Loading...
1624-9 Clubs KEYWORDS: TAG: 0402150072 4 of 7, 7 Terms mh04 BUSINESS OWNERS, RESIDENTS CLASH OVER ORDINANCE 02/01/2004 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, February 1, 2004 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors BC PAGE: 3MB LENGTH: 66 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY NICOLE WHITE, nwhite@herald.com BUSINESS OWNERS, RESIDENTS CLASH OVER ORDINANCE Plans to update the city's special events permitting ordinance drew fierce criticism from residents and business owners at a meeting on Tuesday, and sparked one of the most disruptive community meetings in recent years. At issue: Residents say hotels are ignoring the county's noise ordinance by repeatedly throwing noisy outdoor events and should face tighter restrictions through the permitting process. Hotel owners say there are already too many restrictions in place ancj.want more flexibility to hold outdoor events, like weddings and impromptu receptions. They also want the city to limit input from neighborhood associations when reviewing special event permits. The community meeting, called by the city to review proposed changes to the special events ordinance, drew nearly 100 attendees and was moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center. The divisions that arose sparked a series of boos and jeers between residents and business owners, and a subsequent walkout by business owners. Edison Hotel owner Judith Berson-Levinson said hoteliers were justifiably upset and frustrated at the meeting. She said that residents constantly "hijack" the community meetings and turn them into debates over noise when the issues are much larger than that. "These residents moved in after the venues were here for many, many years, and now they get upset because their quality of life is not what they thought it should be. It's outrageous, " Berson-Levinson said in a follow-up interview with The Herald. Even worse, said Berson-Levinson, is that the permitting process being proposed by the city is getting "more and more tedious and 'bureauchronic, ' with more red tape that the city administration can use to justify their existence. " But residents say a stiff permitting process is needed to rein in businesses that often ignore the current process. They point to Sunday pool parties at several South Beach hotels, parties that have not been approved by the city. South Beach resident Eugene Woodard, who was among those jeered at the meeting, said that while he understands the business community's frustrations, their behavior at the meeting was unbecoming. "There are residents who have been actively opposed to nearly everything that the business community has pushed, " Woodard said, ' but the fact that [businesses] were here first doesn't negate the noise ordinance. When we moved here, we expected the rule of law to be enforced. Woodard said very few businesses are willing to acknowledge the fact that there are competing interests in their community and that it is unfair for building is cursed, I just don't think we've had the right business at this property since Shadow Lounge. " Says Guerra: "I believe that if the building has a spirit, let it breathe and be what it's supposed to be . . . " unlike most people in this town who can now become part of a new society called SOAP, the Society Of Alternative People, whose weekly gatherings take place Thursday nights at Mynt with '80s tunes spun by Pop Life's DJ Ray Milian. Hey, what's this with all the cool indie folks - Joshua Menendez from Revolver, now Milian - crossing over to the other side from the mainland? And finally, from crossing over to just being plain old cross, a reader who asked to remain anonymous admitted that while (s)he was pleased to learn that the northern end of Ocean Drive is once again spiffy, as for the other end, well, not so much. "I think your expectation for the reemergence of a "swank" Ocean Drive would be seriously tested by an examination of Teasers at 524 Ocean Dr. , " (s)he writes. "Putting aside the blasting noise and the ghastly illumination of the building, their entertainment menu confirms that, at least at the southern end of the street, the worst of Washington Avenue's hip-hop culture has finally come to Ocean Drive. " According to this Deep Throat, Teasers, a restaurant, club and cabaret with scantily clad dancers, is "one giant step below Hooters on a moral scale. " Yipes. Repeated calls for comment to Teasers management went unanswered. CAPTION: OUT AND ABOUT: J.Lo at the Tuscan Steak House. PHOTOS BY MANNY HERNANDEZ/FOR THE HERALD MIAMI FILM FEST GATHERING: Bruce Orosz, Noelle Stevenson and Jeff Peel at the Raleigh. CELEBRATING: Shareef Malnik and Pauly Shore at the Forge. SONGSTER: Thalia livens things up at Bongos Cuban Cafe.