mangina
11-20-2003, 10:52 AM
Decades Old Cabaret Law Faces Repeal
By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: November 20, 2003
The age-old battle between the New York of nightclubbing revelers and the New York of sleep-deprived neighbors entered a new phase yesterday when the Bloomberg administration said it would move to repeal a Jazz Age law that prohibits dancing in bars and nightclubs that do not hold special licenses.
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Declaring her intention of putting "the dance police" out of business, Gretchen Dykstra, the commissioner of the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, called for scrapping the old cabaret licenses. In their place, she said, the city should issue new "nightlife licenses" that would allow it to regulate the unwanted side effects of nightlife that people really care about_: noise, disorderly crowds and filthy sidewalks.
It is the administration's attempt to balance the needs of those who boast that New York is a city that never sleeps, and those who complain about it.
The cabaret law was Mayor Jimmy Walker's attempt at that balance in 1926. A city report at the time noted that the law's opponents said that "when strangers came to New York, they wanted to `run wild.' " The report concluded that "there has been altogether too much running wild in some of these nightclubs."
The law now requires bars and nightclubs to have a cabaret license, in addition to a liquor license, if their patrons are to dance legally. Businesses say the licenses are not easy to come by.
Over the years, the law has been enforced heavily at some points and ignored at others.
It became an issue during the Giuliani administration, when the city began using the law as a weapon in its broader crackdown on quality-of-life crimes.
Few tears will be shed for the cabaret law if the City Council agrees to repeal it.
Stories abound of nightclubs that have switched at a moment's notice from dance music to country or (sorry, Beatles fans) "Eleanor Rigby" to get their patrons to stop gyrating when inspectors arrived. Some disgruntled night owls said New York City was losing its groove and turning into a real-life version of the small town that banned dancing in "Footloose," the Kevin Bacon movie musical. Other revelers were moved to action: they held a "Million Mambo March" to protest the law.
Ms. Dykstra announced the proposal to change the law at the Knitting Factory, a downtown nightclub that does not have a cabaret license.
"They have to expend resources and energy telling people not to dance," she said. "They don't have any community problems, they don't have violations. But people can't shake their booties when they come to the Knitting Factory. And that strikes us as a little odd."
In overhauling the nightlife laws, the administration is hoping to win back the good will of owners and patrons of bars and clubs, some of whom are annoyed by the city's smoking ban. But while the proposed repeal of the dancing ban was greeted ecstatically by some bar owners, other industry representatives expressed concerns about the licensing system that would replace it.
The proposal would require clubs to get nightlife licenses if they meet three criteria: they want to be louder than 90 decibels on a continuing basis, they remain open after 1 a.m., and they have a capacity of more than 75 in residential areas or more than 200 in commercial areas.
Each bar or club would have to get a professional sound engineer to certify that it has enough soundproofing to comply with the city's noise code. (Ninety decibels, officials said, is louder than a dog barking and quieter than a plane taking off.) And the city would be allowed to revoke the license of any club that is repeatedly caught selling liquor to minors or without a liquor license, or operating without sprinklers, exit signs or emergency lights, or that is the scene of crimes including assault and rape.
Christopher Policano, a spokesman for the City Council, said the Council would study the proposed law when it received it.
Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the New York Nightlife Association, a trade organization, applauded the city for moving to repeal the cabaret law, but he said he would rather see the city step up its enforcement of existing laws. The association wants a law allowing off-duty police officers to provide security at bars and clubs.
To some, the change cannot happen fast enough. At Plant Bar, on Third Street between Avenues B and C, the owner, Dominique Keegan, thought he had a system in place to keep surreptitious dancers safe. The bouncer was supposed to flip a switch if it looked as if inspectors were on their way, turning on a blue light telling the disc jockey to turn off the dance music and put on "Kid A," a less-than-boppy Radiohead album.
But the plan fell through in March, when a disc jockey did not know the code and the bar was cited for "16 people dancing." After a second ticket, it was padlocked. To reopen, Mr. Keegan had to discourage dancing, do away with the disc jockeys and put in a jukebox. Since then, he said, business has been way off. Under the proposed law, he would not need a nightlife license because his bar holds fewer than 75 people.
The news that dancing could soon be legal, he said, is "music to my ears, if you'll forgive the pun."
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By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: November 20, 2003
The age-old battle between the New York of nightclubbing revelers and the New York of sleep-deprived neighbors entered a new phase yesterday when the Bloomberg administration said it would move to repeal a Jazz Age law that prohibits dancing in bars and nightclubs that do not hold special licenses.
Advertisement
Declaring her intention of putting "the dance police" out of business, Gretchen Dykstra, the commissioner of the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, called for scrapping the old cabaret licenses. In their place, she said, the city should issue new "nightlife licenses" that would allow it to regulate the unwanted side effects of nightlife that people really care about_: noise, disorderly crowds and filthy sidewalks.
It is the administration's attempt to balance the needs of those who boast that New York is a city that never sleeps, and those who complain about it.
The cabaret law was Mayor Jimmy Walker's attempt at that balance in 1926. A city report at the time noted that the law's opponents said that "when strangers came to New York, they wanted to `run wild.' " The report concluded that "there has been altogether too much running wild in some of these nightclubs."
The law now requires bars and nightclubs to have a cabaret license, in addition to a liquor license, if their patrons are to dance legally. Businesses say the licenses are not easy to come by.
Over the years, the law has been enforced heavily at some points and ignored at others.
It became an issue during the Giuliani administration, when the city began using the law as a weapon in its broader crackdown on quality-of-life crimes.
Few tears will be shed for the cabaret law if the City Council agrees to repeal it.
Stories abound of nightclubs that have switched at a moment's notice from dance music to country or (sorry, Beatles fans) "Eleanor Rigby" to get their patrons to stop gyrating when inspectors arrived. Some disgruntled night owls said New York City was losing its groove and turning into a real-life version of the small town that banned dancing in "Footloose," the Kevin Bacon movie musical. Other revelers were moved to action: they held a "Million Mambo March" to protest the law.
Ms. Dykstra announced the proposal to change the law at the Knitting Factory, a downtown nightclub that does not have a cabaret license.
"They have to expend resources and energy telling people not to dance," she said. "They don't have any community problems, they don't have violations. But people can't shake their booties when they come to the Knitting Factory. And that strikes us as a little odd."
In overhauling the nightlife laws, the administration is hoping to win back the good will of owners and patrons of bars and clubs, some of whom are annoyed by the city's smoking ban. But while the proposed repeal of the dancing ban was greeted ecstatically by some bar owners, other industry representatives expressed concerns about the licensing system that would replace it.
The proposal would require clubs to get nightlife licenses if they meet three criteria: they want to be louder than 90 decibels on a continuing basis, they remain open after 1 a.m., and they have a capacity of more than 75 in residential areas or more than 200 in commercial areas.
Each bar or club would have to get a professional sound engineer to certify that it has enough soundproofing to comply with the city's noise code. (Ninety decibels, officials said, is louder than a dog barking and quieter than a plane taking off.) And the city would be allowed to revoke the license of any club that is repeatedly caught selling liquor to minors or without a liquor license, or operating without sprinklers, exit signs or emergency lights, or that is the scene of crimes including assault and rape.
Christopher Policano, a spokesman for the City Council, said the Council would study the proposed law when it received it.
Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the New York Nightlife Association, a trade organization, applauded the city for moving to repeal the cabaret law, but he said he would rather see the city step up its enforcement of existing laws. The association wants a law allowing off-duty police officers to provide security at bars and clubs.
To some, the change cannot happen fast enough. At Plant Bar, on Third Street between Avenues B and C, the owner, Dominique Keegan, thought he had a system in place to keep surreptitious dancers safe. The bouncer was supposed to flip a switch if it looked as if inspectors were on their way, turning on a blue light telling the disc jockey to turn off the dance music and put on "Kid A," a less-than-boppy Radiohead album.
But the plan fell through in March, when a disc jockey did not know the code and the bar was cited for "16 people dancing." After a second ticket, it was padlocked. To reopen, Mr. Keegan had to discourage dancing, do away with the disc jockeys and put in a jukebox. Since then, he said, business has been way off. Under the proposed law, he would not need a nightlife license because his bar holds fewer than 75 people.
The news that dancing could soon be legal, he said, is "music to my ears, if you'll forgive the pun."
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