City of Cocoa Beach to discuss BYOB drinking restrictions proposal

People are reacting to Cocoa Beach hitting snooze on the booze.

"To me, if you are a grown adult and want to come enjoy the day at the beach and want to have a drink and you can get back home in your car and drive safely, then I’m fine with it," said Marcus Horschel. 

"Sometimes it can get out of control and people can maybe not take the best safety concerns," Danielle Bagley. 

If passed, a new proposal would mean no more BYOB in certain areas of the beach during peak season, which starts in February and goes to September.

Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik says this measure has been a long time in the making. 

"We have been dealing with rowdy behavior on this stretch of the beach for decades and we keep throwing resources at it," Malik said.

Malik calls the area ground zero, saying it continues to be a strain on limited police resources. The Cocoa Police Chief said there has been a 50 to 60% increase in police activity since he started in 2015. 

"We are a small town of 11,400 people and we host 2 and a half million visitors.

We certainly don’t have the financial budget of a large metro region to hire additional police officers," Malik said.

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The city commission meeting will take place tonight around 7 p.m. where they will have a discussion on the proposal.

"Look, I enjoy a cold beer on the beach, but I don’t have to overindulge and I'm not going to yell obscenities and trash the beach when I leave," Malik said.

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