GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – New laws in the Gainesville Entertainment District take effect this weekend, allowing the pandemic's open container standards to remain in effect downtown.
Restrictions on open containers were initially lifted citywide during the pandemic to help businesses survive.
When the ordinances ran out, city leaders opted to create neighborhoods where open containers would be allowed.
“We have limited the ability to organize traveling groups with open containers outside of these districts,” Mayor Harvey Ward said. “I hope we've given law enforcement a tool to work with on this.”
Two neighborhoods were created: one extending from downtown toward Depot Park and the other around the Cypress and Grove Brewery area.
“I don’t think we’ll see much change,” Ward said. “We're not changing most hours and most places where people may have had a container open for several years.”
Sean Cliche, owner of the new downtown Gainesville bar, says the entertainment district plan has been a big draw to Gainesville.
“The entertainment space is a big plus for us and it’s one of the reasons we came here,” Cliche said. “We can have customers go back and forth with an open container, allowing a great downtown area to thrive.” »
Cliche's bar, Capones, is based in Fort Lauderdale and he said many students from South Florida beg them to come to Gainesville.
“Having outdoor consumption downtown will make a great downtown district,” Cliche said. “It will be a destination where people can come down, frequent multiple locations indoors and outdoors, and this is a great location for that.”
Cliche says he opens. Capones will be ready to open next weekend.
“We have a great outdoor space,” Cliche said. “We will be able to have seats, entertainment, groups, DJs both outside and inside. Plus, it makes the city center vibrate.
People will be able to take advantage of open containers in neighborhoods daily from 8 a.m. to midnight.
“I don’t think it’s a strange thing,” Ward said. “It’s a pretty common thing. There are many, many cities, dozens of cities across the country that have had neighborhoods where you can have an open container for a very long time.
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