Ultra Music Festival to stay in Miami!

After the recent council hearing about wether or not Ultra Music Festival should stay in downtown Miami, home of Ultra for almost 2 decades, the Miami City Commission voted Thursday to keep the Ultra Music Festival downtown. However, one commissioner, Marc Sarnoff, intended on ousting the festival, showed photos and a video that he said depict in graphic detail why the electronic dance music festival gives Miami a bad name.

The video, already viral over social networking sites, depicts a festival goer fondling, caressing and kissing a tree. He displayed other, sometimes blurry photos that he said were from previous Ultra festivals.

Sarnoff and Mayor Tomás Regalado have opposed hosting future Ultra festivals in downtown Miami citing quality-of-life issues for area residents and safety concerns. This year, on Ultra’s opening night in March, a security guard was critically injured when gate crashers pushed their through a chain-link fence, running over her.

But the rest of the commission largely backed the three-day electronic dance music festival, saying Ultra is a major economic driver for the region and provides positive exposure for Miami, worldwide, despite some negative incidents. All of the other commissioners are of the view, that the festival puts the city of Miami on the map.

The commission’s 4-1 vote to keep Ultra in the city’s downtown — Sarnoff voted “no” — comes with the following conditions:

At Ultra 2015, organizers will be required to set up mental health and drug stations operated by health professionals, an effort to address commissioners’ concerns that some concert-goers are on drugs.

Organizers will install two layers of more-secure “G8” fencing to deter gate crashers after the injuries suffered at this year’s festival by 28-year old security guard Ericka Mack. Ultra will be required to hire additional Miami police officers and only police officers will be allowed to patrol the perimeter where gate crashers have been known to fling themselves over the barriers.

Russell Faibisch, Ultra’s founder, attended Thursday’s meeting but did not address the commission. Afterward, he released a statement saying he was “pleased” with the commission’s decision.

This was the statement released by Faibisch and his team at Ultra:

We are pleased with today’s decision by the City of Miami Commission to continue our long-standing tradition of producing the Ultra Music Festival in downtown Miami. We are also extremely happy for our fans from around the world who love coming to Miami to be part of Ultra. The setting for the event in downtown Miami is part of what makes the event magical. We appreciate the commission for their vote today.

We will continue to work closely with the City of Miami, the Bayfront Park Management Trust, City of Miami Police Department and other municipal partners, small business owners and the local downtown community to ensure next year’s event is a safe and fun environment for concertgoers and Miami residents. We are pleased to continue our ongoing practice of assessing and implementing improved security measures as well as any recommendations from our ongoing security review being led by our new Director of Security, Police Chief Ray Martinez.

As a Miami-based company, creating jobs and attracting tourism to South Florida, we are privileged to create over 1,800 direct jobs in our community and bring over $80 million in economic impact to our local economy. We are optimistic about the future and creating more opportunities to grow and strengthen Miami for all.

Source: The Miami Herald