A woman sings a song at the conclusion of a vigil in honor of the life of tourist Dustin Wakefield on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 in Lummus Park near Ocean Drive and 14th Street in Miami Beach, Florida. Wakefield, 21, a tourist from Castle Rock, Colorado, was dining on Ocean Drive when he was fatally shot.
Before the sun set on South Beach on Tuesday and ushered in another party-packed evening on Ocean Drive, a few dozen residents and politicians visited the popular tourist strip for a grimmer reason: to honor the life of a young tourist who was killed last week in an Ocean Drive restaurant.
The crowd gathered in Lummus Park, near the La Cerveceria restaurant, where 21-year-old Dustin Wakefield was killed in broad daylight while dining with his family on vacation on August 24th. Across the park, Ocean Drive was calm when storm clouds finally brought rain. Those in attendance sang and prayed, placed yellow and white flowers next to his photo, and heard a message from Wakefield’s mother asking them to do good deeds in his honor.
“This makes a ripple effect of love,” reads one part of the message.
The shooting sparked outrage from residents and city guides and sparked years of public safety discussions in the tourist hub ahead of the November elections, where voters will decide who will be mayor and vote in three commission races. But Irene Bigger, an Ocean Drive resident who organized the vigil, said she didn’t want politics to distract from commemorating Wakefield.
A man holds the program guide for the vigil to honor the life of tourist Dustin Wakefield, 21, who was shot dead by a man while eating with his family on Ocean Drive on Aug. 24. Daniel A. Varela [email protected]
Two city commissioners were present, along with several candidates vying for the positions of mayor and commissioner. But none of them spoke.
“There is a time and place for politics and our rigorous debate, but tonight was just a time for the community to pause, take a moment and reflect on what happened and honor one’s life,” Bigger said after the Event in an interview.
That time will come soon, she says, as South Beach is in a “crisis” over public safety and quality of life.
The vigil is the second local residents have held in South Beach in response to the death of a tourist in the past six months. During the spring break in March, local residents mourned 24-year-old Pennsylvania tourist Christine Englehardt, who was found dead in her hotel room after police said she was given fentanyl and sexually assaulted.
Community activist and Ocean Drive resident Irene Bigger speaks to a crowd during a vigil Tuesday to honor the life of Dustin Wakefield in Lummus Park near the restaurant where 21-year-old Wakefield, a Colorado tourist, was fatally shot. Daniel A. Varela [email protected]
Bigger said the environment in South Beach – where some visitors trade or commit crimes – needs to be changed to limit the abundance of liquor and tobacco shops and to enforce open container laws.
“We are facing a crisis and our community mourns Dustin and his family,” she said.
At a community meeting on Tuesday morning, former Mayor Philip Levine told a crowd of commission candidates, former city guides and residents that last week’s shooting was a “911 wake-up call for us all”.
“In my opinion, we are at war now, we are waging the war on crime,” said Levine, who was mayor from 2013-2017.
In recent years, the city has struggled to balance the interests of its long-standing nightlife with the concerns of a growing population near the South Beach party scene that stretches from Fifth to 16th Streets from Ocean Drive to Collins Avenue bring.
In March, after noisy crowds during the spring break caused the Miami Beach city manager to impose a curfew at 8 p.m., the commission voted to temporarily hire 15 new officers and two sergeants to patrol the South Beach Strip, a “real-time crime center” Set up and hire two crime analysts to monitor surveillance cameras while expediting current plans to improve the city’s camera system.
Mayor Dan Gelber, elected in 2017, had led a push to “eliminate” the South Beach entertainment district by imposing an earlier alcohol ban, introducing more mixed-use developments and urging companies to adhere to a stricter code of conduct. The commission issued a final calling order at 2am earlier this year, but a judge on the Miami-Dade Circuit Court found it “unlawful” after the Clevelander Hotel sued the city for the restriction.
Gelber said the recent shots “made him sick” and that his immediate thoughts are with the victim’s family. But he said the partying in the streets stirs up wrongdoing and too often leads to tragedy.
The business model in South Beach attracts tourists who bring weapons, engage in fights and use drugs.
“There is absolutely no reason why we should tolerate it,” he said. “The entertainment district has to go. I’ve been saying that since I’ve been mayor. “
Martin Vassolo reports on the politics and government of Miami Beach for the Miami Herald. He started working for the Herald in January 2018 after attending the University of Florida where he served as Editor-in-Chief of The Independent Florida Alligator. Before that, he worked as a general contract reporter at the Herald metro counter and as an intern in political reporting.
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