The Daytona Beach Commission will decide Wednesday whether closing time should be moved up to 2 am.
Mayor Derrick Henry says the proposal to close bars an hour earlier in Daytona Beach is an attempt to decrease crime in the area.
Right now bars in the city are the only ones in Volusia County allowed to remain open until 3 am.
Henry says bar infractions have hurt the city’s reputation, along with excessive parties that transpire early in the morning.
“The excessive events that transpire after 2 am leave our police vulnerable and make it more difficult for us to create a safer, better destination as Daytona Beach aspires to be a world-renowned destination.”
Henry says he doesn’t expect this to hurt businesses in the area, at least not in the long-term.
“What I believe is that it will make our destination more appealing overall. And I think in the long-run that those businesses as well as other businesses will do even better as a result of us having a better reputation, having less crime and less negative activity in our streets during the later hours. So I think it’s a win-win for those businesses as well as the others.”
Henry says this change would also drastically improve the quality of life for residents who live around the bars.
