Twas the night before Easter and all through St. Pete, lots of creatures were stirring — and acting real drunk.
2:24 a.m. Four men stumble over to the curb outside Scene, a club on Third Street and Second Avenue South. One of them has dropped his cell phone into the sewer. With a burst of alcohol-fueled gusto, they lift an enormous concrete block of sidewalk and one of them jumps down. They cheer as their comrade hoists up the almost lost treasure and climbs back out.
A year has passed since St. Petersburg pushed drinking hours to 3 a.m. The county followed suit in July, and many cities did the same over the last few months. But on April 7, at the St. Petersburg City Council's quarterly meeting with Police Chief Chuck Harmon, members learned what they had wrought. In 2010, there were 4,100 alcohol-related arrests; only four months into 2011, Harmon said the number of such arrests had already surpassed that by 1,000.
"Remember, Council, you have leverage. Next month it could be back to 2," Mayor Bill Foster said, referring to current drinking hours. "If we continue on the road to even remotely resembling an Ybor City, I'll ask you to bring it back…"
Harmon noted that the police department is averaging 250-300 hours in overtime to handle the rise in late-night downtown traffic.
"It's busier downtown obviously and things are going good," Harmon said. "But it is taking a lot of our resources."
Harmon says that the police department is working with bar owners to hire more off-duty officers. Ybor bars are required to have them, but they aren't required in St. Petersburg bars yet.
"I know they hire off-duty officers from time to time," said St. Petersburg Police spokesman Mike Puetz. "I think there are currently issues ongoing in terms of sharing expenses.
"Most bars employ security for activity inside clubs, but that doesn't address the issue outside of clubs in terms of physical arrests or intervening."
Puetz says that some weekends there has been a 50-percent increase over last year in calls for downtown. From midnight to 4 a.m., eight officers are on duty, patrolling establishments and making sure things stay peaceful.
"Our philosophy is having a heavily physical presence reduce calls rather than respond to calls," Puetz said. "Having two or three officers there can help intervene before situations get out of hand."
City Councilmember Leslie Curran says Harmon's report confirms what she's felt all along: The ordinance to expand bar hours was a bad idea. "I didn't support it to begin with and I continue to not support it. I don't think it puts this city in a positive light."
2:45 a.m. Two handsome young men attempt to make it to their car. Except one of them isn't sure he can do it. His slightly more sober friend reassures him, "Don't pee your pants, dude, we're almost there." Alas, he is powerless to resist the urge. The tall drink of water stumbles to the ground, vomits a little and then relieves himself.
Two off-duty police officers note that tonight is tame compared to First Fridays, the city's monthly block party and gallery hop. At Fortunato's Pizza, like many downtown businesses, First Friday is the biggest night of the month.
"For us not being a bar, the extra hour of drinking hasn't made a huge difference," said Fortunato's manager Jeff Lobdell. "Other than First Friday, where I've got a line out the door from open to close."
During the rest of the month, Lobdell says the only difference in his business is a larger gap between rushes.
"Instead of having a half hour between two rushes of the night, I have a hour and a half," Lobdell said. "I may have a little bit more business, but I think whatever extra business we bring in might balance the labor. So I don't think we've lost money, but I think it's about even."
A few months ago someone smashed into the entrance at Fortunato's, shattering the entire door.
"A drunk guy tripped and fell into it," Lobdell said. "But he actually called the cops, waited and had the cops board it up and paid for it the next day."
For the regular weekend crowd, Fubar Manager Todd Frain says the extra hour hasn't brought in significantly higher business. Fubar opened on Central Avenue and Sixth Street back in October of 2009.
"Around here not too many people go out with too much money," Frain said. "You either pace yourself or go out later."
But Frain is adamant that the hours should remain as they are.
"I think if they changed it back it would really throw things off for a while because everyone has adjusted to being out at a certain time," Frain said. "We've had scuffles, but it isn't like, 'Oh, 3 a.m. is here,' and all these douchebags drinking till hella late and fighting."
2 a.m. Enrique Inglesias' "Tonight" is blasting onto the street from Push Ultra Lounge. Derek Lodato typically parks his late-night hot dog cart, Bunz on the Run, outside Push around 10 p.m. and stays until 3. Providing food for the late crowd can be, um, interesting.
"People will get into fights in front of the cart and throw cell phones at girlfriends or boyfriends," Lodato said. "Sometimes they get into fights and throw hot dogs at each other."
At the April meeting with Chief Harmon, City Councilman Wengay Newton asked about hiring more officers.
"Our view at this point is that we're handling this issue by allowing officers to increase hours," Puetz said. While the department can handle the call load, overtime is significantly cheaper for the city than hiring more officers.
The move to 3 a.m. closings in St. Pete last year was spearheaded by Dave Mamber, owner of Dave's Aqua Lounge on Gandy in an unincorporated portion of St. Petersburg. Mamber spoke with Creative Loafing last year about watching business leave Pinellas County for later drinking hours across the bridge; when the Pinellas County Commission decided last July to give bars the option of staying open till 3 countywide, the prospect of a drunken exodus eastward was one of the motivating factors.
"We've heard for years about the number of people who go to Tampa," says County Commissioner Susan Latvala. "Then if you check the records, there are a lot of DUI accidents on the causeway coming home at night, and that's what drove it."
But St. Petersburg made its decision without talking to the county or other cities first.
"In hindsight I wish St. Petersburg had contacted county and that we had done it together," Latvala said. "If you are going to do it, everyone should do it together and make a joint decision."
"We have to increase presence and consequently it costs money," Puetz said. "As long as the city council and the public are aware that resources are applied and cost money, we are satisfied. If everyone chooses to keep the ordinance intact, we just want people aware of cost."
And there may be more costs coming down the pike — or the pole: Two weeks ago, the county commission passed an ordinance extending hours for adult-use establishments (read: strip clubs) until 3 a.m.
2:30 a.m. A young woman in a black tube dress exits Push, supported mostly by a man holding her upright and two less drunk friends stabilizing her on either side. It takes the girl and her friends an exceedingly long time to cross the street and make it up the incline into the parking garage. Her facial expression reads, "This is going to hurt in the morning." From her apparent lack of motor skills, it probably will.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2011.