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Miami Beach Business Owners Say Mayor's Curfew Is Cutting Into Their Bottom Line

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Miami Beach is struggling to deal with a crush of spring breakers. The city has ordered a nighttime curfew from Thursday through the weekend for the next couple of weeks. It's hurting businesses already hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Here's WLRN's Veronica Zaragovia.

VERONICA ZARAGOVIA, BYLINE: Here on this block of famed Miami Beach, there's a tattoo parlor, cafes, a huge post office and a phone repair shop. But now, very little foot traffic.

EDMUNDO TARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

ZARAGOVIA: Look; we're empty, says Edmundo Tarin. Tourists are scared, he adds. Tarin manages the Alma Mexicana restaurant. He says people canceled deliveries over the weekend because police have blocked off streets.

TARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

ZARAGOVIA: This is our situation now, and we'll be affected every day till next month, he adds.

TARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

ZARAGOVIA: Sydney Austin says he could also use more customers. He manages a bike shop near the beach where people have been canceling reservations.

SYDNEY AUSTIN: They don't want to come to the city because they've heard so much bad press, and they're actually scared to come. So it has negatively impacted our business significantly, actually.

ZARAGOVIA: Tourist Ronisha Lightfoot of Houston says she came to celebrate her 35th birthday.

RONISHA LIGHTFOOT: And we were supposed to go out to the club, but we couldn't because the 8 o'clock curfew. But that's OK. We made it good. We made it worth the while of coming out here from Texas. So hey, girl, look; I will come back. I will come back.

ZARAGOVIA: Some businesses are changing how they operate, like the popular bar Clevelander, which closed voluntarily last Friday to protect its staff and patrons. It decided to reopen yesterday, even with the curfew. It's planning daytime gatherings as one way to limit spring break crowds gathering on the streets. For NPR News, I'm Veronica Zaragovia in Miami Beach.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Verónica Zaragovia was born in Cali, Colombia, and grew up in South Florida. She’s been a lifelong WLRN listener and is proud to cover health care for the station. Verónica has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master's degree in journalism. For many years, Veronica lived out of a suitcase (or two) in New York City, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, D.C., San Antonio and Austin, where she worked as the statehouse and health care reporter with NPR member station KUT.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.