Miami Beach businesses are ‘happy’ with spring break curfew: Mayor

Eric, thank you. Joining us now, the mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Miner. Mayor Miner, thanks for being here. First of all, I want to jump in and ask you, do you agree with the spring break curfew for this year? Number of years, we've had shootings on our street, and we're a safe city, and these measures were necessary to keep everyone safe. By the way, a lot of the businesses are happy that we put in these measures. It's a handful of businesses that are impacted, but many businesses are saying they're actually making more money this year than in past years. Well that's interesting, because I was going to ask you that, what do you hear or are hearing from the business owners, the clubs, the restaurants, the shops, who make the bulk of their revenue during spring break? So you're just saying to me that, because as you well know, there were several businesses, the Mint I believe is one of them, the nightclub that stays open I believe from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m., who said, listen, this is hurting our bottom line here. Well, first of all, our residents are extremely pleased that we put in the measures that we have this year. This is the calmest spring break we've had in years. And the businesses, it's a little more mixed. Yes, we had three businesses that brought food, and those businesses are open until 5 a.m., which they can't do for the next, it's really just two weekends that they can't do that. But again, a number of restaurants that make their business like a traditional restaurant are actually telling me, thank you, that these measures have helped them. It's kept things safer, calmer, and that they're actually busier. Well, you know, security has been the issue, and you've implemented spring break security measures like bag checks, heightened police presence, closing parking garages. What more can you and other city and state officials do to fortify law enforcement during spring break? Or do you feel like you've done all you can do? We took the most robust measures we've ever taken by a long shot. License plate readers, DUI checks, bag checks, closing the beach at 6 p.m., closing our parking garages just for these two weekends, and the heaviest law enforcement presence we've ever had between our Miami Beach police, the county, sister cities, and also the governor and Florida Highway Patrol. They really came through. They gave us 45 officers last weekend and this weekend. It's really helped. You can see the difference on the street. It's calmer. We're busy. We're still a busy city. I was out there last night with police and everyone, and we're busy, but everything is calm. Everyone's having a great time the way it should be. Does Miami Beach risk losing businesses and the reputation as a go-to spring break destination? Well, I don't know if we ever wanted to be the go-to spring break destination. We want to be a tourist attraction, which we are. We want our hotels filled, which they are. And actually, I think the opposite was happening. We were risking ruining our reputation by having these acts of violence, which we've prevented this year. So this is a win-win for everyone, and this is actually a huge success for us this year. And I know the residents are very concerned about safety as well. Are most of the college students showing up for spring break, can you tell, or are other people showing up for the party? A little bit of a mix. The problems we've had in past years really haven't been college students. It's been people in their mid, late 20s, 30s who are kind of using the attraction to come here and cause problems. That's been the issue. So that's why spring break might not even be the correct terminology. The bottom line is the formula is the same. We put in these measures to keep people safe. Our residents were demanding it, and many of our businesses were demanding it. And other than, like you said, a couple of businesses that brought this lawsuit and lost, really, almost uniformly, everyone in our city is appreciative of the drastic actions we've taken, which have worked. Well, Miami Beach is a lovely city, and I'm actually due a trip there. I haven't been there in a little while, so I may have to call you, Mr. Mayor, when I show up to see your beautiful Miami Beach again. I would love that. Please do. Take care. Thank you. I'm Steve Doocy. I'm Brian Kilmeade. And I'm Ainsley Earhart. And click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis.