Effort underway to make last call in downtown Detroit 4 a.m.

DETROIT (WJBK) - There's a push to make last call in downtown Detroit bars two hours later.

If one Lansing lawmaker has his way, the bars in Greektown and elsewhere in Detroit will be open until 4 a.m. But those FOX 2 spoke with, say it might be more trouble than its worth.

By law, Michigan bars stop selling alcohol at 2 a.m. But Sen. Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing) says Detroit should be different. 

"I'm from Detroit, I've spent a lot of time all throughout Detroit but mostly the central business district," he said.

Hertel is sponsoring a bill that would allow bars in Detroit and Detroit alone to stay open an extra two hours. The idea is to give a little extra incentive to visit and stay in the Motor City.

"Businesses (would be) making more money, I'm sure everyone can benefit from it," said Joe, a Metro Detroiter.

"I look at the weekends as an outlet," said Demetrius Jones, a Detroiter. "You got people working hard during the week why can't they enjoy the bars until 4 instead of 2 a.m."

"That's what is happening right now," Hertel says. "If you go down between 2 and 4 a.m. you will find plenty of bars just outside the central business district that are violating the law."

"People are out partying in one way or another," said Marisa, a Metro Detroiter. "Might as well make it legal and do it the right way."

Sen. Hertel says bars that opt to stay open until 4 a.m. would have to a pay a fee of $10,000 that would directly go to the Detroit Police Department. 
  
But those working at these downtown establishments question the proposal.

"It's just going to cause more problems," said PJ Thomas, manager of the Firebird Tavern. "Nothing good happens after 2 a.m."

"That's two more hours to drink, you can get even drunker," said Chayla Tabor, the manager at Nikki's.

Specifically, they are worried about drunk driving and a perceived lack of mass transit. 

"This is a commuter city," Thomas said. "There's not enough mass transit in this city. This isn't Chicago, this isn't New York. People are traveling from the suburbs, from Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe, and they are going back home as well."

"I'm not so sure the difference between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. makes that big a difference," Thomas said. "But in that district there are a number of hotel rooms where people can stay."

Right now the senator hopes to get a hearing on this bill soon. He says a version of this bill passed the state Senate in 2014 and was never taken up by the House. 
  
Hertel said he has only heard interest from Detroit, but would be open to conversations if other cities wanted to adopt longer hours as well.