Miami Beach officials consider ending city’s famous 5 a.m. last call

 

 

The party may soon be over early in Miami Beach, a city famous for its wee-hours-of-the-morning nightlife. 

 

The seaside hotspot, wracked by weeks of chaos, including the death of at least one spring breaker, is debating whether to ban alcohol sales after 2 a.m. – or perhaps even earlier, if some local residents have their way, the Miami Herald reported Saturday.

 

Mayor Dan Gelber proposed the 2 a.m. last call on Tuesday, quickly inciting debate across the city. The current last call, under normal circumstances, is at 5 a.m.

 

Attorney Steve Polisar, representing several local bars and restaurants, called the proposal a “death sentence” for the city’s nightlife.

 

Local activist and former city commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, meanwhile, has proposed a 10 p.m. curfew.

 

A Miami Beach police officer arrests a man for not paying his bill at a restaurant on Ocean Drive on March 27, 2021. 

 

 “For the past year we’ve been under a midnight curfew and that hasn’t solved the problem,” she told the Herald, citing one of the region’s COVID-19 restrictions instituted last summer, while lashing out on Twitter that “hospitality special interests” have turned the city into a “war zone.”

 

Partygoers dance on Ocean Drive as curfew is in effect in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 27, 2021.
 

 The early booze ban would impact the city’s major hotspots, including Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue, Gelber told the Herald.

 

A police officer walks around Ocean Drive enforcing curfew measures at South Beach in Miami, Florida, on March 27, 2021.
 

 The city commission, of which Gelber is one of seven members, plans to take up the debate at its April 21 meeting.

 

 Top Picture - Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber proposed a 2 a.m. last call on alcohol sales amid chaos from travelers. AFP via Get

 

Source: New York Post