locate in the chaos<\/a> that\u2019s down on Second Street.\u201d<\/p>\nPetrillo reminded the commission of how well the penalty system worked during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recommend the city have a draconian penalty system that they enforce,\u201d he said. \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Berke owns the building that was once home to Petrillo\u2019s popular Tarpon Bend bar and restaurant that closed in 2018. The building is now home to Munchie\u2019s Pizza Club and Nowhere Lounge.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpring Break came and it was a success,\u201d Berke said. \u201cNot 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\u2019s been calmer, safer and more manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sound of yelling drowned out his last words.<\/p>\n
The mayor had pulled up the \u201cNew York Post\u201d video on his cell phone and was holding it up for Berke to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking at this fight that took place,\u201d Trantalis said. \u201cThis is where we had over a dozen police officers, hundreds of kids. Some kids laying on the ground after a fight. And you\u2019re telling me that things are cleaned up? You\u2019re out of your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioners are expected to vote on the new rules before they go on summer break in July.<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale has five entertainment districts, but the new rules would only impact Himmarshee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water,\u201d said Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the neighborhood. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s high time the city does something to rein in \u201cthe problem child,\u201d said developer Dev Motwani, whose open-air waterfront venue The Wharf Fort Lauderdale is an anchor for one of the city\u2019s five entertainment districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe root of the cause has not been addressed,\u201d Motwani told the commission, referring to Himmarshee. \u201cIt\u2019s a lack of enforcement. Enforce the rules. There are some bad actors that need to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Broward Center sits not far from what critics call the chaotic nightlife scene on Himmarshee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating to be on this board and raising dollars for this foundation \u2026 and have drunk people being found in the courtyard and the fountains around here at all these beautiful institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hooper, a board member of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Downtown Development Authority along with Motwani, is chair of the Performing Arts Center Authority.<\/p>\n
The Broward Center, built in 1991, is a critical economic jewel for the city, Hooper said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the biggest draws that would make people \u2014 or CEOs of new businesses \u2014 want to move here,\u201d he told the commission. \u201cThat 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\u2019t take a dangerously bad right turn and go down Second Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Hanbury, the former city manager credited with helping the city shed its \u201cFort Liquordale\u201d reputation during the 1990s, also called for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like history is repeating itself,\u201d Hanbury told the commission. \u201cIn 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, \u2018Hey, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanbury recommended the commission ask whether Himmarshee still warrants the late hours and other privileges that come with being in an entertainment district.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first they wanted to stay open till 1 a.m., Hanbury said. Then it became 2 a.m. And now it\u2019s 4 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would encourage you to reexamine, \u2018Do we really need this?\u2019\u201d Hanbury said. \u201cBecause we did it as an experiment in the 1990s to continue to attract high-quality business \u2013 not just to continue to be the old Fort Liquordale.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, Fort Lauderdale is trying to promote itself as the yachting capital of the world \u2014 not the Spring Break capital of the world, noted Vice Mayor John Herbst.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be both at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All the positive changes that have taken place in Fort Lauderdale over the past 20 years are not consistent with the city\u2019s reputation as a Spring Break destination, Herbst argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love us as a city to shake that off and continue to move forward as a cultural destination for people,\u201d he said. \u201cOur image should be focused on culture. And I don\u2019t think what we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wild video, posted under the headline \u201cSpring Breaker beaten in brawl outside Fort Lauderdale bar,\u201d caught the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[67278,187,4184,13776,104,249,251,250,103146,69957,41470,30666,103147],"class_list":{"0":"post-229812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-business-community","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-commissioners","11":"tag-dean-trantalis","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fort-lauderdale","14":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","15":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","16":"tag-himmarshee","17":"tag-new-york-post","18":"tag-spring-break","19":"tag-the-commission","20":"tag-tim-petrillo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}