Grove community reacts to 3 a.m. closing time

Patrons enjoy a drink at the Sandbar.

It reads “Same A.M.” The small sign refers to the closing time of bars in the Coconut Grove area: 3 a.m., unlike that of most other establishments in Miami that close at 5 a.m. or later. The sign’s faded teal and orange letters are a testament to the conflict over a city ordinance that was passed in 2008 to change the closing time.

Some of Coconut Grove’s most popular establishments are reporting that the enactment of the ordinance is directly related to a decline in business.

“I’ve worked in the Grove for a while now and that 3 a.m. curfew has killed us,” said Ray Tabares, assistant manager of Chicago’s Steakhouse, located on Commodore Plaza.

Johnny Rockets supervisor Adriana Molestina, who has been working in the Grove for the past three years, said she has also noticed a change.

“It hasn’t been pretty,” she said. “All the college kids don’t come here anymore.”

Of all the Coconut Grove business owners, John El-Masry, owner of Mr. Moe’s Restaurant and Bar on Commodore Plaza, has been the most vocal about his support to revert to a 5 a.m. closing time.

“Mr. Moe’s has always been a profitable business until this ordinance,” he said. “Now I’m barely making the bills.”

El-Masry also attributes losses in revenue to the rising popularity of other areas in Miami.

“You go anywhere else—Brickell, South Miami, Downtown – and it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic,” he said.

Yet, other Grove establishments say its business as usual.

“We’re a hotel, so we have not lost business to other areas that don’t have the ordinance,” said Brij Misra, general manager of the Mayfair Hotel on Florida Avenue. “People sleep here and can party elsewhere in Miami or South Beach if they want.”

The issue has sparked a debate not only among business owners, as residents of the Grove also have varying opinions on whether or not the 5 a.m. cut-off time should be reinstated.

“It’s just not safe,” said Miguel Martinez, a resident of Coconut Grove for the past 10 years. “People break bottles on the street and they have no respect for the people that live there.”

Martinez, who lives near CocoWalk, also has complaints about people taking up residents’ parking spaces.

“When the bars close they wait for someone to open the gates so they can get to their cars, the noise is disturbing,” said Martinez. “If it were up to me the bars would close at midnight.”

Other residents, however, disagree with Martinez.

Lilliana Dones, former president of the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce and a resident of downtown Coconut Grove, said that businesses within the area should be afforded the same cut-off time as their competitors.

“Drinking and driving happens throughout the night, there is no study that proves that it is more prevalent after 3 a.m. Laws just need to be enforced,” she said. “If there’s noise, put your earphones on.”

Many Coconut Grove business owners blame Miami City Commissioner Chair Marc Sarnoff for the inception of the mandatory alcohol cut-off time ordinance. Sarnoff spearheaded the efforts in June 2008.

“Commissioner Sarnoff put me out of work,” said Chris Carroll, manager of Tavern in the Grove on Main Highway. “He put a lot of people out of work.”

El-Masry of Mr. Moe’s said the ordinance is “a joke,” created by Sarnoff on the notion that it would curb drunk driving. El-Masry argues that if drunk driving was the concern, the ordinance should have been enforced district wide.

“It never had anything to do with drunk driving,” El Masry said. “It’s all about Sarnoff not wanting traffic to go by his house on Virginia Street.”

In response to the concern that Grove businesses are suffering as a result of the law, Sarnoff counters with the recent agreement made with Cineplex movie theatre company, Muvico. He said the company would not have agreed to open if the bars maintained their 5 a.m. closing time.

And when it comes to El Masry’s business, Mr. Moe’s, Sarnoff warns that he is not complying with a required alcohol-to-food serving ratio.

“To Mr. Moe’s, I’d say ‘Get into compliance,’” he said.

Bars desiring the additional two-hour serving time must seek a permit through an open application process, which would consider the opinions of Grove residents. Many of them rally with Sarnoff, citing “nightmare” experiences of finding drunken people passed out in public prior to the alcohol law change. Others have endured tragic consequences.

Donna Clarit, a Grove resident, lost two of three daughters when a drunk driver plowed into a car carrying the girls home from a baby shower on Aug. 12, 2007, when the ordinance allowed alcohol to be served until 5 a.m.

Still, Michelle Niemeyer, a member of the Coconut Grove Village Council and former resident of the Grove at the time with bars closed at 5 a.m., said that bar closing times should not significantly affect near-by residents.

“I don’t see any difference between being woken up by drunks at 5 a.m. or 3 a.m. You just go back to sleep,” she said. “Time is irrelevant.”

Social networks have also joined in on the debate. A Facebook group with 450 members called “Keep the Grove Alive!” is supporting the return of the Grove’s 5 a.m. cut-off.

In a broader picture, several business owners are saying they simply desire an even playing field.

“We want everyone in the surrounding areas to have to close at three, five, or the same time,” said Eric Boucher, manager of GreenStreet Café on Commodore Plaza. “Not just bars in Coconut Grove.”

Renita Samuels-Dixon, treasurer of the Coconut Grove Village Council and resident of the southwest Grove, said that she doesn’t think the ordinance is fair to businesses that came to the Grove with the understanding that they would be allowed to sell liquor until 5 a.m. and have the license to prove it.

“It’s like buying a home under the impression that you would be allotted certain privileges and then having them taken away from you,” she said.