Detroit and dance culture are synonymous. Motown songs and techno tracks bring positive energy to the mind and move the body, regardless of time and place. Yet in Detroit itself dance and entertainment are prohibited between the hours of 2 a.m and 7:30am. The local municipal code must be changed to allow 24-hour expression of what the city does best: innovate, create, move the world.  We would like to ask Detroit City Council and Mayor Duggan to remove the following paragraph from the municipal code:

Sec. 5-7-5. - Dancing and entertainment prohibited during certain hours.
 
In accordance with Section 1113 of the Michigan Liquor Control Code of 1998, being MCL 436.2113, dancing or entertainment shall not be permitted upon the premises of any Group "A," "B," or "C" Cabaret on any day between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., except that dancing and entertainment 1) shall be prohibited on December 24th from 9:00 p.m. through December 26th at 7:00 a.m., and 2) shall be permitted on January 1st between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.

(Ord. No. 11-04, § 1, 3-24-04)

The Detroit-Berlin Connection is leading efforts to end the decades-long dance curfew from 2 to 7:30 a.m. in the city. The laws stretch back to a time when auto industry and political leaders in Detroit, along with the state's Liquor Control Commission, aimed to limit hours of entertainment as a way to protect business interests - as well as reduce late night options for people of color in the neighborhoods like Black Bottom-Paradise Valley, which flourished with jazz and blues clubs in the 1930s and 1940s, but was demolished to make way for interstate highways and other urban renewal projects in the 1950s.

Detroit is considered an innovator and influencer of creative industries worldwide, yet its leading artists - most of whom are predominantly African American - must make their living in cities with less restrictive, more open night economies in Europe and elsewhere around the world.  There are 40+ cities that have adopted the 24-hour model and we feel this change will take the movement in a positive direction and put Detroit on the path to being the first 24-hour city in region.   We feel that this petition will illustrate the tremendous amount of support there is both locally and around the world for this change.  This is the first step in the process of what needs to be done do to make 24-hour dancing in Detroit legal.