Entertainment district brings great potential to downtown

The city of Sebring is on to something big that could drastically improve the city's downtown core. It will have critics, no doubt, but now is the time to make this happen and allow the downtown circle area to come alive with entertainment.

Last week the Sebring City Council had a first reading of a proposed Entertainment Overlay District. The city's Community Redevelopment Agency put it together and proposed it to the council. Council approved it on the first reading.

Before this can happen there will be a second reading and another vote. We're sure there will be a lot more opposition on the second reading. That's fine. Everyone deserves to have a say. We just hope that despite the protests or number of people who show up, the council remembers the many thousands of people who support this change.

So what is an entertainment overlay district? It's a mapped out area of downtown that allows for restaurants, delis, clubs, sports bars and the like to operate in this district despite ordinances restricting some businesses within certain distances to churches. It allows these mainly evening establishments to open.

The CRA has been pushing this for some time, but now is the perfect time. There are open storefronts just waiting for new businesses. And the CRA board understands that first and foremost people need to come downtown. Restaurants bring people downtown. Evening entertainment brings people downtown. Then comes retail and other commerce.

Some people throw out examples of other Florida beach communities with bustling downtowns as an example for Sebring. There might be some good ideas we could share, but every community is different. Every demographic is different. Sebring is a far cry from a highbrow beach community. But the downtown has a ton of charm and beauty with loads of potential.

Sebring has ramped up activities in the downtown area a great deal. The recent renovation, although not completed, is a great addition. Put some after-hours life into that area and the entire downtown has the potential to spring to life much more than what's currently happening.

We're not talking about a booze infested red light district, as some folks might characterize it. We're talking about a fun place with coffee shops, cafes, wine bars and, yes, pubs and bars. Not giant nightclubs filled with bad influences.

Sebring is lucky to have a progressive CRA and city council in place to make this finally happen. The city and its residents have so much to gain and a population wanting more and better entertainment.

We hope the second hearing goes well and the council supports this entertainment district.