{"id":56964,"date":"2025-11-22T20:25:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T20:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/56964\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T20:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T20:25:41","slug":"cheers-and-jeers-for-florida-classic-special-event-zone-in-orlando-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/56964\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheers and jeers for Florida Classic \u2018special event zone\u2019 in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Orange and green and maroon and gold cover the streets of Parramore as Classic Weekend<\/a> gets underway in Orlando.<\/p>\n

Former B-CU football player Zurze Gordon calls it more than a game. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a football game. You look at it like a football game, but it\u2019s not really a football game. It\u2019s like a family reunion or a big cookout,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

For FAMU College of Law student Aaron Lucas, the generations of families who come for the experience also enjoy the unity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI always came here as a kid. I think that\u2019s something a lot of the Black community in Florida does. Whether you went to FAMU or you went to Bethune, you just come here and it\u2019s like a big picnic,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n

Law enforcement is doubling fines, blocking roads, and increasing patrols in \u201cspecial event zones<\/a>.\u201d Vehicles in those zones can be impounded for traffic violations. <\/p>\n

Gordon supports the added enforcement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s necessary protection. You have kids. People don\u2019t come here on their own, they bring their kids as well,\u201d he said, adding that the zones help crack down on unpermitted events. \u201cThey would get out of their car and do up-and-down with the hydraulics and stuff, which was uncalled for. But that\u2019s what they were doing. I\u2019m glad that the police of Orlando straightened that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some believe the response is excessive. <\/p>\n

When asked whether the level of enforcement is necessary for events like this, Lucas did not agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so, and I wonder if they did the same thing for EDC,\u201d Lucas said. \u201cI saw a lot of code compliance out here today that I didn\u2019t see for EDC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Commissioner Shan Rose shared residents\u2019 concerns about large groups of officers at gas stations near the stadium \u2014 some saying it felt like a \u201cprison encampment.\u201d Rose also described her own experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cI pulled into the gas station to get gas, and there were probably like 10 cop cars just sitting around. It\u2019s one thing if you\u2019re on duty actively engaging, but they were just sitting in the parking lot. So to me, they were just sitting, waiting on something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rose wants law enforcement to better educate residents and find a balance. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be a happy medium, a balance on how we continue to have safe communities and a good rapport with law enforcement, where it doesn\u2019t seem harassing or like over-policing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Rose is also encouraging residents to voice their concerns at the upcoming city commission meeting.<\/p>\n

News 6 has reached out to Orlando police about the community\u2019s concerns, but the department had not responded at the time of this report.<\/p>\n

[WATCH BELOW: News 6 interview with Stephen A. Smith ahead of Florida Classic]<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Orange and green and maroon and gold cover the streets of Parramore as Classic Weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[35205,1814,33920,1335,139,141,140,35204,110,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-56964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-b-cu","9":"tag-famu","10":"tag-florida-classic","11":"tag-orange-county","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-special-event-zone","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}