The City of Miami Beach is operating under a state of emergency, with a curfew and a rollback of alcohol sales to 6 p.m. which started Thursday.
Friday, a legal challenge survived in court.
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“We can confirm that the judge ruled in favor of the City of Miami Beach, and has allowed us to keep the State of Emergency order and the curfew in place,” City of Miami Beach Spokesperson Matt Kenny said.
On Thursday, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told NBC 6 that two local businesses, Treehouse Miami and Papi Steak, were suing the city and challenging the legality of the curfew.
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“As of now, the City is focused on executing our emergency operations plan throughout the weekend, as our top priority is to keep our residents and visitors safe,” Kenny said.
The owner of Treehouse Miami, Michael Freundlich, feels his business is being unnecessarily punished.
“The main issue I have is not only about the financial aspect,” said Freundlich. “But they should have sat down with the business owners, over two or three days, and they should have said ‘Let’s come up with a plan.’”
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The curfew runs from 11:59 p.m. through 6 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday until its end on Monday morning.
The curfew zone is bounded by 23rd Street to the North, the Ocean to the East, and the Bay to the West.
“I have no other nightclub on my street open. They took it upon themselves to just destroy my business,” Freundlich said.
Sheree Jordan and Shamera Dorner, vacationers from California, said they were disappointed to learn the curfew had been imposed for the weekend.
“The curfew is just killing the vibe,” Jordan said. “I think they just needed extra protection. I don't think they actually needed to do a curfew, you know, because this is a place for tourists and this is what they are expecting.”
“We came here to have fun, you know, because [Miami Beach] doesn’t close [early], but now it’s closed!” said Dorner.
Instead, they say they’ll be venturing to the City of Miami for late-evening activities.
“We actually have no choice but to leave Miami Beach and go to Miami because they’re cutting us off!” said Jordan.
“It’s like Cinderella. At midnight, it’s over with!” said Dorner.
