‘Save jobs.’ South Beach hospitality workers protest against proposed 2 a.m. booze ban
As city commissioners took steps Wednesday to create more regulations for clubs and bars, more than 100 South Beach hospitality workers marched to City Hall to speak out against a citywide referendum that seeks to gauge support for a push to roll back alcohol sales to 2 a.m. from 5 a.m.
The protesters, who work at late-night clubs like Mango’s Tropical Cafe and the Clevelander, waved signs, wore matching T-shirts and shouted their opposition to any attempt at shutting down booze sales early.
Mango’s owner David Wallack led the crowd — estimated to be at least 170 workers and business leaders — in chants of “Stop the Lies” and “Vote No, Save Jobs.”
It was a repeat of a 2017 rally that workers held the last time a 2 a.m. booze ban was on the ballot.
Wallack and others in the crowd challenged the argument made by proponents of the 2 a.m. shutoff: that the late-night business model has contributed to the crime and disorder that has upset residents and led to international news coverage.
“We were all closed in 2020, I mean we were all closed 100% and still crime soared,” Wallack said. “How is that possible if we are to blame?”
Crime actually went down in 2020, according to Miami Beach police data, a decrease that police said was a COVID outlier. However, a pandemic curfew closed bars and clubs at midnight well into 2021 as a raucous spring break renewed calls to roll back alcohol service.
DUELING PACS
The referendum — pushed by Mayor Dan Gelber and his allies on the City Commission while warning about disorder in South Beach — is a non-binding straw-ballot question. It asks voters if they would support changing the 5 a.m. closing time to 2 a.m. throughout the city “with specific locations and related restrictions and exceptions, to be determined” by the City Commission.
Gelber said he would support exemptions for
indoor businesses within large hotels. That would still leave Mango’s and other clubs to close early.
Wallack and others said they believe the proposed 2 a.m. ban is part of an attempt by the city to close Ocean Drive businesses and invite developers to snap up the devalued land. The closure of Ocean Drive to vehicles, he said, was part of the effort.
“They are choking it on purpose,” Wallack said. “What is the purpose? Destroy the businesses, destroy the real estate values, and look at what a
developer can do. They can just buy it up for 50 cents on the dollar.”
The political committee Citizens for a Safer Miami Beach organized the event one week after hosting seniors at Mango’s for a similar political rally, a
spokesman for the group said. The committee is financially backed by South Beach clubs such as Mango’s, Twist and the Clevelander.
The group relaunched last month after running a similar campaign — with almost identical yard signs — in 2017 opposing a binding referendum that would have banned alcohol sales after 2 a.m. from Fifth to 15th Streets on
Ocean Drive, except for the “indoor portions of alcoholic beverage establishments that are completely enclosed and located entirely within hotels.” Voters rejected the 2017 referendum, with 65% opposing the 2 a.m. rollback.
The pro-2 a.m. campaign, organized by the political committee Yes for a Safer Miami Beach, sent voters an email after the protest Wednesday with a message from Gelber: “Ocean Drive operators will say anything to protect their profits, even if it means continuing the chaos and violence in their party district.”
But the employees who protested Wednesday said they were concerned about losing their jobs if voters approve the 2 a.m. referendum and give city officials momentum to pursue stricter laws.
Mario Trejo, a bartender at Twist and a Miami Beach resident, said the 2 a.m. ban would “demolish” the gay Washington Avenue nightclub and force him to find a second job. The busiest hours at Twist are from 2-5 a.m.,