Popular hotel and bar The Clevelander is suing the city of Miami Beach over restrictions on alcohol sales, loud music, Ocean Drive’s closure to vehicles, and the city’s issuance of code warnings that cannot be appealed.
“The city has declared war on South Beach’s famed Entertainment District,” the complaint reads.
Last week, Miami Beach City Commission voted to change the 5 a.m. last call to 2 a.m. for businesses in the South Beach entertainment district. The commission also ended a noise exemption that allowed businesses on Ocean Drive to play music as loud as they wanted.
In the lawsuit, The Clevelander argues that the restrictions violate “legally protected property rights” that the club secured 25 years ago from the city through a permit. The lawsuit also says that the 4-3 vote to change the hours of alcohol sales was invalid because the city’s zoning code requires five ‘yes’ votes.
Last year, Ocean Drive was closed down as an emergency pandemic measure. The street is still closed. The lawsuit alleges that the city no longer has the right to keep the street closed. The Clevelander argues that reopening Ocean Drive would allow its guests access to its hotel and prevent crowds from congregating on the street.
“In the City’s zeal to shut down the City’s entertainment district, it has and continues to repeatedly ignore legal requirements,” the Clevelander wrote in a statement. “For the City, its approach is simply that ‘the ends justify the means.’ As long as businesses are shut down, it is irrelevant to the City how many laws it must break to accomplish that goal.”
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, who is seeking to be reelected, is working to change the entertainment district into an Art Deco cultural district.
“This area has been a magnet for much of the disorder that has degraded our quality of life,” Gelber said. “It seems absurd that a city cannot place reasonable limits on liquor sales especially considering most places don’t even serve alcohol after 2 a.m.”
The mayor criticized The Clevelander for a sign it hung during spring break. The sign said, “Misbehavior Encouraged.”
“It’s not surprising at all that they sued,” Gelber said. “In the midst of an incredibly difficult spring break where much of the chaos was coming from this area, the Clevelander decided to display a huge sign urging bad behavior.”
The new rules will go into effect on Saturday, and the 2 a.m. last call will last through the year.
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