METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Some bar owners in Fat City, Metairie’s entertainment district, say a new ordinance that will limit hours of operation will unfairly benefit competitors and eventually kill their businesses.

The sweeping ordinance was passed in hopes of cleaning up Fat City by gradually eliminating strip clubs and rowdy bars and converting the entertainment district into a more family friendly area for shoppers and diners. Parish leaders say there are 16 bars within a few blocks in Fat City, and that the area has been plagued with crime for years.

Under the ordinance, Fat City bars would be forced to close at midnight on weekdays and shut down at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The law goes into effect March 31, 2011.

Fat City bar owners complain they’ll have to close early while similar establishments in the parish won’t have to, which gives bars in the other areas an unfair advantage.

‘‘Nobody’s going to come to a bar at 10 o’clock if they know I’m going to close in a couple of hours,’’ said Matthew Martin, a manager at Uncle Larry’s, a 24-hour bar in the heart of Fat City.

Martin said the new law isn’t fair because Fat City bars will have to close early while others, in some cases just on the other side of the street, are allowed to stay open without restrictions.

Some bar employees are also worried about what will happen to their paychecks when the new law takes effect next year.

‘‘Our business on Fridays and Saturdays is 1 to like 6. We make a lot of money so it’s going to hurt us. We’re slow during the day,’’ said Freddie Bell, who’s a cook at a Fat City bar. ‘‘That’s going to hurt my hours. I work at night from eight to four in the morning … so that’s three hours off my check.’’

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Information from: WVUE-TV, http://fox8live.com