It’s not just bars and clubs on Ocean Drive that will be affected when Miami Beach imposes an alcohol ban. Although much of the focus has been on the popular Strip, businesses in other parts of the city are concerned about the cut.
On Tuesday, tired of the nightly violence, a majority of voters voted “yes” to reduce the 5 am closing time for alcohol sales to 2 am
“Miami Beach isn’t like the 1990s, we’re not the only Coca Cola in the desert,” says Behrouz Nazari, who owns the niche bar Don’t Sit on the Furniture. “You have Wynwood, the Design District that people can go to, so we’d be losing a lot of money.”
Nazari owns the bar on Washington Avenue with his wife Megan. The rollback worries him about his business, his earnings and his employees.
“We have had so many problems with COVID and this affects all nightlife, bars and restaurants,” said Megan Nazari. “We have nearly 4,000 people in the hospitality industry who will be affected and I want the Mayor and the Commission to think of them and their families.”
The voting referendum was held Tuesday in response to increasingly louder crowds and public drinking in the South Beach entertainment district, where tension has been bubbling for years as the party crowds grew from a few weekends to a year-round presence. It worsened during the pandemic when city officials closed the main drag to vehicles and allowed restaurants to offer more outdoor seating along Ocean Drive.
The city imposed a curfew at 8 p.m. during the spring break when more than 1,000 people were arrested. But it was not entirely clear how much support such measures would find among the citizens in a city that is dependent on tourism.
Mayor Dan Gelber, who pushed for a 2am closure, also won his re-election on Tuesday. He declared victory for both campaigns.
Miami Beach residents voted to take back the last call to bars and restaurants Tuesday while re-electing the mayor for a third term. NBC 6’s Jamie Guirola reports
“That’s what our residents want,” said Gelber. He called the earlier restriction on alcohol sales a first step in repositioning the entertainment district of South Beach as “living, working, playing” with new living, office and cultural spaces.
City commissioners approved a temporary restriction on early morning alcohol sales in South Beach last summer. Now city officials have to work out laws to codify the referendum. Gelber said he expected commissioners to support such measures now that voters have spoken.
Exceptions are possible – Gelber said he was open to allowing larger hotels with security guards to continue serving alcohol until 5 a.m.
Critics said the earlier lockdown would cost the city millions without stopping crime. South Beach club owners invested $ 675,000 in a failed campaign to kill the referendum, the newspaper reported.
“Today’s non-binding straw poll was an attempt to mislead leaders who have failed to contain the growing problems of crime in Miami Beach,” said a statement from Citizens for a Safe Miami Beach, which plans to withdraw “To oppose solutions that do nothing”. Solve crimes, but cost 4,100 local workers their jobs, raise property taxes, and cut tens of millions of dollars from city revenues. “
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