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The symptoms look like a South Beach shoreline littered with bottles, and sound like speakers blaring at ungodly hours.
The illness, some South of Fifth neighbors say, is a lack of enforcement.
Spurred largely by spring break crowds, some South Beach residents are calling for increased policing. Neighbors have complained to city officials about tense early morning arguments with partyers over loud music, a recent double-stabbing and random people having sex in a condo lobby. A recent YouTube video purportedly taken during spring break depicts trash strewn along the beach.
``This town is going down the drain,'' neighborhood resident Max Habermann wrote in an e-mail, describing a March 28 altercation at 5:30 a.m. over loud music coming from a car parked on Second Street. By the time police showed, the crowd was gone, he wrote.
``I have never seen such violence and disrespect.''
Activist and neighborhood resident Frank Del Vecchio has called for increased enforcement, particularly on issues of public drinking on the beach. He said the mostly residential South of Fifth neighborhood has been hurt by a crowd that brings their own booze and coolers to South Beach.
``These aren't tourists,'' he said. ``These are partyers who come here. They spend not a penny here.''
A March 27 double-stabbing near Ocean Drive and South Pointe Drive is the most extreme example of the neighborhood's changing atmosphere, Del Vecchio and others say.
However, police arrested and charged a man in the stabbing and say nothing suggests the crime was related to spring break or a special event. And records suggest that complaints have not been widespread.
Records show police responded to Habermann's call within nine minutes, and there are only two noise complaints from the South of Fifth neighborhood documented between March 5 and April 5. Del Vecchio counters that many residents are so fed up with a preceived lack of enforcement they don't even bother calling the authorities.
Police documented five incidents of drinking in public in the neighborhood during that same time, and city code enforcement recorded one litter violation citywide. The city recieved 665 noise complaints and issued 64 warnings and 22 violations.
In the South of Fifth neighborhood, the city recorded 50 noise complaints during that time and issued two warnings and three violations.
In regard to public drunkenness, police spokesman Det. Juan Sanchez said officers enforce laws prohibiting alcohol in public but don't have the manpower to go checking individual cups. He said businesses are told they are responsible for enforcing public drinking during major events.
But several commissioners say there is a problem in the neighborhood, including Jerry Libbin, who likely felt a sense of deja vu after a YouTube video of a trash-strewn beach similar to several made in 2008 made its way to commissioners.
Libbin, known for his ``No Litter No Butts'' campaign, has placed a discussion item on the April 14 commission agenda to talk about what he sees as a lack of enforcement citywide on issues including noise and litter.
He said he has received complaints citywide, and the issues ``predate spring break.''
``I'm frustrated, and residents are frustrated,'' he said. ``There are a lot of things we passed as ordinances, and when the enforcement isn't there, it becomes disheartening.''
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/05/1564706/sobe-decries-spring-break-litter.html
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