Miami Beach business owner thanks DeSantis for ‘best spring break ever’

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach restaurant owner Georgios Vogiatzis complimented Gov. Ron DeSantis, the legislature and the city’s local government for the “best spring break” he ever experienced.

He expressed his support for the efforts to combat spring break crime and indecency during a press conference the governor held in southern Florida.

“I got so many phone calls from businesses owners, hotel owners, restaurant owners, all in the hospitality business, to thank you and thank our mayor, the commissioner, Chief Jones,” Vogiatzis said. “It was the best spring break we ever had.”

“It was the first year that restaurants, hotels didn’t have to close down,” he said. “It was the first year we didn’t have to hire private security. We had such nice clients, we had good tourists, residents stayed here.”

“We had many of our businesses make more money than last year,” he added. “We had no damages. The years before, people just run into businesses taking alcohol, breaking tables, walking out without paying the bills, and this year was the best spring break ever.”

Vogiatzis runs Santorini by Georgios, a Greek restaurant and beach club on Miami Beach.

Florida had deployed a large amount of resources to communities statewide to help bolster the presence of law enforcement, particularly in Miami Beach.

The business owner’s comments come after NBC News warned that Florida’s crackdown on illegal and unruly spring break activity would hurt businesses by bringing in smaller crowd sizes and ultimately impacting the community’s social atmosphere.

Vogiatzis also complemented the governor and legislature for combatting homelessness across the state.

The press conference was related to a bill signing of legislation that would prevent homeless encampments from forming on most public property. The bill would also allow for counties to build additional drug addiction treatment centers and homeless shelters.