When Is Panama City Going To Wise Up

[NoleNewsIsGoodNews]

and kick The Spring Break Crowd out like Fort Lauderdale did in the 1980's and Daytona Beach did in the 90's?...this is the capper(hopefully) to what has been an out of control Spring Break 15 in PCB....at some point the cash is not worth the problems and it just furthers the town's reputation as being one of the worst in Florida

Breakers Gone Wild

 

[KitingHigh]

It's a whole lotta money. Daytona and Lauderdale were never that big. PCB doesn't get the winter crowd that South Florida does either. They need spring break.

 

[DanC78]

This year was out of control, I would expect it to happen now.

But at the same time, how do you just "turn it off" so to speak!?!?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[fsugrad]

It seems to me like the costs involved with welcoming this crowd would be negated by the cost of all the extra cops and fixing everything they damage. You'd have to be nuts to rent a beach house or condo to these idiots. Is the mayor getting cash kickbacks from La Vela or something? I heard she's all "the're just kids having fun" and that she is ignoring the concerns of law enforcement there.

This post was edited on 3/29 5:19 PM by fsugrad

 

[seminole97]

But at the same time, how do you just "turn it off" so to speak!?!?

There are a lot of laws on the books.

 

[DanC78]

Originally posted by seminole97:
But at the same time, how do you just "turn it off" so to speak!?!?

There are a lot of laws on the books.

I was born and raised there, I worked every summer and spring on the beaches and at the condos, ive formed many relationships with a lot of the business owners there now, I still visit every year during July for a month… I can tell you it's not 100% on the county and the beaches with laws and regulations rid the delinquents. Yes that's a great start, but it's not going to go away until the business owners stop renting and catering to these retards.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[DFSNOLE]

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
It's a whole lotta money. Daytona and Lauderdale were never that big. PCB doesn't get the winter crowd that South Florida does either. They need spring break.

Don't know where you're from but Ft Lauderdale was huge back in the 70's and 80's.

 

[EconSean]

Originally posted by DFSNOLE:

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
It's a whole lotta money. Daytona and Lauderdale were never that big. PCB doesn't get the winter crowd that South Florida does either. They need spring break.

Don't know where you're from but Ft Lauderdale was huge back in the 70's and 80's.

I was going to Daytona in the late 80s and early 90s and SB seemed big then (MTV was still going there)
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Bav803]

Do what Miami did with Hip Hop weekend...police presence will cure all.

 

[KitingHigh]

I'm well aware of spring break history. Ft Lauderdale and Daytona were big, but nowhere near what Panama City Beach became. More spring breakers go to PCB than the next top 9 destinations combined. There simply is no comparison.

 

[runkpanole]

After growing up in PC, I find it funny that the people on my Facebook feed that want to end it are the very same idiots that law enforcement was complaining about then. The local kids were just as bad as the visitors.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
I'm well aware of spring break history. Ft Lauderdale and Daytona were big, but nowhere near what Panama City Beach became. More spring breakers go to PCB than the next top 9 destinations combined. There simply is no comparison.

Do you have a link to back up that claim? If so, does that only compare crowds today or crowds 30 years ago? According to a good friend of mine....

"Some
reason I can't respond but that guy that is down playing fort
Lauderdale spring break has no clue. 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 were insane. I
lived there and went back from FSU on break. 4 lanes of parking lot
unlike 2 in PC."

 

[DanC78]

Originally posted by runkpanole:
After growing up in PC, I find it funny that the people on my Facebook feed that want to end it are the very same idiots that law enforcement was complaining about then. The local kids were just as bad as the visitors.

Exactly...and consider me guilty. But last night 7 people were shot...we didn't shoot people. We didn't fight cops, we didn't bang girls in public (went to our cars or their room).

This is a other level
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[DanC78]

Originally posted by runkpanole:
After growing up in PC, I find it funny that the people on my Facebook feed that want to end it are the very same idiots that law enforcement was complaining about then. The local kids were just as bad as the visitors.

Exactly...and consider me guilty. But last night 7 people were shot...we didn't shoot people. We didn't fight cops, we didn't bang girls in public (went to our cars or their room).

This is a other level
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Vizike Is Back!]

Originally posted by DanC78:

Originally posted by runkpanole:
After growing up in PC, I find it funny that the people on my Facebook feed that want to end it are the very same idiots that law enforcement was complaining about then. The local kids were just as bad as the visitors.

Exactly...and consider me guilty. But last night 7 people were shot...we didn't shoot people. We didn't fight cops, we didn't bang girls in public (went to our cars or their room).

This is a other level
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I don't recall running into any Alabama A&M kids back in the day either. Looks like a new element has invaded and there lies the problem.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[MR . B]

Originally posted by NoleNewsIsGoodNews:
and kick The Spring Break Crowd out like Fort Lauderdale did in the 1980's and Daytona Beach did in the 90's?...this is the capper(hopefully) to what has been an out of control Spring Break 15 in PCB....at some point the cash is not worth the problems and it just furthers the town's reputation as being one of the worst in Florida

I live about a mile from that house. I have family that have rented that same house in the Summer. It's not necessarily the Spring Breakers causing all the problems. There is an element of our society that comes down to Spring Break just to prey upon the Spring Breakers. Our local Police call them " the hundred milers ". They drive to the Beach just to sell drugs and prey upon them. They hang and watch the kids get " fubar " and then steal all their stuff, backpacks, purses,wallets, phones, etc. I would bet that the shooter was not a Spring Breaker. "The hundred milers" are the ones with the knives and guns. We have had more guns and knives pulled on people this Spring Break than ever before.

 

[West Duval Nole]

Originally posted by Vizike Is Back!:

Originally posted by DanC78:

Originally posted by runkpanole:


After growing up in PC, I find it funny that the people on my Facebook feed that want to end it are the very same idiots that law enforcement was complaining about then. The local kids were just as bad as the visitors.

Exactly...and consider me guilty. But last night 7 people were shot...we didn't shoot people. We didn't fight cops, we didn't bang girls in public (went to our cars or their room).

This is a other level
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I don't recall running into any Alabama A&M kids back in the day either. Looks like a new element has invaded and there lies the problem.

Posted from Rivals Mobile

The shooter was not from that school. The people that got shot were.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Vizike Is Back!]

Shooter was from Alabama and was black as well.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[tolkien1]

Never had the chance to take a spring break when in school. Always worked full time. Don't think I missed much.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[squiffynole]

Just keep the ruffians away from Alvin's Island, our kids used to love that place.

 

[KitingHigh]

DFS, travel channel does a show on Spring break and that's where the claim comes from. I am fully aware Lauderdale had it's day, but the standards have been moved by then and significantly so. The year MTV moved to PCB and they put Spinnaker and La Vela together it was the biggest spring break party in history and it's only gotten bigger. Sure Lauderdale was packed back in the day,but it is tiny compared to PCB. You couldn't fit today's crowd in Ft Lauderdale. It simply doesn't have the capacity. 4 lanes might have been packed but they don't go very far. PC has miles upon miles of beach. Just look at old pictures of spring break be recent ones. The scale is entirely different.

 

[NoleNewsIsGoodNews]

Originally posted by DanC78:
This year was out of control, I would expect it to happen now.

But at the same time, how do you just "turn it off" so to speak!?!?

Posted from Rivals Mobile

Actually it's very easy to do...ya just have the cops enforce the laws strictly..ticket for everything...drugs...underage drinking..open containers..cruising..noise levels..jaywalking..etc....make bars and stores actually enforce the drinking age..no longer allow drinking at the beach..and the crowds will disappear within a couple years...the word gets around quickly among the college crowd when a city is no longer a anything goes atmosphere...it's exactly what worked for places like Fort Lauderdale..Daytona..Atlanta..etc

 

[KitingHigh]

OK, let me very quickly put y'all's idea of Ft Lauderdale being bigger than PCB to rest.

In 1985 during it's height Ft. Lauderdale has @ 35,000 spring breakers.

"In 1985 35,000 students visited Ft. Lauderdale during spring break as compared to 15,000 in 2011."
Ft Lauderdale in the 80's

Panama City now recieves @ 500,000 spring breakers:

"The annual college party, recognized as the biggest student event of the year, kept growing, reaching peak numbers (as recently as a few years ago) when over half a million students flocked the beaches "

PCB Now


Like I said. The comparison is not even close and no beach at any time in history has had the sheer numbers of spring breakers that Panama City gets now. Dad didn't actually walk uphill both ways to school each day, and us old folks didn't party like our kids do.

 

[OrlandNole]

It all depends on the source. Here's what a quick Google search on "Ft. Lauderdale Spring Break" turned up:

Perhaps no place exemplifies such a change of heart than Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., where the wild spring break tradition was all but born
in the 1960s. But by 1985, with the arrival of MTV and the Girls Gone Wild video franchise, city leaders and business interests decided enough was definitely enough.
The party continued through the 1960s and 1970s, she says, when "It was
very much the business of this community." In 1985, 380,000
spring-breakers showed up.

...


Since the 1990s, spring break revelers headed for Florida have mostly migrated to Daytona Beach and Panama City, among others.
Panama
City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst says the Gulf Coast city has been a
spring break destination for 60 years, but adds, "We have seen the
change in the culture" of college students who show up. Local police say
as many as 300,000 students now show up each year.

link

 

[jamnolfin]

Originally posted by Bav803:
Do what Miami did with Hip Hop weekend...police presence will cure all.

We have a cop for every breaker now, they can't control it. I live here and I never see any of this stuff, people don't realize the problem is in a very limited area of the beach from Edgewater to Spinnaker. This shooting from what I hear was a Alabama A&M house party, a guy comes there and is escorted away. His ex was in there with another guy. He leaves gets a gun and comes back shooting everybody in his way to get to them. I was at the emergency room Saturday night with my mom who fell, they told me this was the mildest spring break they remember. This was a isolated incident. Just like our football team last year, the media will blow every little thing up once you get on the radar
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[jamnolfin]

Woops, I didn't mean to say this incident was a small incident but they make it seem this place is out of control which is not happening. Our girls beach volleyball team was here this weekend with a great tournament on the beach. A lot of families were out there having a great time
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[CobNole]

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
OK, let me very quickly put y'all's idea of Ft Lauderdale being bigger than PCB to rest.

In 1985 during it's height Ft. Lauderdale has @ 35,000 spring breakers.

"In 1985 35,000 students visited Ft. Lauderdale during spring break as compared to 15,000 in 2011."
Ft Lauderdale in the 80's

Panama City now recieves @ 500,000 spring breakers:

"The annual college party, recognized as the biggest student event of the year, kept growing, reaching peak numbers (as recently as a few years ago) when over half a million students flocked the beaches "

PCB Now


Like I said. The comparison is not even close and no beach at any time in history has had the sheer numbers of spring breakers that Panama City gets now. Dad didn't actually walk uphill both ways to school each day, and us old folks didn't party like our kids do.

I'm not sure if you work for the PCB Spring Break committee or what but your numbers are so off it isn't even funny. I went to high school in Fort Lauderdale and graduated in 1985 so I witnessed first hand for many years what it was like. When I started FSU that fall, I came back for spring break every year. Everyone I knew at FSU at that time wanted to go to Lauderdale.

This article is a little more accurate for you with 350,000 attending in 1985 which was the height of spring break in Lauderdale. Given the first 2 digits of that number, it is safe to assume your article had a misprint. 30 years ago Lauderdale had 350,000 and you want to compare PC at 500,000 now. If Lauderdale doesn't make the changes it did, who knows how high that number would've gotten. Plus the disposable income of college kids today doesn't even compared to 30 years ago. Every year after 1985 the cops would do everything they could to discourage and the students started going to Daytona and other places.

Last year we were in Panama City for a few days during spring break and I can assure you at no point in time was my car ever completely parked morning noon or night when we drove around. Yes it was "packed" but nothing like what I've seen in the past. In Lauderdale when driving on A1A, there was a 7 mile stretch from the 17th Street Causeway to Lauderdale By The Sea that took you over an hour to drive. The 4 lane stretch near Summers and The Candy Store was literally a parking lot which is what started the city to make the moves the day and today it doesn't look anything like it did then. I was there on Saturday with my family coming back from a cruise and while the Elbo Room is there, nothing else is.

And here's another article: http://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel//more-elegant-fort-lauderdale-sheds-rowdy-spring-break-past/

This article says 380,000 in 1985: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23565992/ns/business-us_business/t/florida-towns-send-spring-break-crowd-abroad/#.VRlXMvnF_3o

Oh wait another one: http://www.oncallinternational.com/blog/the-history-of-spring-break-travel-a-retrospective/


Lauderdale Spring Break history

 

[NoleNewsIsGoodNews]

Originally posted by jamnolfin:

Originally posted by Bav803:
Do what Miami did with Hip Hop weekend...police presence will cure all.

We have a cop for every breaker now, they can't control it. I live here and I never see any of this stuff, people don't realize the problem is in a very limited area of the beach from Edgewater to Spinnaker. This shooting from what I hear was a Alabama A&M house party, a guy comes there and is escorted away. His ex was in there with another guy. He leaves gets a gun and comes back shooting everybody in his way to get to them. I was at the emergency room Saturday night with my mom who fell, they told me this was the mildest spring break they remember. This was a isolated incident. Just like our football team last year, the media will blow every little thing up once you get on the radar

Posted from Rivals Mobile

LOL..Isolated Incident....I guess Sherriff's often call press conferences to say a city is lawless and City Council's hold Emergency Saturday Meetings when things are fine and it's an isolated incident...sticking your head in the sand and saying "all is well" does not solve a problem

Things Are Fine?

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I'm pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, caught and killed a large predator that supposedly injured some bathers. But, as you see, it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. Amity, as you know, means "friendship".

 

[DanC78]

Originally posted by jamnolfin:
Woops, I didn't mean to say this incident was a small incident but they make it seem this place is out of control which is not happening. Our girls beach volleyball team was here this weekend with a great tournament on the beach. A lot of families were out there having a great time
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I understand what you're saying. All the videos of out control craziness is taking place at one or two places...what you see there is not happening up and down the entire beach.

My sister just spent Spring Break with her 9 year old and teenage daughter not 1 mile from La Vela and Spinnaker and they had no real issues whatsoever. The occasional drunk would come stumbling by, and Walmart was out of control, but that kind of stuff manageable.

And I saw the Girls Gone Wild name mentioned earlier.

Not sure if you remember, but it was Bay County who ran them off, then tracked him back down, and then made him shut down his operation all together, and then prosecuted and threw him in jail. They were relentless making sure guys like him never came to PCB again to take advantage of kids.

PCB officials are good about that stuff...but I don't believe they can simply turn off this machine. That will have to come from the business owners. The Bennett and Charlie Hilton would be a great start. The Bennetts keep saying things like they need to stop catering to the kids, yet they never do. They make money hand over fist....they just can't let go for some reason.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[runkpanole]

People act like this was the first shooting during any spring break ever. 10 years ago, a PCBPD officer was shot and killed by some punk from Wisconsin. But guess what, he wasn't a college student, just some gang banger that shot the officer. They had a college student go missing last year (that hasn't been found). Heck, when I was at FSU and probably even when I was still in HS, we had Snoop Dog and the guy who founded Girls Gone Wild camped out on PCB. The problem isn't so much the college spring breakers, it is the people that flock to PCB that have nothing to do with truly being on spring break.

Also, Bay County has it's own problems with it's own people. You couldn't read the news last year without reading about some sort of violent activity from the locals (mainly in Springfield and certain parts of PC and a few in the unicorporated areas of PCB).

There are a lot of things I miss about living in PC, but many that I don't and spring break isn't the thing that crosses my mind when I think about ever wanting to move back. PC's problem is a high cost of living with very low paying jobs.

 

[KitingHigh]

I'll have to jump back in later. Regardless though, even if Lauderdale did top out a 350k one year (which I think is a healthy exaggeration), that's a mark PCB has topped many years. I'm not really buying that number anyway. Just look at photos of back then vs now. There are more students in general and travel is cheaper. It's only logical that more kids get to spring break and the numbers, images and pretty much every bit of evidence available show it.

 

[jamnolfin]

Originally posted by runkpanole:
People act like this was the first shooting during any spring break ever. 10 years ago, a PCBPD officer was shot and killed by some punk from Wisconsin. But guess what, he wasn't a college student, just some gang banger that shot the officer. They had a college student go missing last year (that hasn't been found). Heck, when I was at FSU and probably even when I was still in HS, we had Snoop Dog and the guy who founded Girls Gone Wild camped out on PCB. The problem isn't so much the college spring breakers, it is the people that flock to PCB that have nothing to do with truly being on spring break.

Also, Bay County has it's own problems with it's own people. You couldn't read the news last year without reading about some sort of violent activity from the locals (mainly in Springfield and certain parts of PC and a few in the unicorporated areas of PCB).

There are a lot of things I miss about living in PC, but many that I don't and spring break isn't the thing that crosses my mind when I think about ever wanting to move back. PC's problem is a high cost of living with very low paying jobs.

PC and PCB are 2 totally different beings. Most people on the beach don't go to PC unless its to go to Sams or a favorite restaurant. PCB is growing so fast its crazy, theres no more reason to have to go to town since everything is moving to the beach.

The PCBPD officer that was killed was named Kevin Kight, he lived 3 blocks from me. I built his house back around 02-03. Great guy, I think of him all the time. He was a FSU fan and had planned on going to a game with me that next fall. The last time I saw him was at Big Daddys BBQ at lunch about a week before it happened. Low life scum bag gang banger from New Jersey out on parole, violated and ran to the beach and killed my friend. It's not the college kids that are the problem, its the people that come down to see the party.

Theres so many people allowed to carry guns now that this stuff like the guy shooting these people at a party is going to happen. Everybodys carrying. I'm all for gun rights but it's getting out of hand, I don't know what the answer is.

I'm not putting my head in the sand, I want it to end to. There's been one really bad weekend this year, the weekend that the guy shot 7 people was the start of Alabama spring break. It's usually only families here now with the Alabama colleges, its always been packed but not dangerous. I look at it as isolated. You want it I will show you where to find it, you don't want it I will show you where to avoid

 

[goldmom]

I went to Ft. Lauderdale with a bunch of sorority sisters in the late 60's and I can tell you that no one from anywhere would have dreamed that some of the behavior we have seen over the last 20 years would be attempted or tolerated.

Now, of COURSE guys from up north hit on us because after all we were the DG's from FSU and we were goddesses, but, really. Look but don't touch. I KID, I KID!

The MTV stuff plus that guy from Girls Gone Wild encouraging the behavior of really drunk and obviously really stupid girls (you know, the ones who get blind drunk, take off their clothes and then get up the next day and claim they were raped) who create these scenarios would have been in jail so fast it would have made your head spin. 21 was the drinking age and I know it is again, but the booze didn't flow at the same level it does now.

My kids went to Cancun or Padre and it was pretty crazy I'm sure. But PCB is just out of control.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
I'll have to jump back in later. Regardless though, even if Lauderdale did top out a 350k one year (which I think is a healthy exaggeration), that's a mark PCB has topped many years. I'm not really buying that number anyway. Just look at photos of back then vs now. There are more students in general and travel is cheaper. It's only logical that more kids get to spring break and the numbers, images and pretty much every bit of evidence available show it.

Yeah. That's right. All four cited sources colluded to come up with similar numbers. That's believable.

 

[LT4PLY]

The bottom line is Spring Breakers spend money and come in droves. I remember when Daytona ran off MTV and the spring breakers. Businesses were closing left and right. After just a couple seasons without it many were begging for it back. It was estimated that over 100 million was being injected into the Daytona economy and they lost almost all of it.

PCB really can't survive without it. A major percentage of income comes in from 3 to 4 weeks of Spring Break. I'd fathom 300-400 million bucks gets spent there during spring break. The city gets nearly 2 million in bed tax alone.

If the people of PCB run it off I don't want to see the tears after when many businesses fail, then that causes even less people to come (less attractions, etc.) which causes more to fail.

I don't rent my place over there anymore but to give you a price difference Spring break would easily rent at 1200 per week. Many times it would bear 1400+ per week. Typical peak summer outside of that... maybe 850 on a perfect weekend (July 4th). Many weeks during summer only 500. All but one year our renters took care of the place and didn't complain. The number of complaints I got on 500 per week renters was insane. Now I'm seeing owners at the same place charge 1800 per week and are taking 500-800 deposits up front. You gotta do a lot of damage to a simple place to blow that kind of deposit.


Lauderdale can survive it because they have peak season in the winter and the summer doesn't fall off much. PCB only has a good few months. Spring break kicks it off but then there is a serious lull for a solid month. Late may-Early june it picks up and labor day finishes the season. Panama city doesn't have a metropolis to draw from like other beach towns that can survive a short season.

 

[jamnolfin]

Originally posted by LT4PLY:
The bottom line is Spring Breakers spend money and come in droves. I remember when Daytona ran off MTV and the spring breakers. Businesses were closing left and right. After just a couple seasons without it many were begging for it back. It was estimated that over 100 million was being injected into the Daytona economy and they lost almost all of it.

PCB really can't survive without it. A major percentage of income comes in from 3 to 4 weeks of Spring Break. I'd fathom 300-400 million bucks gets spent there during spring break. The city gets nearly 2 million in bed tax alone.

If the people of PCB run it off I don't want to see the tears after when many businesses fail, then that causes even less people to come (less attractions, etc.) which causes more to fail.

I don't rent my place over there anymore but to give you a price difference Spring break would easily rent at 1200 per week. Many times it would bear 1400+ per week. Typical peak summer outside of that... maybe 850 on a perfect weekend (July 4th). Many weeks during summer only 500. All but one year our renters took care of the place and didn't complain. The number of complaints I got on 500 per week renters was insane. Now I'm seeing owners at the same place charge 1800 per week and are taking 500-800 deposits up front. You gotta do a lot of damage to a simple place to blow that kind of deposit.


Lauderdale can survive it because they have peak season in the winter and the summer doesn't fall off much. PCB only has a good few months. Spring break kicks it off but then there is a serious lull for a solid month. Late may-Early june it picks up and labor day finishes the season. Panama city doesn't have a metropolis to draw from like other beach towns that can survive a short season.

Change PCB to Tallahassee and spring break to football and the story stays the same

 

[LT4PLY]

Originally posted by jamnolfin:

Change PCB to Tallahassee and spring break to football and the story stays the same

Very true!

 

[CobNole]

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
I'll have to jump back in later. Regardless though, even if Lauderdale did top out a 350k one year (which I think is a healthy exaggeration), that's a mark PCB has topped many years. I'm not really buying that number anyway. Just look at photos of back then vs now. There are more students in general and travel is cheaper. It's only logical that more kids get to spring break and the numbers, images and pretty much every bit of evidence available show it.

To quote the 120 page 2013 Graduate Thesis on this very topic entitled Time to grow up: The rise and fall of spring break in
Fort Lauderdale

"By 1985, with some 350,000 collegians migrating to the city
and spending an estimated $120 million, spring break in Fort Lauderdale had
reached unprecedented heights."

Time to grow up: The rise and fall of spring break

 

[KitingHigh]

Originally posted by DFSNOLE:

Originally posted by KitingHigh:
I'll have to jump back in later. Regardless though, even if Lauderdale did top out a 350k one year (which I think is a healthy exaggeration), that's a mark PCB has topped many years. I'm not really buying that number anyway. Just look at photos of back then vs now. There are more students in general and travel is cheaper. It's only logical that more kids get to spring break and the numbers, images and pretty much every bit of evidence available show it.

Yeah. That's right. All four cited sources colluded to come up with similar numbers. That's believable.

Or they all got the number from the same source. I can link dozens of articles saying Erica K the was drugged, but that doesn't make it true. Regardless though, that still makes one year. PCB averages that lately.