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Introduction By Erik Bojnansky First of all, let us take this opportunity right now to welcome the tens of thousands of fans who are descending upon South Florida from Chicago, Indianapolis and virtually every other place — including our local communities — where football and non-snowy environments are appreciated We want to take this opportunity now, because it’s likely we won’t be very happy with you folks by the time this article comes out. It’s nothing personal. We just don’t really like traffic gridlock and we hate hunting for phantom parking spaces. “They’re estimating 125,000 people,” informs Ginny Gutierrez, director of community relations for the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Remember that means tri-county. They will be all over South Florida. Things are quite full.” By the way, the key word is “estimating.” Gutierrez said the true impact won’t be known until after Super Bowl weekend, when hotels report their booking numbers. “The numbers are in flux,” she said. “Even as we speak someone is making a reservation. Still 200,000 people from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County — that doesn’t sound so bad, right? All depends on where you live. Lots of those people will gravitate to Super Bowl Central, that being Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens — not to mention to where the attendant parties are: mainly South Beach. To put things in perspective, the entire city of Miami Beach only has about 10,000 parking meters. “Miami Beach will be very busy,” Gutierrez said. “There will be a lot more traffic.” Hardly earth-shattering news. Many of us remember history, for we are always doomed to repeat it. “Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras. Calle Ocho light. Manhattan squared. Gridlock Central. That’s how police and partiers Sunday described South Beach for Super Bowl weekend,” wrote Maria Morales in her Feb. 1, 1999 Miami Herald article, the year the Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons at Pro Player Stadium. “We’ve had busy weekends before, but this was one of the busiest,” remarked a shell-shocked Lt. John Dicenso that year. It should be noted that Dicenso made this comment two years before “Urban Beach” Memorial Day Weekend came into existence here and three years before Art Basel Miami Beach. Aside from a fatal throat-slashing at the Clevelander, a giant fistfight near Amnesia nightclub (now Opium) and three individuals who thought it would be a good idea to transport drugs by swallowing them (wrapped in condoms, of course), police had to deal with “bumper- to-bumper” traffic as hordes of fans, mainly from Atlanta, attempted to get around. But that was then, this is now. This year commuters will have one less place to ditch their vehicles because Miami Beach officials decided to break ground on an employee parking lot near City Hall. And Ocean Drive between Fifth and 15th streets will be closed off from 7 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 1 until 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 5 for a National Football League pedestrian fair and various other NFL activities. What else, you ask? Oh yeah, the Miami International Boat Show is coming to town in less than two weeks. Don’t worry, though. Miami Beach officials have a plan. The Miami Beach Police Department is on “alpha-bravo” status as of this past Tuesday. Code enforcement and sanitation will also be pulling double shifts. All repaving and road construction efforts within the city limits will be halted, officials say. Most important, in an area where parking and driving won’t be much of an option, visitors and locals venturing to the South Beach area should look toward the South Beach Local bus system. Already got a car? Park it at the 17th Street Garage (around Meridian Avenue) for a flat fee of $10 a day or in the South Pointe Park parking lot at Biscayne Street and Washington Avenue (at the entrance to the park) from 6 a.m. to midnight ($15 for non-residents; $2 for residents). Once you survive the commuting and parking chaos, there will be plenty of events to attend and spectacles to witness. Here are a few of the activities the city of Miami Beach noted in its press release:
Incidentally, the city across the bay will play host to several events of its own. “The Budweiser Bud Bowl, the Commissioners’ Party, Snoop…. Different things in our jurisdiction… the Design District is having some parties… couple of parks… Bicentennial…,” Lt. Bill Schwartz, public information officer for the Miami Police Department, said, rattling off a list. Unlike the Miami Beach Police Department, however, Miami cops won’t be required to work 12-hour shifts — at least that’s not the plan at this point. “They are certainly going to make sure they have enough cops to cover these events,” Schwartz said. (For details on other Super Bowl-related events, check out our event listings or visit www.superbowlxli.org and www.superbowl.com.) Meanwhile, Super Bowl fever has already arrived in Miami Gardens, the home of Dolphins Stadium at 2269 Dan Marino Blvd. The interactive football field event known as the NFL Experience, which will be open through Sunday’s Super Bowl, already attracted more than 42,000 last Saturday and Sunday alone, according to the organizer. “In terms of traffic we already sent a notice to residents,” said Miami Gardens Assistant City Manager Renee Farmer. The notice basically warned residents to expect “increased traffic volume” along NW 199th Street between NW Seventh and 32nd avenues from Jan. 27 until Feb. 3 and “heavy delays” on game day from 1 to 3 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to midnight. “During the above mentioned dates and times, traffic congestion will be at its peak elevation, particularly as game attendees enter and exit the stadium,” the notice warned. “Those driving in the vicinity of the stadium will move slower and will be subject to the most traffic. While residents will still be able to access any residential area as needed, please be mindful of these times and expect traffic delays.” Farmer said Miami Gardens is already working with the Miami-Dade Police Department to deal with the traffic and another scourge of that city — street vendors. Remember those smiling people offering bootleg NFL souvenirs along Miami Gardens Drive or NW 199th Street during football games? Well, they are breaking the law, Farmer said. “We do not allow street vendors in the city at all,” she said. Not every city in North Miami-Dade is on high alert, though. “It’s going to be pretty much business as usual,” said Aventura Police Department Capt. Steve Seefchak. “For the most part [we don’t expect] a lot of additional traffic. … We may get some of the spillover [from other Super Bowl events]. Aside from that we don’t have anything. … Everything else is going on somewhere else.” He says Aventura’s main traffic concern remains Aventura Mall and “the casino,” referring to Gulfstream Park, the racing pari-mutuel just north of the City of Excellence in Hallandale Beach/Broward County that now has restaurants, bars and slot machines. Gulfstream will likely be the main source of “spillover.” (In case you’re the gambling sort, the Super Bowl spread was 7 last time we checked, with the Colts favored.) According to a Park source, a “big Fortune 500 company” booked the track’s restaurant for a private Super Bowl Party next Sunday and 3,000 or so visiting journalists are expected. Ah, visiting journalists. There will be plenty of parties for them thrown all over Miami-Dade County in honor of Super Bowl and in the hopes of fostering a positive image for our region as a sun-drenched paradise where hardly anything goes wrong. To keep the End Zone from turning into a spin zone, this past Wednesday, the Service Employees International Union Local 11, the Miami Workers Center and the Power U Center for Social Change prepared some defense tactics of their own. They offered visiting journalists a different perspective via a bus tour called “From Umoja Shanty Town to Fisher Island: The Hidden Miami” where curious reporters could take in the makeshift town built on the site of a razed affordable housing project in Liberty City and be introduced to “low-wage workers struggling to make ends meet.” Those who want a break from glitzy parties and sports fanaticism who are interested in a repeat performance of the tour can call Tanya Aquino, communications assistant for SEIU Local 11, at 305-672-7071. Game on. Comments? E-mail erik@miamisunpost.com.
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