Business owners along Ocean Drive spoke out today in a press conference against the Mayor's proposed plan to end alcohol sales on Miami Beach at 2am instead of 4am.
It's something the city of Fort Lauderdale tried to do two years ago and failed.
Coconut Grove pushed up its closing time to 3am from 5am in 2008 to curb college crowds. City leaders said they saw a quick dip in crime but bar owners said they saw a dip in business.
Mayor Philip Levine wants to take action after a violent Memorial Day weekend. Police investigated a stabbing and a shooting over the weekend. Neither has been connected to any bars or restaurants.
In Miami Beach police arrested 128 people over the four day holiday weekend. That's compared to 68 in Fort Lauderdale and 11 in Key West. All three cities are tourists destinations with similar alcohol laws. However, Miami beach was home to urban beach weekend and the new air and sea show.
While South Beach had more arrests, a city memo from 2016 showed major crime actually went down in 2015 along Ocean Drive by 19 percent. The drop was attributed to a new team of officers patrolling the area.
