A group of homeowners on North Bay Road, one of Miami Beach’s priciest streets, are pushing a plan to install security gates as a result of a string of auto thefts and increased traffic.
The street is home to celebrities and some of the city’s wealthiest residents, including Mickey Drexler, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss, David and Victoria Beckham and Barry Gibb.
About eight or nine car thefts have occurred on North Bay Road in each of the past four years, compared with 14 in 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported. Miami Beach Police Department spokesperson Chris Bess said they are related to a nationwide organized crime ring. In many cases, residents left their keys in the car with the engine on, or left their cars unlocked.
The Journal reported that two people jumped the fence surrounding developer Michael Stern’s waterfront mansion and tried to steal his Maybach. Stern was not in the car; his private security, a former New York City police officer, was sitting in the front seat with the engine idling.
Critics of the proposal to install security gates view it as an effort by wealthy residents to isolate themselves from the rest of Miami Beach, even if it means redirecting traffic onto their neighbors on Alton Road, and limiting how residents in other neighborhoods like Alton can access their homes. Some also say that walling off a portion of the street is a veiled attempt to raise property values.
Coldwell Banker’s Danny Hertzberg, of the Jills Zeder Group, estimated that property values could rise up to 20 percent if gates are installed.
North Bay Road residents in the middle section collected signatures from at least 10 percent of their households to move forward with the process to create a special taxation district. If the Miami Beach Commission approves the proposal, 50 percent of homeowners would have to vote in favor of gating off their neighborhood. The plan would also require Miami-Dade County’s approval. The gates could cost between $200,000 and $300,000, which would be paid for via taxes imposed on those homeowners.
— Katherine Kallergis
