Workshop to be held on entertainment district

A community workshop will be held Wednesday at City Hall to discuss a proposed downtown entertainment district.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the SRQ media studio in the first floor of the City Hall annex, 1565 First Street.

A proposed entertainment district downtown would allow restaurants and cafés to play outdoor music a little louder and later. The debate over the entrainment district has intensified over the past week after City Commissioner Paul Caragiulo made a presentation on the concept at a Downtown Improvement District meeting Dec. 11.

Caragiulo has been spearheading the effort, and although an ordinance has not been drafted, the framework for the entertainment district calls for an increased decibel sound level and an extra hour before nightly noise restrictions go into effect.

The proposed district would stretch more than six downtown blocks from Central Avenue east to U.S. 301, and from Fruitville Road south to State Street.