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People vote 'yes' to early closing times for South Beach bars

Mayor Dan Gelber said this change is a first step toward repositioning the district as a “live, work, play” area with new housing, offices and cultural spaces.
Credit: SeanPavonePhoto - stock.adobe.co
Miami Beach, Florida, USA on Ocean Drive at sunset.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Last call could possibly come three hours earlier in Miami Beach. Voters that were fed up with nighttime violence voted "yes" Tuesday to rolling back the 5 a.m. closing time for alcohol sales.

The voter referendum was held in response to increasingly raucous crowds and public drinking in the South Beach entertainment district. The partying got worse during the pandemic when city leaders "closed the main drag to vehicles and allowed restaurants to offer more outdoor seating along Ocean Drive," the Associated Press explains.

Mayor Dan Gelber, who was in support of 2 a.m. closing times, won reelection, declaring victory for both campaigns, AP reports.

"This is what our residents want," Gelber said, according to AP.

He said this change is a first step toward repositioning the district as a “live, work, play” area with new housing, offices and cultural spaces.

Last summer, the city's commissioners had been in agreement to temporarily restrict early-morning alcohol sales in South Beach, AP explains. Now the city staff has to come up with laws to arrange the general vote.

Gelber said he "expects commissioners to support such measures now that voters have spoken."

Voters reportedly rejected a 2017 proposal for a 2 a.m. alcohol sales ban on Ocean Drive, the Miami Herland reports.

The mayor said he "would be open to letting bigger hotels with security staffs continue serving alcohol until 5 a.m."

Critics say cutting off alcohol sales at 2 a.m. will cost the city millions in tax revenue and won't stop crime.

“Today’s non-binding straw poll was an attempt at misdirection by leaders who have failed to stem the growing problems of crime on Miami Beach,” Citizens for a Safe Miami Beach said in a statement, AP reports. 

Citizens for a Safe Miami Beach reportedly plan to “oppose solutions that do nothing to solve crime, but will cost 4,100 local workers their jobs, increase property taxes, and cut tens of millions of dollars from city revenues.”

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