Ultra Unknown? Officials Reassessing Concert After Problems

Thousands of Ultra Music Festival attendees walk back to the mainland around 3 am, March 31, 2019. Officials closed some lanes to handle pedestrian traffic (Key News/Tony Winton)

After three days of a chaotic mix of pounding music, traffic gridlock and transportation breakdowns, battle lines are being drawn about whether the Ultra Music Festival will get another crack at its Virginia Key location.

Ultra declared the event, held over the weekend at Miami Marine Stadium, a success. Organizers say they plan to return next year. But others, including Miami’s mayor, say they are reassessing.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Ultra’s contract with the City may have to be renegotiated with major changes. “Friday was disastrous,” he said. His top concern?  Low frequency sound that reverberated into the City, causing many complaints. At one point on Sunday, Suarez said, city officials threatened to shut the performance down if audio technicians could not get the  bass under control. He also said long backups for Key Biscayne residents returning home were a concern.

“They have to convince me they are not going to disrupt our residents,” he said.

In Key Biscayne, Mayor Mike Davey called the event a “disaster” from a traffic perspective. “We remain correct that Virginia Key is not the proper venue for this event,” he said. “They keep moving this thing around because residents don’t want it. It’s a for-profit event that is impacting people who have a right to use their parks and to ingress and egress from their homes.”

Thousands of fans abandoned the bus transportation plan to instead walk across the William Powell Bridge into Miami, treading into the roadway over makeshift pedestrian paths. Police closed lanes and lined them with traffic cones as the only separation between them and rushing traffic. Ride-share passengers jumped out of cars and into traffic repeatedly, causing additional snarls, and many Uber and Lyft drivers were issued tickets. Officers issued 157 citations, said Det. Lee Cowart, a Miami-Dade County Police spokesman.  In some cases, said Key Biscayne Police Chief Charles Press, frustrated passengers became unruly and bus drivers unloaded fans away from the concert site.

Paramedics transport a man for medical treatment at the Ultra Music Festival, March 31, 2019. (Key News/Tony Winton)

City of Miami Fire-Rescue transported 96 people for medical treatment over the three day period, said Capt. Ignatius Carroll, a department spokesman. A brush fire near a stage caused a commotion the first night that officials believe was caused by a stray pyrotechnic device, he said. As a result, all fireworks were removed from future shows, Carroll said.  

On the water, Carroll said one man jumped from the Powell Bridge near the Rusty Pelican restaurant. Dive teams responded, and the man was retrieved by a Miami police marine unit.

City of Miami Police reported 35 arrests, including 10 felonies. Eight people were arrested on drug-related charges, said Officer Michael Vega, a police spokesman. Two additional arrests were made by County police, officials said.

“Obviously, this is not an event that the City of Miami can handle properly,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, whose district includes downtown Miami.

She said that while the Virginia Key location had some benefits for downtown residents, the location may not be suitable for concerts of Ultra’s size going forward. “I’m not convinced it’s the right place for it,” she said.

County Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who represents Key Biscayne, said traffic and noise problems confirmed his view that Ultra does not belong on Virginia Key. “This is not the ideal place for this; they should work at finding another location,” he said, but noted he has not decided whether to actively oppose a return to the Virginia Key site.

Ray Martinez, security director for Ultra Music Festival, speaks at news conference, April 1, 2019. Martinez described transportation problems as “hiccups.” (Key News/Tony Winton)

Ultra, for its part, was declaring the event a success, despite transportation problems that spokesman Ray Martinez downplayed as “some hiccups.”

Martinez said organizers adjusted the bus transportation system to clear the site in less than two hours by the concert’s final night. As for noise, he said Miami Mayor Suarez showed him a “handful of emails” and that Ultra made some audio adjustments in response.

Some concertgoers were very unhappy with transportation delays. “I feel very sorry for the vacationers that are coming to the island, like little kids that are getting stuck in this festival traffic,” said Diane Quigley, who came from Minnesota. She was one of the thousands who walked back to Miami Friday.

Would she come back in 2020?

“Probably not,” she said.

Abhi Punj, a social media consultant in the United Kingdom, blogged about what she said was poor planning by Ultra that forced her to walk over the bridge. “We got home at 4 a.m. dehydrated and with blisters,” she wrote. She criticized Ultra for not communicating real-time transportation updates.

 “Social media (particularly Twitter) was blowing up! And where were Ultra? Nowhere to be found.”