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We're barely two weeks removed from the 2014 edition of the Ultra Music Festival, but the battle over whether this storied EDM event will spend its 17th year in Miami in 2015 is already heating up. Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff is lobbing some serious charges; the video you see up above is something his office compiled, taking clips of the worst offenders at Ultra and painting one big, horrible picture of what Ultra is. Now this isn't the first time that Sarnoff has gone at Ultra's neck; you might remember that just last year Sarnoff was vocal about his disdain over the second weekend of the 2013 edition of Ultra. Ultra spokespeople say that if you have issue with the security at Ultra, you should talk to the Miami Police Department, as they not only approved the plan ahead of time, but accepted money to have more officers on staff. Sarnoff calls this nothing more than "blood money."
Wow.
While Ultra says they are not only willing to work with police to help secure future festivals, they're also reviewing their own security measures. It's hard to police massive festivals like this, but we have to stress, what happened to security guard Erica Mack should not have happened. And while we're sure you can't blame Adonis Escoto's death on Ultra as an organization, it adds fuel to the fire that Sarnoff is building, showing Ultra in a bad light. With a resolution looming to deny permits for 2015, there is a way you can help: an official petition to keep Ultra in Miami has been going around. At the time of this news posting, the petition has ~6,000 signatures, with a total of 50,000 needed. The petition makes sure to point out that the majority of Ultra attendees are "law-abiding music fans" that are there to enjoy themselves in beautiful Miami weather. The supports range from fans in New York to heads all the way from Italy.
This battle for Miami is far from over; we'll keep you posted on any future developments.
