Ocean Drive

Spring Break Curfew Torpedoes Miami Music Week Events at South Beach Nightclubs

… Mark Samuelian, who replaced Grieco on the commission dais, begs to differ. “While I understand that some business owners may be frustrated over our unanimous commission decision, I will always place public safety ahead of profits,” Samuelian tells New Times via email. Further, Samuelian contends that the current emergency order underscores the city’s efforts to enact …

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Ocean Drive to restore cars, add pedestrian plaza

After a chaotic and uncontrolled avalanche of party crowds during the spring break of 2020 that ended in arrests, ongoing curfews and the ultimate closure to vehicle traffic to the street, a southbound lane is opening again in South Beach’s Ocean Drive along with a temporary pedestrian plaza, following months of discussions and holiday delays, …

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‘This is unjust’: Restaurants sue Miami Beach over crackdown on outdoor dining permits

… Commissioner Mark Samuelian, who sponsored the legislation that created the new criteria, said after the meeting that while he feels sympathy for the impacted employees, he supports the city’s actions denying the permits. He noted that the City Commission passed a code of conduct in 2019 requiring business operators to display actual prices for …

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Miami Beach strengthening its arts and cultural organizations

As part of Miami Beach’s aim to replace the Entertainment District with an Art Deco Cultural District, the city is strengthening arts and cultural organizations by providing local programming and funding the city’s major cultural anchors and their organizations. … “We are also exploring and implementing incentives for more of a live-work-play environment in the …

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Miami Beach plans more temporary public art

With the economy reopening and talks starting about a pedestrian promenade connecting Ocean Drive, Lincoln Road and Española Way, Miami Beach officials are looking at installing more temporary public art in the city in the next few months as a way to encourage the economic rebound. … This idea, Commissioner Mark Samuelian said, dovetails nicely …

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Miami Beach isn’t Vegas. A 2 a.m. last call makes sense | Opinion

By MARK SAMUELIAN AND ALEX R. PIQUERO Much has been made about Miami Beach’s spring break experience, especially in 2021, and residents are outraged. Even though we are amid a pandemic with curfews, that did not stop thousands of people from converging on our region to take a break from their lives — many attracted by …

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City Commission Adopts Tougher Penalties for Iconic Sidewalk Cafés

Sidewalk café operators who receive four or more sidewalk café violations over the preceding 12-month period will now be banned from “applying for and obtaining” a sidewalk café permit for two consecutive permit years following the permit year in which the most recent violation occurred. “I think this is an important ordinance. We’re strengthening. We’re …

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Miami Beach Continues to Wrestle with its South Beach Entertainment District

In a special meeting to discuss proposals to fix what Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber calls the “anything goes” atmosphere in the City’s South Beach Entertainment District, Commissioner Mark Samuelian summed up the discussion with the word “frustrating.” After praising the City’s Police Department for its work and efforts to increase enforcement, all of the …

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Preliminary consensus on some concepts to fix Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive

This month’s workshop was the first time the ideas were presented. No public comment was taken at the meeting but Gelber, City Staff, and Commissioner Mark Samuelian who chairs the Land Use and Sustainability Committee which hosted the workshop all emphasized each proposal would be vetted in various committees, some before the Planning Board, as …

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