Social media was flooded with posts and photos about Floatopia in Miami Beach over the weekend.
While thousands flocked to South Florida for the event, the mayor of Miami Beach posted his own message on Facebook and Twitter about Floatopia.
Mayor Philip Levine posted an image with the words: "Never Again," along with a post slamming Floatopia attendees who failed to cleanup after themselves, leaving behind a huge mess.
Click: https://t.co/l50oIdfvb6 @MiamiBeachNews pic.twitter.com/BcTb3zqp62
— Mayor Philip Levine (@MayorLevine) April 17, 2016
Floatopia has been going on for several years, but attendance has inflated from 25,000 to 100,000. Trash wasn't the only problem this year; traffic and public safety were also impacted.
On Saturday night on Miami Beach, when Floatopia wrapped up, the massive cleanup was just getting started.
Commissioner Michael Grieco expressed his frustration on Facebook: "This is an absolute travesty and this is me making a commitment to everyone that is going to watch this. Floatopia will never happen in Miami Beach again."
From South Point to 10th Street, the beach was cluttered with floats and debris. The city said it took hours to haul it all away, filling nine over-sized dumpsters with trash.
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"Particularly, large floats. They were huge that people brought and they were all over the beach. So because they ran because of the rain, they didn't take the time to pick up after themselves," said City Manager Jimmy Morales.
The mayor also directed the city manager to float around ideas that would drown the event, and keep it from ever happening again.
"You're talking about quality of life for the people who live south of 5th that were completely disrupted, fire trucks not being able to get to their rounds and all the traffic," Commissioner Grieco said.
On Facebook, the organizer, who has remained anonymous, implied they will not be enabling the event in the future, posting: "We always believed in doing something beautiful for our community. Protect the beach is the only thing we ever asked. The level of disrespect was unimaginable. We refuse to be associated with this type of behavior."
"It's not my job as a commissioner or as a human being to clean up after other human beings. It's not that complicated. Whatever you bring to the beach, you take it home with you or you consume it," Commissioner Grieco expressed.
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Courtesy of our news partners at NBCMiami.com.
