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Orlando places temporary ban on new after-hours night clubs

ORLANDO, Fla. — The city of Orlando has assigned a special task force to study if after-hours clubs should be able to operate downtown after a man was shot outside one early Wednesday morning.
 
City staff took a closer look at the nighttime economy in downtown Orlando after Club Nokturnal opened. Leaders opted to put a temporary stop to new after-hours clubs opening until they could learn more about them.
 
According to its Facebook page, the club is open from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m., but city ordinances don't allow alcoholic drinks to be served after 2 a.m.
 
"We didn't want to solely just look at after-hours clubs. We wanted to look at nighttime economy holistically," David Barilla, assistant director of Orlando Downtown Development Board, said.
 
Barilla, a member of the task force, said he went to Charleston, South Carolina, with other city staff members to study how it promotes and regulates nightlife.
 
"It was more of a broad discussion of what individual cities were doing and from that aspect. We did a lot of listening, a lot of taking in (and) built a lot of contacts we can ultimately follow up with," Barilla said.
 
The task force said it's also looking into safety. A majority of excessive-force complaints against Orlando officers came from the downtown corridor.
 
The temporary ban on new after-hours clubs is scheduled to end in October.