Mayor Dean Trantalis also downplayed the likelihood of party-seeking caravans trailing north on I-95, "We feel that that crowd will probably migrate more toward other party areas in Miami, like Wynwood and so forth."
Nevertheless, as spring's first tendrils creep across the Florida coast, both Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood shorelines brace for the tide with tightened security measures, and they're not just building sandcastles—increased police presence is on deck to ensure the peace is kept, and parking rates may soar as sky-high as $100, a tactic borrowed from the high rollers in Miami Beach. According to a Newsmole report, Hollywood will vet a commission ruling on the parking rate surge on March 6; meanwhile Fort Lauderdale could see a boost in fees at the city manager's whim.
The community pulse in Hollywood beats steady, undeterred by the riptides of springtime excess that wracked Miami Beach. Lending credence to the locale's mellow reputation, a twenty-year veteran of Hollywood Beach, Keith Arvay, told CBS News Miami, "That's a different crowd. The people leave at midnight to go to South Beach. No one's leaving at midnight to come here, everything's closed." Even as Nick's Bar proprietor on the Broadwalk, Bob Ferro optimistically forecasts a swell of business springing from the clampdown to the south, asserting, "With this South Beach thing I think we're going to get a lot of people," Ferro told CBS News Miami he's not fretting over potential disturbances, comfortably poised that Hollywood will remain fine and dandy, saying, "I think it will be all right, I think it will be fine."
While spring breakers scan the horizon for a new port of call, Miami Beach City Commission's decree to shut down key parking garages, raise the barriers and the bar for nightlife seems like a clarion call to heed the no-fun zone signs being plastered during the critical beach-flocking windows of March 7-10 and 14-17. Commissioner David Suarez's stern words foretell a no-nonsense spring tide, "We really mean it this time. We are not taking half-measures. We really are doing everything we can to end Spring Break, especially during those 2 weekends of March. The more extreme the shutdown the more attention we are going to have and the word is going to get out that it is over," his sentiment echoed across CBS News Miami's report.
