ORLANDO, Fla.,None — A judge is expected to rule Tuesday afternoon, or Wednesday morning on whether the city of Orlando can put up a fence outside the Amway Center for All-Star weekend.
The NBA wants the 8-foot fence along Church Street. They say the fence is needed for security reasons.
Business owners across the street from the Amway Center filed an injunction to stop the fence from going up. They claim it will hurt their businesses.
Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said more than $5 million has been invested in the NBA All-Star weekend.
Martins said that the international event is no different from the Super Bowl, or NCAA Final Four, both of which, he says, use similar security.
City officials talked about how heads of state will be in town for the event, along with at least 60,000 other NBA fans.
The ten merchants along Church Street said the fence will block their access to the fans, and hurt their sales over All-Star weekend.
”To redo a security plan that took a year would be almost impossible to recalibrate in a 48 hour period,” Martins said in court Tuesday.
“The fence would seem to lock us out from the activities that’s going to be presented in ways that when people, just the thought of being enclosed or locked in or locked out of something, it gives a negative connotation, that there’s something wrong with what we do, “ Church Street business owner Alonzo Adams said in court.
The city did offer the merchants a chance to be inside that security fence but during testimony Tuesday it was learned that city officials said the businesses hours would be limited if they were inside the fence.
The city offered the businesses up to $3,000 for the inconvenience. Only the owner of a dry cleaning business accepted that offer.
Unless the judge stops it, the fence will be put up on Wednesday.
WFTV
