A wild video, posted under the headline “Spring Breaker beaten in brawl outside Fort Lauderdale bar,” caught the mayor’s eye.
“Millions and millions of people have now seen this,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said of the New York Post exclusive report on the street fight that took place along downtown’s Himmarshee Street around 3 a.m. on March 18, during the height of Spring Break.
Alarmed by the raucous free-for-all, Fort Lauderdale commissioners now say a crackdown is on the way for the Himmarshee nightlife district, where bars are allowed to stay open till 4 a.m.
Three days after Christmas, Himmarshee Street was the scene of a mass shooting near Dicey Riley’s Irish Pub around 2 a.m. Five people were wounded in the Dec. 28 incident. Police have yet to make an arrest.
In the wake of the shooting, commissioners debated in January whether to tighten the rules. In the end, they shied away from enforcing a 2 a.m. closing time after bar owners argued it would put them out of business. Instead, commissioners banned outdoor alcohol sales as well as the practice of allowing patrons to roam from bar to bar with cocktails in hand.
But after video of the downtown brawl hit the national spotlight, the commission is now ready to yank the district’s entertainment zone status.
“This was put on the New York Post website and Fox News,” Trantalis said the day after the video made headlines. “This is not what we want people to see. And we don’t want this to happen in Fort Lauderdale. We need to be taking action. This does not look good for our city.”
Heavy hitters from Fort Lauderdale’s business community came out in force during a City Hall meeting on Tuesday to urge commissioners to tighten the rules for bars on Himmarshee, also known as Southwest Second Street.
“After 15 years of chaos and promises, I think enough is enough,” developer Alan Hooper told the commission. “We need to clean that area up. I mean really clean it up. Because people are staying away.”
As part of the new rules, Fort Lauderdale would require each establishment in the Himmarshee entertainment district to request an individual permit.
The permit application would require each business to submit a security and maintenance plan with details on alcohol safety training and security coverage for all hours of operation, including special events and holidays.
Penalties would be harsh for any business that flouts the rules. Depending on the infraction, businesses would face fines and possibly lose their ability to sell alcohol after midnight for anywhere from 30 to 90 days.
Under a plan presented by city staff, multiple suspensions would lead to revocation of the permit.
But Tim Petrillo, another leader from the business community, suggested the city embrace a “three strikes and you’re out” policy.
“I opened my first restaurant in 1997 on Second Street,” said Petrillo, a developer and restaurateur. “It was a fine dining restaurant (Himmarshee Bar & Grille). I own property down there now and I will not put a restaurant there. Why is that? Because a restaurant does not want to locate in the chaos that’s down on Second Street.”
Petrillo reminded the commission of how well the penalty system worked during the pandemic.
“I recommend the city have a draconian penalty system that they enforce,” he said. “You get one warning. You close until you correct your behavior. You get a significant penalty. Then you are out of penalties and can no longer operate and use the benefits of an entertainment district after strike three.”
Bar owner Steve Berke questioned why the city would move forward with stricter rules without giving the outdoor alcohol sales ban a chance to work.
Berke owns the building that was once home to Petrillo’s popular Tarpon Bend bar and restaurant that closed in 2018. The building is now home to Munchie’s Pizza Club and Nowhere Lounge.
“Spring Break came and it was a success,” Berke said. “Not only according to the businesses but according to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. They publicly bragged about how well things went on Himmarshee in a social media post. Since open container was removed, we had a strong month. The street’s been calmer, safer and more manageable.”
The sound of yelling drowned out his last words.
The mayor had pulled up the “New York Post” video on his cell phone and was holding it up for Berke to see.
“I’m looking at this fight that took place,” Trantalis said. “This is where we had over a dozen police officers, hundreds of kids. Some kids laying on the ground after a fight. And you’re telling me that things are cleaned up? You’re out of your mind.”
Commissioners are expected to vote on the new rules before they go on summer break in July.
Fort Lauderdale has five entertainment districts, but the new rules would only impact Himmarshee.
“I do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water,” said Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the neighborhood. “I do not want to involve the other four districts. I want to focus on Himmarshee. I believe that we have to decertify the district, but still give all of the businesses the ability to show that they can operate legally and responsibly and with accountability.”
It’s high time the city does something to rein in “the problem child,” said developer Dev Motwani, whose open-air waterfront venue The Wharf Fort Lauderdale is an anchor for one of the city’s five entertainment districts.
“The root of the cause has not been addressed,” Motwani told the commission, referring to Himmarshee. “It’s a lack of enforcement. Enforce the rules. There are some bad actors that need to be addressed.”
Motwani wears many hats, including one as chair of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Foundation and another as vice chair of the Performing Arts Center Authority.
The Broward Center sits not far from what critics call the chaotic nightlife scene on Himmarshee.
“It’s very frustrating to be on this board and raising dollars for this foundation … and have drunk people being found in the courtyard and the fountains around here at all these beautiful institutions.”
Hooper, a board member of Fort Lauderdale’s Downtown Development Authority along with Motwani, is chair of the Performing Arts Center Authority.
The Broward Center, built in 1991, is a critical economic jewel for the city, Hooper said.
“It’s one of the biggest draws that would make people — or CEOs of new businesses — want to move here,” he told the commission. “That is, until they see the social media, the stabbings, the shootings, the fighting. You almost feel like you need to put caution tape across Second Street when the shows are letting out so the patrons don’t take a dangerously bad right turn and go down Second Street.”
George Hanbury, the former city manager credited with helping the city shed its “Fort Liquordale” reputation during the 1990s, also called for change.
“I feel like history is repeating itself,” Hanbury told the commission. “In the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale was the wild and wooly place that we saw and talk about. Spring Breakers getting drunk in the street. The old Fort Liquordale. Rooms were being rented by the hour. Business could not be attracted to the city. And the commission ripped the bandage off of the scab and said, ‘Hey, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.’”
Hanbury recommended the commission ask whether Himmarshee still warrants the late hours and other privileges that come with being in an entertainment district.
“We started the special entertainment districts at the request of the business community that came in. They said they needed special entertainment so they could be more like Miami and open up later on at night.”
At first they wanted to stay open till 1 a.m., Hanbury said. Then it became 2 a.m. And now it’s 4 a.m.
“I would encourage you to reexamine, ‘Do we really need this?’” Hanbury said. “Because we did it as an experiment in the 1990s to continue to attract high-quality business – not just to continue to be the old Fort Liquordale.”
These days, Fort Lauderdale is trying to promote itself as the yachting capital of the world — not the Spring Break capital of the world, noted Vice Mayor John Herbst.
“We can’t be both at the same time,” he said.
All the positive changes that have taken place in Fort Lauderdale over the past 20 years are not consistent with the city’s reputation as a Spring Break destination, Herbst argued.
“I would love us as a city to shake that off and continue to move forward as a cultural destination for people,” he said. “Our image should be focused on culture. And I don’t think what we’re seeing here is culture. I think that should be our north star. I think we have to continue advancing in a direction that cleans up our city, not one that brings it down.”