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FILE – The Clevelander Hotel and Bar is shown at dusk along Ocean Drive, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, in Miami Beach, Fla. Last call could come three hours earlier in Miami Beach, where voters fed up with nighttime violence chose yes to rolling back the 5 a.m. closing time for alcohol sales. The voter referendum was held Tuesday, Nov. 2, in response to increasingly raucous crowds and public drinking in the South Beach entertainment district.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Last call could come three hours earlier in Miami Beach, where a majority of voters fed up with nighttime violence chose “Yes” to rolling back the 5 a.m. closing time for alcohol sales.
The voter referendum was held Tuesday in response to increasingly raucous crowds and public drinking in the South Beach entertainment district, where tension has been bubbling for years as party crowds grew from a few weekends into 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 an 8 p.m. curfew during spring break, when more than 1,000 people were arrested. But it wasn’t entirely clear how much support such measures had among citizens in a city that depends on tourism.
Mayor Dan Gelber, who pushed for a 2 a.m. closing time, also won reelection on Tuesday. He declared victory for both campaigns.
“This is what our residents want,” Gelber said. He called the earlier limit to alcohol sales a first step toward repositioning South Beach’s entertainment district as a “live, work, play” area with new housing, offices and cultural spaces.
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