Opinion
The Anti-Club Police
(Steve Lewis: Good Night Mr. Lewis)
In 2007, the NYPD asked the city council for expanded ability to enforce the Nuisance Abatement Law. This law gives the police the right to close an establishment where violent crimes, drug sales, prostitution, gambling, are going on or where building, health or zoning laws are being violated. Proponents of this law claim that it is in the interest of the public to close or regulate establishments where criminal activity is being carried out. The nightlife industry as a whole and the New York Nightlife Association in particular doesn’t argue the merits of the law. However Steve Lewis, and other nightlife experts, think the current enforcement of this law is a problem.
In a recent posting on his blog Steve Lewis explained how the NYPD manipulates the system to the detriment of the nightlife industry. When a club or bar is closed, it is invariably closed on a Friday. This has two effects. First, the club cannot respond the charges until the courts re-open on Monday. Second, the club can’t open until it responds. Since the weekend is where most of the money is made, the police have effectively killed the business of the club for that weekend. Keep in mind the police can close a club that is charged with violating the nuisance law. It doesn’t have to prove the law has actually been broken. While the losses that the nightlife industry suffers might be more than enough to justify a lawsuit, club owners are reluctant to start a case that will draw the animosity of the police department. This reluctance gives the elements in the police department that have initiated this plan (Mr. Lewis makes it clear that he is not accusing the entire NYPD of this abuse) a free hand in targeting nightlife.
There are some clubs that break laws when they are open. They need to be controlled and the police need to control it. But the solution to this problem is not attacking the entire industry. That makes about as much sense as punishing every driver in the city because a few people drive drunk. The practice of abusing the Nuisance Abatement Law, and the liquor license struggles we have described in Can We Keep Clubs Open and Last Call are simply the latest examples of attacks on clubs. We are the people who appreciate and enjoy New York nightlife. Up to this point we have also been the silent majority, unable or unwilling to speak out against things done allegedly for our benefit. If we continue to be silent, nightlife will suffer and ultimately, so will we.
And if you want to find out more about what's going on in New York nightlife, sign up for NYN Insider. It's free.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
For 25 years (1976-2001) I owned & operated my own business, a "Sound Company". Every "Dance Club" floor and "Rock 'n' Roll" stage needs a sound system, from turntables to sub-woofers for the "D.J.'s and mics, stage monitors, mixing consoles for live shows - the list is endless, and so were the hours I put into these systems maintaining them, upgrading them, etc. Over a 25 year period I built over 50 of the N.Y.C.'s Most Famous Clubs. When the "Happyland Social Club" burned down in the 90's, the City created a "Social Club Task Force" to target and inspect "Illegal" clubs for Fire and Occupancy violations (a good thing). Instead, the new Laws enabled this "Task Force" to single out ANY club, for ANY reason, shut them down, confiscate their liquor license, and behave like 'Storm Troopers" harassing 20 and 30 year old establishments with illegal closings on prime week-ends & holidays (a bad thing), effectively ending N.Y.C. nightlife as we knew it. I lost my Company, income, savings and equipment, along with all of my years of honest, hard work to this "Nightlife Gestapo" as they harassed (1) Club after another into closing. I saw enough to write a book, and to make you sick - from bribes and payoffs, to outright entrapment by the N.Y.P.D.. I am out of work, and see no end in sight to the N.Y.P.D.'s and the Social Club Task Force's abuse of the "Happyland Fire" laws. N.Y.C. changed from "Fun City" to "Done City". I remained here in the hopes that a trampled garden could re-grow itself, but the initial onslaught was so brutal, I doubt any 'sane' businessman would open a Club in N.Y.C., and simply move on to Fla., L.A., or Austin where music and nightlife are permitted to flourish. But I planted my roots here, and I've waited this long for change; only to see 'changes for the worse' (very bad). I mourn the loss of "Broadway Babies" who tended the Bars between auditions, or Waited tables and sang in restaurants, and the up & coming "Musicians" that have fled this decaying scene. N.Y.P.D. should be proud - N.Y.C. is as dead as Pittsburg at night. Now if their corrupt minds could only remember why they were given so much power, they would remember to close the Clubs that violate the laws, not every Club with a liquor license, or a dance floor, or a sound system. Ultimate Power Corrupts Ultimately.
Post a Comment