MIAMI BEACH, Fla. ā The partyās over early on South Beach, at least for the days when spring breakers descend on the city.
Commissioners voted 5-2 to ban booze after 3 a.m. in the entertainment district, for six days in March.
This comes after last yearās beach brawls and street fights that made for embarrassing headlines for the city.
Still, most people inside commission chambers were not happy about the decision.
āWe donāt feel these measures are going to make any difference at all," said Joel Stedman, owner of Twist nightclub, who brought his workers to the meeting for support. āItās hurting small business. And weāre just devastated.ā
Other club and restaurant owners spoke out, too, saying it was going to harm their businesses.
Commissioner Michael Gongora was among the ānoā votes.
āThis ordinance is a solution looking for a problem,ā he said.
Mayor Dan Gelber told Local 10 he thinks the last call rollback is the best solution, for now.
āI donāt believe that this is the silver bullet," he said. āI think this is part of the tool kit. Itās not the first thing weāre going to do. And if it doesnāt help, if we think thereās a metric that tells us that. Then we wonāt continue to do it.ā