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Neighbors Oppose Later Hours For Lime

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By MARK HOLAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 25, 2008

SOHO - Neighbors say they don't want The Lime restaurant, 915 S. Howard Ave., staying open later.

"People just want to sleep; they don't want to be woken up by idiot drunks," said Parkland Estates activist Anneliese Meier.

The restaurant wants to extend its hours to midnight Thursday and 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday from 11 p.m. Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday.

"Midnight hours are fine," Meier said. "We realize we live in an urban area."

The city council will consider the restaurant's request at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in its third-floor chambers at 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. The council denied a similar request from Lime last year.

The Lime co-owner James Lanza said there are 35 alcohol licenses on South Howard between Bayshore and Kennedy boulevards, and only four have restricted hours. He owns three of those businesses: The Lime, Water and Daily Eats.

"We just want what everybody else on Howard Avenue has," Lanza said.

The Lime serves Mexican and South American cuisine and shows sports on its plasma televisions.

Lanza said many big sporting events don't end until after midnight. He also said neighbors don't realize that an increasing number of people eat dinner later.

"We don't intend to turn into a full-fledged bar," he said.

The neighborhood is wrestling with parking problems and other issues related to South Howard nightlife.

"We have seen the business district creep into our neighborhood, and it is very disconcerting to us," West Morrison Avenue residents Jim and Rebecca Evangelista wrote in an e-mail to Councilman John Dingfelder.

"Besides increased traffic, crime, noise and congestion, the sense of community and neighborhood is being lost," the couple wrote.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 259-7651 or mholan@tampatrib.com.

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