Breaking News
Ultra Music Festival and Downtown Residents Reach an Agreement
Ultra back at Bayfront next year.
Ultra Music Festival and the Downtown Neighbors Alliance announced that they have reached an agreement to bring a conclusion to their longstanding tensions. Ultra will continue to produce the world-famous electronic music festival, while also voluntarily addressing contentious issues such as construction schedules, park closures, noise monitoring/impact, and traffic management.
Ultra
Ultra is a Miami-based international music festival brand. The Miami edition, Ultra’s flagship event, showcases electronic music acts over a 3-day production every March in the City of Miami. Ultra has produced international festivals in 29 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore and South Africa.
“This development finally opens the door to establishing an ongoing working relationship between the parties, which was long overdue” said Ultra spokesperson, Ray Martinez. “Ultra’s leadership was privileged to work closely with local residents in striking the balance between accommodating local residential lifestyles and hosting large-scale and state-of-the art music productions in Miami’s urban core.”
Mr. Martinez further stated that “[we] look forward to continuing to partner with area residents with the common goal of advancing a shared vision of sustainable co-existence, which will allow us to continue showcasing Miami and it’s local culture as the dance music capital of the world.”
The Downtown Neighbors Alliance (DNA)
James Torres, President of the Miami Downtown Neighbors Alliance, commented “[we] are pleased to have reached an agreement that addresses many of the issues that have impacted Downtown Miami residents during previous Ultra events. We believe that this agreement will allow Ultra and its neighbors to co-exist and will highlight Downtown Miami as “One Community for All”, and a great place to live, work and play.”
The Miami Downtown Neighbors Alliance is a neighborhood association promoting quality of life, common good and general welfare of residents in the Downtown Miami’s Central Business District. Matters of interest include development, zoning and land use, street beautification, traffic and parking, crime prevention, park access, noise mitigation and other issues of common residential interest.
The View from the Neighborhood
Downtown News spoke briefly with Itai Benosh, a Downtown resident and board member and Treasurer of the DNA. He observed: “The agreement addresses many of the issues that degraded residents’ quality of life during previous events, and together with new limits that were specified in the 2020 revocable license agreement, provide significant relief for nearby residential communities. I believe that Ultra’s impact on residents going forward will be noticeably different that what it was in the past, and will get even better over time, as some terms have a multi-year schedule.”
Mr. Benosh added: “The negotiators on both sides needed to be creative and think outside the box in order to seriously address quality-of-life issues, while allowing Ultra to produce the quality experience that their customers expect. The agreement will be monitored closely by Ultra’s experts and by the DNA, and we have a communication process in place to address any issues that might come up during future events or during the set-up process. The DNA will also coordinate the monitoring and community support logistics with Ultra and with the residential properties surrounding Bayfront Park.
Downtown News: Reaching such agreement, does it show that the Downtown Miami Community has matured politically?
Itai Benosh: This experience demonstrated the power of the Park West and Central Business District’s community, which went from an often-ignored, voiceless handful of condo dwellers to a vibrant and diverse community with a well-organized group of community advocates. But there’s still a lot of work to be done and many challenges ranging from pedestrian safety to park activation, and with the help of the dedicated community activists at the DNA and concerned residents, we can make Downtown Miami a great place to live, work and play.
Ultra is Back
The next edition of Ultra Music Festival is scheduled to take place from March 25–27, 2022 at Bayfront Park.
