How Big is New York Nightlife? Part II

By Gamal Hennessy

Last night I described the size and scope of nightlife venues and what they do to directly stimulate the economy. Today we’ll look at the other side of the equation and look at the economic activity of patrons in New York clubs.

Patron Population

All the venues and operators are useless without someone to actually serve. The 2004 Impact Study concluded that the attendance in New York clubs is more than 65,000,000 entries per year. Keep in mind that ‘entries’ is not a direct measure of the number of people who patronize nightlife on an annual basis, since club hopping and bar crawling could take one person to several venues in a night. A tourist might hit a club on her vacation in New York. A nightlife native might visit 50 or 60 venues in a year. Although total entries do not translate directly into 65,000,000 patrons, it is more than three times the amount of attendance at all 8 New York sports teams combined. 64% of nightlife patrons live within the five boroughs with each New York native visiting an average of 2.14 clubs per night out. The other 36% of all nightlife patrons came into the city from out of town and they visit an average of 2 venues per stay.

Cash Flow

Pre-Club Activity: Patrons don’t just magically appear on the dance floor at night. There are many activities that they engage in and spend money on before the night begins. The Study found that each native spent an average of $67 per person on these ‘pre-club’ activities including purchasing clothing, dining out and other activities. In addition, 82% of patrons used some form of transportation to get to the venue, for another $15 per person. So in total, each New York resident spent about $80 before she even walks inside the club. Tourist spending at non nightlife venues was even higher than resident spending. 86% of tourists people engaged in some other activity when they went to a club including dinner shopping, but also including hotels, theaters and sightseeing for an average of $90 per person. The out of town group also spent an average of $110 to get to and from the city and the venues they decided to visit, bringing their per person spending total to almost $200.

Liquor Purchases: The Study and the Zagat guide don’t estimate how much patrons spend when they are actually in a venue, but we can develop an educated guess. In our estimate, we’re going to assume that a person goes into a bar or club and buys four drinks; two for himself and two for the person he is with. I’m assuming a social unit of two, even though larger groups are just as common in clubs. I’m also assuming basic manners here, which means people not going Dutch. This might be overly optimistic in New York City, but in my experience New Yorkers can be very generous with alcohol, especially if they’ve already had a drink or two.

To keep things simple, I’m not including cover fees, coat check fees or bottle service, which would raise the numbers exponentially Let’s say each drink is $10. This is an average between the $5 beer and the $15 martini. That means in every club this guy goes into, our theoretical patron spends a total of $40. Let’s project that out to the total group. If there are 65,000,000 entries per year and only half of them pay for drinks then that’s 32,500,000 “drink entries” per year. If each drink entry is worth $40, then the estimated spending by nightlife patrons in clubs is 1.3 billion dollars.

Effect on the City

The amount of jobs, patronage and spending in nightlife might seem abstract until you put it in context. To place the numbers in perspective, we can look at the local film industry. According to the Mayor’s Office for Film, Theater and Broadcasting, local TV and movie production generates $5 billion dollars in economic activity for the city. In comparison, nightlife generates twice the revenue. The film industry has a government office to support and promote it. Nightlife has no such office despite repeated calls from operators to create it. If and when the city puts its full support behind the nightlife industry the benefit to the city could rise exponentially.

Have fun.
Gamal

New Political Group Forms to Enhance New York Nightlife

By Gamal Hennessy

Unless you are having a heated political discussion over beers, nightlife and politics don’t usually mix. Think about it, what does politics have to do with grabbing a drink with your friends, chatting up a girl for her phone number and dancing like no one is watching? Why not sit back, have a good time, and leave politics for the politicians?

That isn’t a good idea because if we don’t see nightlife as a political issue, we don’t have a voice. Various groups including community boards, law enforcement agencies, and real estate developers weigh in on what they want in relation to nightlife. The only major group that does not have a seat at the table to push its agenda is us. Patrons do not have an organization that directly represents their needs or even defines what those needs are.

A group of nightlife advocates are taking steps to improve this situation by creating the Nightlife Preservation Committee (NPC). Utilizing their ability to reach voters, their substantial connections in media and entertainment and the financial strength of their industry, the NPC plans to be a forum for nightlife that has not been seen in local politics before.

In the short term, the NPC plans to establish political influence in the New York City primaries by reaching out to almost 500,000 club goers who are also registered voters. That voting block could make or break the career of an aspiring politician, since local primaries are often decided by only a few thousand votes. At the same time, the NPC want to act as a bridge, connecting nightlife patrons to the local community, law enforcement, health agencies and other groups that have not seen eye to eye in the past. In the long term the NPC plans to represent the interests of the nightlife community as the issues and concerns about nightlife evolve.

The members of the NPC were kind enough to let me sit down with them as they planned their inaugural event, which is scheduled for June 22nd at M2. I met with Ariel Palitz (Sutra), Steven Lewis (Good Night Mr. Lewis), David Rabin (the New York Nightlife Association), Paul Seres (Sol), Morgan McLean (Rebel) and Paul Insalaco (BF9 Media). I posed several questions to the group to get a better idea of how they planned to connect nightlife and politics.

NYN: What are the long term goals of the NPC?
David Rabin: “In the broadest sense, we want to have an impact on state and local politics as they relate to the nightlife industry.”

Steven Lewis: “We want to revive the concept that New York is the City That Never Sleeps in the same way that Vegas embraced the concept of What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas. We want to spotlight the link between the prosperity of the city and the prosperity of our industry in the same way that the two concepts are connected in Vegas and Miami.”

Are you planning to use the NPC as a pro-nightlife organization to counter anti-nightlife groups within NYC?
Ariel Palitz: “We aren’t trying to polarize the discussion. We don’t want one group of people to automatically vote against any new club. We also don’t want anyone to fight for every venue as a knee jerk reaction. Our goal is to have each venue and each issue judged on its own merits.”

Paul Seres: We are trying to create a more balanced discussion, rather than increase the level of conflict between nightlife and the community. Most of us serve on community boards, so we know there are a lot of things that need to be considered with each club and each operator.

What public relations challenges does the NPC face?
Morgan McLean: “The media paints the entire industry with one broad brush. If one of us is accused of something, then all of us are assumed to be guilty, but an entire industry should not be defined by a few bad operators.”

Rabin: “When someone gets robbed inside a bodega, the cops don’t make the bodega liable. If a fight breaks out in a pizzeria and someone gets hurt, the pizzeria isn’t blamed. In the current environment if those same incidents happen in a club, then it’s the club’s fault. It’s the entire industry’s fault.”

Lewis: “We need to change the way we are perceived. Nightlife brings jobs and taxes and tourism and life to the city. We generate twice the revenue of film and television in New York. Our annual attendance is more than every major sports team and Broadway combined. We want to work with the city and the community boards to continue to do that and more.”

Morgan: “We can’t build our individual businesses or enhance nightlife in general because we spend so much time trying to defend and justify our existence.”

How is the NPC different from NYNA? Both groups are run by operators. Both groups support and advocate local nightlife? Why is a separate group necessary?

Seres: The NYNA is a trade association of nightlife owners. The NPC is a conduit of information for nightlife patrons. It is designed to mobilize people who are interested in the political and policy aspects of nightlife in a manner that is similar to a political action committee.

The NPC will officially kick off on June 22nd. What happens on June 23rd?
Seres: We plan to launch a website on the same day as the initial event and use that as a way to get information out to our people on an ongoing basis. We’d also like to have a series of meetings and events where candidates running for office can meet patrons who are interested in protecting nightlife. Many people never get to meet or talk to the people that they vote for. The NPC will give them a platform to express how important nightlife is to their entire life.

Have fun.
Gamal

The Liquor Authority Gets a Wake Up Call

By Gamal Hennessy

Last week the Inspector General raided the offices of the State Liquor Authority. Former SLA employees are being accused of bribing employees to manipulate the system. While the investigation focuses on the gift cards and other petty items offered in exchange for “preferred” treatment, officials need to focus on the underlying situation that created the fraud and clean up the liquor licensing system.

The New York State Alcohol Beverage Control Law (ABC) states that an application for a liquor license should get an initial review within 30 days. Nightlife operators have complained for years that the review often took 2-3 months because of a lack of inspectors among other issues. Recently, nightlife opponents in the outgoing administration managed to drag out that period to 6-8 months.

Operators became increasingly frustrated with the process, since the investment in a bar or club can’t start to make money until they can sell liquor and they can’t sell liquor without a license. That’s where the “handlers” would come in. For a fee, these former SLA employees would offer ‘expedited service’ for an application. The IG claims that the service they performed was calling up their friends who still worked in the SLA, and asking for the applications to get moved to the top of the pile. In return, the handlers would give their friends gift cards and, ironically, bottles of liquor. The IG alleges that some applicants got their forms processed in as little as 11 days instead of waiting half a year or more.

It is regrettable that people in positions of authority, however minor, are willing to manipulate the bureaucracy for their own personal advantage. But the larger issue revolves around the system itself. Robert Bookman, attorney for the New York Nightlife Association, sees this raid as the result of a dysfunctional system:

“It takes 8 months to get a liquor license when the law requires it be done in 30 days. Huge investments are sitting and waiting for a license that is long overdue. Is it any wonder that people will get desperate and will do whatever they have to just to get an honest review of their application? That is the real scandal here. Notice there are no allegations that anyone got a license that they were not entitled to. The crime is that the applications were reviewed quickly…the way they are supposed to be reviewed. I am not condoning illegal activity, but no one has been listening about this unlawful, unacceptable wait for liquor licenses before now.”

If the leaders of the SLA essentially broke the law and created a situation where potential operators have to wait 6-8 months for a license, and refused to hire more examiners, then they created the atmosphere for corrupt practices in the Harlem office. The responsibility for this corruption needs to go a lot higher than the clerks who took Applebee’s gift cards. It needs to lead to a revamping of the whole process. Governor Paterson said he supported “the actions of the I.G.’s office to uncover any wrongdoing that may have occurred within the S.L.A. and is working with the S.L.A. to rebuild the organization.” Hopefully this raid can be the beginning of an overhaul that helps bring jobs and revenue to the state while cleaning up a government agency at the same time.

Have fun.
Gamal

The World's Loudest Cigarette: Six Years of the Smoking Ban

Six years ago this week, a smoking ban was imposed on bars, restaurants and other venues in New York City. While the atmosphere inside bars has improved and there are studies that suggest that there has been a significant improvement in the health of nightlife operators and patrons, there have also been secondary effects that threaten the health of the nightlife industry in general. The city has unintentionally (or perhaps unintentionally) created a situation that puts clubs at odds with local residents and ultimately threatens liquor licenses.

History

Before the election of Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York City, bars and clubs were bastions of smoking. Federal studies found that 61% of heavy alcohol users also smoked, often performing both acts simultaneously. The image entering a smoky bar and approaching a sexual interest by asking for a light were common in many venues in the city. Anyone who went into or worked in a bar accepted the concept that smokers would be there and that they would be able to smell the smoke on their clothes and in their hair long after they left the venue, whether they smoked or not. Back when the world was young and I worked in Webster Hall, I had to sneak outside several times a night for the chance to breathe fresh air. Cigarette smoke triggers my asthma, so for me working in the basement was like working in a burning building. It wasn’t the smartest thing I ever did, but a

hustler does what he has to do, especially when he’s starting out.

In 2002 after Bloomberg became mayor, one of the first things he pushed for was a ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and clubs. The debate leading up to the passage of the law was hotly contested on both sides. Groups that advocated the ban claimed that operators inside the clubs were the most vulnerable to the dangers of second hand smoke because they were exposed to it several hours a night for several nights per week. They claimed a ban would both improve the long term health of operators and improve nightlife business because it would attract people who didn’t smoke into the environment to spend money. Groups that came out against the ban did not deny the health benefits, but they did argue that there would be economic and social effects that the law did not take into account. They also claimed that there would be increased friction from the community because of the noise generated from patrons standing outside to smoke from 5 PM to 4 AM.

The Sound of Smoking

Some people think that a few people standing outside a venue will not substantially increase the level of street noise. But that concept only considers the smokers themselves. They don’t see that smokers, especially female smokers, provide a powerful incentive for groups of fanatics to hang out in front of a club, especially the ones who didn’t get into or got thrown out. In a twisted effort to get noticed and prove their superiority, these individuals will shout, get into fights, honk their horns if they are in their cars, or try to talk to girls from their cars and back up traffic behind them which causes other cars to blow their horns. This sad mating ritual cacophony will die down when the girls finish smoking and go back inside, but it will begin again when the next group of girls comes out of the club to take their place.

The relationship between street noise and smoking outside should not have come as a surprise to anyone involved in the development of the smoking ban since the NYNA informed city that the smoking ban would lead to noise complaints. But when operators requested the ability to hire Paid Detail officers to deal with the inevitable noise the result was the worst of all options. The smoking ban was put in place and the request for Paid Detail was rejected, allowing the smoking ban to become a major contributor of street noise. When street noise increases, 311 complaints from local residents increase. When complaints increase, local community boards can use those complaints to have a venue’s liquor license revoked. Without a liquor license, a bar or a club can’t compete in the market and is forced to close. There is a direct relationship between the smoking ban and the increase in noise complaints against clubs. As the ban enters its 6th year operators need to find a way to keep patrons healthy and stay opened.

Coping Strategies

Different venues use different tactics to deal with the ban. Any venue that has been built or renovated since 2003 could factor the law into their design. The ones that could afford it added heated courtyard lounges like Cielo, rooftop access like Above Allen or fire escape access like APT to give smokers access to the open air without putting them out on the street. Venues that don’t have that option rope off areas in front of the venue to separate the smokers who already made it past the velvet rope from the throngs still trying to get inside.

There are also growing instances of venues that do not rope off areas out front, or create special sections for them. Some operators have come to the conclusion openly or privately that it is easier and more cost effective to simply break the law. Smoking in clubs reported to be on the rise in New York City, either because enforcement has dropped off, or because the fines are low enough that paying them costs less than complying with the law or getting noise complaints. While this minority of operators might not openly reject the law, they have come to the conclusion that the cost of paying the fine is less than the cost of erecting smoking areas or subjecting their liquor licenses to revocation based on noise complaints from smokers standing outside. Some solutions have worked better than others, but one thing the clubs won’t do is discourage smoking by their clientele since by some operator estimates, smokers account for 40% of patrons.

A More Viable Solution

There is an alternative that protects the health of patrons and operators, keeps noise levels down outside of venues and allows patrons to smoke all at the same time. There are air filtration systems on the market that have been approved by the Department of Health and are currently used by infectious disease wards in hospitals to clean the air. These systems reportedly are the size of a humidifier and one of them can keep 1,250 square feet of interior air cleaner than the air in Central Park, even if 60% of the people are smoking inside. The NYNA proposed that if a venue was primarily a bar, lounge or club and not a restaurant then they could have one filter installed for every 1,250 square feet of interior space and become exempt from the ban. This request was not included in the final version of the law.

The best options available for the industry are to continue to lobby officials on the state or and local level that patrons can smoke inside without health risks, through the use of technology like filtration units. They can also try and work with local community leaders and law enforcement to gain the power to control or reduce noise outside the venues through Paid Detail. Finally, they could work to sever the links between street noise and liquor licenses so that loud patrons don’t lead to closed venues. Whatever tactic operators decide to use they need to insure that the smoking ban isn’t harmful to nightlife health.

Have fun.
Gamal

Balancing the Budget at the Bar

By Gamal Hennessy

Everyone knows we are in a recession. Not many people are sure how we’re going to get out of it. Many lawmakers on the state level think one of the keys to generating revenue and balancing their budgets will come from increases in so called ‘sin taxes’. This would mean that the state tax on liquor could go up. If the taxes on liquor go up, how long will it be before the cost of drinking goes up too?

Andrew Cleary of Bloomberg.com reported that state law makers across the country are planning to increase the taxes on beer, wine and spirits in an attempt to close budget gaps through increased taxation. At the same time, stocks of beverage companies have been decreasing up to 40% in the last 12 months as people tighten their belts in the face of economic uncertainty. While lobbyists for the liquor companies plan to fight against these measures, victory for them appears unlikely. If they get taxed, then the operators who serve the liquor have to pay more per bottle of liquor. If they have to pay more to buy liquor, guess who’s going to probably pay more to drink it….

I’ll give you a hint…it’s you. But before you bang your fist on the desk and curse the greedy club owner for stealing your hard earned wages, it would help to understand the economics of serving drinks.

Of course, the main source of revenue for a bar is the drinks that are served. Each drink also represents a specific cost that the bar has to pay before the bartender can throw that little napkin down on the bar and ask you what you want. The price the bar pays to serve each drink is based on the cost of the ingredients, the serving costs and the glass costs which combine to become what business plans call the cost of goods sold.

Understanding how the cost of goods sold works, we need to examine a drink and the costs associated with it. Let’s take a Vodka/ Cranberry for example because it’s simple. You go to the bar order it and the bartender charges you $8. You are shocked.

According to the Professional Bar & Beverage Manager’s Handbook, there are about 25 ounces of liquor in a 750 ml bottle. So if a bar uses a bottle of Absolut with a wholesale price of $15, then every ounce of vodka costs $.60 ($15 ÷25 ounces). If the bar puts 4 ounces of vodka in each drink, then each bottle can make about 6 drinks. So for every $15 the bar spends on liquor it pulls in $48 (6 drinks x 8 dollars).

But a vodka cranberry has more than vodka in it. Let’s say that the cranberry juice is $.20 per ounce and the ice and lime are $.05 each. When the bartender makes your drink, let’s figure a 4 to 3 ratio in a 10 ounce rocks glass. That means roughly 4 ounces of vodka ($2.40) and 3 ounces of cranberry ($.60), ice and the little lime wedge ($.10). Based on our initial prices, the bar pays $3 for the materials to serve you the drink. If the drink is $8 that means there is $5 in profit.

At this point, you might assume that you need to open a bar and make some money. Before you apply for your liquor license, you need to consider the additional costs. Drinks don’t just appear in front of you. This isn’t Star Trek. The bartender who served you the drink has to be paid. The bar back who gets the ice and cleans up the empty glasses has to get paid. Each glass that drinks are served in have to be paid for and each one has a potential to only be used once because it could chip or break completely in the hands of the drunk and clumsy. All those costs could equal an additional $.50-$.75 per drink. There is a tax on the liquor that figures into the price. If that tax goes up, then the cost of the drink goes up too.

Then you have to take a look at where you are. Unless you’re passing around a bottle of Mad Dog around a barrel fire by the highway, the space you’re drinking in has to be paid for. There is the rent for the venue and the taxes associated with that real estate (keep in mind that the cost per square foot in New York City is among the highest in the country). There are entertainment costs whether you’re talking about a satellite TV sports package, a DJ, a band or an internet jukebox. There are costs associated with the furniture you’re sitting on. There is a cost for the décor. There are costs for the security guard or hostess standing out front. The license for the computer system and touch screens that the bartenders use isn’t shareware. It costs money. Utilities like water, gas, telephone, heat, electricity and website maintenance associated with the venue also have to be paid. When you take all of that into account, you might have added another $2 to the cost of serving you that drink.

Then there are costs for things that patrons don’t see at all. There are insurance costs. There are costs for the lawyers, accountants and other professional services that a business needs. There are costs for maintenance associated with keeping things like the lights and the toilets working. You’re now talking about another $.50 to $1 cost per drink.

Finally, you have optional costs like marketing, advertising, uniforms for the staff and laundry costs for those uniforms. Or promotional deals like happy hour, two for one specials and other events designed to get people in the door by lowering the price of the drinks. If you decided to include these costs, tack on another $.20-$.50 per drink.

Now that $8 might cost the bar more than $7 to serve you. That leaves a per drink profit of less than $1. While that can be a decent return if you serve thousands of drinks per night, it doesn’t leave much room for error. If the tax goes up enough, most or all of that profit could be gone.

Of course, there are other ways a club can generate money, like covers, bottles and corporate parties. And if the state decided to let more bars open, it might not have to raise the liquor tax to generate more revenue. But this is not an argument to make you feel sorry for operators. The professional ones can keep costs down and be very successful, even in this economy. It is meant to serve as a more realistic look at the price a bar has to pay to keep the doors open. We want you to avoid sticker shock when you slide up to the bar. Just take a deep breath, pay for your drink and toast the inevitable end of the recession.

Have fun.
Gamal

Where is New York’s Nightlife District?

By Gamal Hennessy

Many major cities have designated areas where nightlife concentrates. Vegas has the Strip. New Orleans has Bourbon Street. South Beach has Ocean Drive. London has Leicester Square. New York has pockets of venues scattered all over the city, but what if there was a central area that was easy to get to, isolated from local residents, and big enough to house the next generation of mega clubs? Could something like that work here? Would we want it to?

Diane Vacca of Chelsea Now reported last week that members of community boards 4 and 5 in Midtown are in the initial stages of a plan that would designate areas in the Garment District (between 34th and 41st Streets and 6th and 9th Avenues) as a manufacturing zone. By using a non residential area for larger nightclubs like the venues currently in West Chelsea, the boards hope to give the residents of the quality of life they are looking for while providing space for a vital part of New York’s culture and economy.

Clubs have had conflict in recent years with local residents, community boards and police where local residents complain that the club’s activities are detrimental to the neighborhood and club operators complaining that they don’t have the tools or authority to solve the problems and remain in business. The encroachment of residential buildings into traditional nightlife areas has exacerbated the problem, which probably had a lot to do with this proposal.

Creating an Ocean Drive in Midtown wouldn’t radically alter the geography of most of the cities venues. Local bars, live music venues, lounges, speakeasies, and wine bars would still flourish all over New York. But mega clubs like the historic Palladium, Roxy and the Limelight, recent venues like Crobar and Lotus and current clubs like Webster Hall and Home need more space, generate more street noise and cause more late night traffic congestion than the smaller venues. Creating an area for them could help isolate the inevitable issues that come up.

There are at least two issues with the current plan, both turn on economics. The first question is “How do mega clubs fit into the future of New York nightlife?” The desire for operators to sink money into a mega club might not be very strong. Real estate costs are still fairly high, even in a recession. Liquor licenses are still a time intensive process that can tie up an investment for up to a year. Operating costs might be prohibitive in this district if patrons are planning to hop from club to club like in New Orleans, but are unwilling to pay substantial covers five or six times in one night. And the ability to pack a mega club with patrons on a consistent basis might be challenging without a point of difference to set them apart from the club next door. Steven Lewis has noticed a dispersal of nightlife from a few large venues to many small ones. In that kind of environment, can a mega club survive?

The second issue has to do with the zoning of the area itself. Ms. Vacca reports that the city is unwilling at this point to rezone the area for a nightlife district. Altering their position may take some time. Even if they succeed, operators run the risk of sinking investment capital into properties in a nightlife district only to find that the area is rezoned for residential once they make the area trendy enough for residential developers. This pattern has played itself out in the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea. Vegas and South Beach have created nightlife zones and maintain that status. If a similar New York zone is going to exist, local government needs to have the same commitment to maintain it.

Neither of these obstacles is insurmountable. A specific nightlife zone could spark growth in nightlife similar to what we saw in the mid 1970’s with the rise of Studio 54. Fresh capital and new ideas like a nightlife zone could be the start of a new age in the nightlife industry.

Have fun.
Gamal

New York Nights: The Year in Review

Over the past year, New York Nights has offered a unique perspective on the issues that affect the culture and business of nightlife. I’m looking forward to offering you more insight and information in 2009 but if you’ve missed any of our weekly features, don’t worry. I’ve provided links to all of them below.

Let me know what you think; what you want to know more about, where you think nightlife is going in the New Year and what you enjoy about NYN. Thank you for all your support and have a great year.

The New York Nights Weekly Recap for March 28, 2008
The New York Nights Weekly Recap for April 4, 2008
The New York Nights Poll: How has the Smoking Ban Affected You?
The New York Nights Weekly Recap for April 11, 2008
The New York Nights Weekly Recap for April 18, 2008
Last Call: A New York Nights Special Report for April 25, 2008
The NYN Weekly Recap for May 2, 2008
The NYN Weekly Recap for May 9, 2008
The New York Nights Insider for May 23, 2008
The New York Nights Insider for May 30, 2008
The New York Nights Insider for June 6, 2008
The New York Nights Insider for June 13, 2008
The New York Nights Insider for June 20, 2008
New York Nights Insider: The Pride Issue
The New York Nights Insider: The Independence Issue
The New York Nights Insider: The Alternative Venue Issue
New York Nights Insider: The Turning Point Issue
New York Nights Insider: The Mid Summer Issue
New York Nights Insider: The Liquor and Sex Issue
NYN Insider: The Down Market Issue
New York Nights Insider: The Image Issue
The NYN Insider: The Common Sense Issue
The New York Nights Insider: The Outside Influence Issue
New York Nights Insider: The End of Summer Issue
NYN Insider: The Down Side Issue \
NYN Insider: The Economy Issue
NYN Insider: The Sub Culture Issue
NYN Insider: The Controversy Issue
NYN Insider: The Woman’ Issue
NYN Insider: The Food and Wine Issue
NYN Insider: The Future Issue
NYN Insider: The Experience Issue (with Election Update!)
NYN Insider: The Crime Issue
NYN Insider: The Election Holiday Issue
NYN Insider: The Music and Fashion Issue
NYN Insider: The Culture Issue
NYN Insider: The Perception Issue

Have fun
Gamal

Did New York Nightlife Lose the Election?

By Gamal Hennessy

Clubs were full last Tuesday night celebrating the historic victory of this country’s first black president and began counting down the final days of our worst president. While the tears and champagne were flowing, few people realized that a new player is also coming to Brooklyn, one with a distinct anti-nightlife platform and powerful supporters. Did the election we celebrated give rise to a new enemy to nightlife?

On Monday I got an email from a nightlife operator with a link to Daniel Squadron’s Nightlife Control Plan. I didn’t know who Mr. Squadron was, but I read his plan and I didn’t like what he had to say. No one involved in nightlife, who has seen the rise in power of the community boards, or understands the arbitrary way some boards operate would take the position that CB’s need to have more power without accountability or capriciously decide that any area has “too many bars” and essentially cripple on of the few industries that can continue to bring revenue into the city during an economic downturn. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t support Mr. Squadron. I also quickly understood that my support didn’t matter all that much. I didn’t live in his district and I only found out about him a day before the election. There was no time to get the word out and mobilize support against his election.

So spent the next few days following Sun Tzu’s advice and started to find out more about the new state senator.

It appears that Daniel Squadron is the son of influential attorney Howard Squadron and the former aide to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. His campaign against the 30 year incumbent Martin Connor received endorsements both from political heavyweights like Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg and from local community groups seeking change. The following is a comment taken from The Brooklyn Paper

Daniel Squadron has the endorsement of almost all the Williamsburg leaders and newspapers this week. Folks, we need fresh blood. The coming years will see budget cuts because of lower government incomes. We need young fresh faces that have no old liabilities to fight for our rights...Lets all come out en mass and vote Daniel Squadron

It also appears that Mr. Squadron has links to nightlife that pre-date his Nightlife Control Plan. Based on his account given in July of this year, he once owned a nightlife establishment in the city. This should give him an idea of the pressures and difficulties in owning a New York bar. It should also help him understand the perspective on the community boards and police in relation to the clubs.

But if he does understand what nightlife operators are going through, where does the Nightlife Control Plan come from? Why is it worded to help the community boards restrain bars, but doesn’t openly mention actual standards of proof for them? Does his plan offer the venues protection and support, recognize them for the cultural and financial impact they have on the city? Will his plan build on the strides made by police and operators to keep the city safe or will it drive a deeper wedge between the two sides?

Since Daniel Squadron is the elected senator in Lower Manhattan and he does have substantial political allies, it is not inconceivable that his Nightlife Control Plan will evolve into a law. We can hope that the state senate understands the benefits of New York clubs and reject overly stringent controls. We can hope that lobbyist from the nightlife industry deliver the message that nightlife needs support as well as control. And all of us, especially me, can keep a closer eye on the people who claim to speak for our best interests.

Have fun.
Gamal

Are the Clubs Planning to Take on the Cops?

By Gamal Hennessy

The struggle between the nightlife industry in New York and local government might be moving from the blogsphere to the courtroom. A prominent nightlife figure has reported a lawsuit planned by local clubs against the NYPD. Is this the beginning of a new period of freedom for nightlife, or is the struggle about to take a turn for the worst?

The nature of the conflict
In the nightlife blog Good Night Mr. Lewis, Steven Lewis recently wrote that clubs have recently decided to file suit against the police department. According to the post, the clubs will claim that vice cops staged phony drug buys in their venues in an attempt to implicate the club in the crime. The clubs will then claim that the NYPD abused the Nuisance Abatement Laws (NAL) by selectively choosing to enforce the law in a way that would do the most economic damage to the venues. The combination of these acts results in a situation where the police are “ruining lives and business” and violating due process. The damages sought by the clubs in this suit are said to range in the tens of millions of dollars.

These issues have been simmering for some time. Local nightlife leaders have been aware of this problem since the NAL has been more strictly enforced by the police. While they don’t argue the merits of the law, they think the current enforcement of this law is a problem because it is largely politically motivated.

Robert Bookman, the head of the New York Nightlife Association sees an entity behind the police pulling the strings: “Its not police directly but the Civil Enforcement Unit; they’re not talking amongst themselves. The precinct has no control over it [the closings]; the cops who may have given you the underlying summonses have no control over it. There’s a unit called the Civil Enforcement Unit, they’re the ones who get these complaints from the captains, you know, 'This is a place we want you to consider for NAL.' And it’s the attorneys in this unit that put the papers together, who go to court, get the judge to sign it and choose to serve it almost universally on Friday night. Having said all of that, the situation is better now than a year and a half ago.”

The manipulation of the law might go even deeper than the Civil Enforcement Unit. There is a sense in certain sectors of the nightlife industry that larger real estate developers are trying to manipulate the NAL, the community boards, and using other tactics to reduce nightlife in New York City to make room for more housing construction. If the suit is filed, then all these players and their motivations could potentially be brought to light.

Timing is everything
If this situation has been going on for some time, why are the suits being contemplated now? According to the NYNA, the number of NAL closings has gone down since 2007. The police and the NYNA have made progress in working together to make nightlife safer during that period. In the past, individual clubs were reluctant to take action against community boards, police, or city hall because the backlash could close them down through votes against their liquor licenses, more raids or higher scrutiny from the DOH. So why go to court now?

NYN can only speculate on the actual timing of the suit. It is possible that the recent real estate slump and the political concerns swirling around City Hall make this a good time to go on the offensive with the police, whether or not they are initiating the abuse or just pawns for another group. It could be that the clubs found a way to avoid retaliation, giving them more freedom to act. It is also possible that the economic slowdown makes repeated weekend closures under the NAL impossible to absorb. If clubs are closed for too many weekends they might not reopen at all.

New York nightlife needs the NYPD to maintain the safety of its customers and workers. A protracted court battle between the two groups could lead to a more friction that would ultimately be detrimental to the people who enjoy the nightlife lifestyle. Hopefully, the announcement of a potential suit will induce both sides to come to an amicable agreement before the issue gets dragged through the courts. No matter which direction this goes, NYN will continue to follow the story.

Have fun.
Gamal

Bloomberg’s Nightlife Record

By Gamal Hennessy

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to announce plans to run for a third term in office tomorrow. Various groups are weighing in before the official announcement and the outcome will be controversial no matter how it shakes out. Nightlife, as a distinct facet of the city, also needs to consider the implications of Bloomberg’s tenure. What has the mayor done to support or hinder nightlife during his term? Is nightlife better off with a new mayor?

To get a better picture of how the mayor has impacted nightlife recently, NYN went through all of its past coverage to find Bloomberg’s influence, even though all these events cannot be directly tied to him. Here is a sampling of his programs affecting nightlife since 2003.

Supporting the nightlife industry

October 2007: New York Nightlife Association and New York City Police Department create a new plan to improve security conditions after two separate nightclub murders.

October 2007: New York City launches multi-media campaign to attract tourists to various aspects of New York City, including nightlife.

February 2008: NYC expands its free condom offering to bars and restaurants in the face of rising HIV rates.

July 2008: Mayor signaled willingness to rescind the cabaret law, although that willingness has not been backed up by actions at this point.

Opposing the nightlife industry
March 2003: New York City institutes a smoking ban in bars, clubs and restaurants. While smoking rates have gone down citywide and anecdotal evidence suggests that non smokers now go out more, the ban has amplified issues between local residents and clubs.

June 2007: Mayor’s plan for congestion pricing in midtown threatened to create residual traffic jams on nights and weekends when the tax wouldn’t be in effect.

September 2007: Arguments between the city and local taxi drivers over GPS, credit card, TV screens in the back of all cabs boil over into a cab strike.

April 2008: The NYC Department of Health targets select gay clubs for violations while possibly ignoring a majority of others

Real Estate Issues
The mayor enjoys support in the voting community and in the business sector. Their basic argument is that the extraordinary economic times that we live in call for a mayor that has the business experience to see the city through this difficult time.

When you look at how business has fared in New York recently, it is worth noting that the real estate sector, which experienced a boom under Mr. Bloomberg, is in full retreat now after years of wild profit speculation and uncontrolled growth. It also makes sense to point out that the encroachment of residential real estate into formerly commercial areas where nightlife thrived added to the conflict between clubs and local residents who didn’t want to have their illusion suburban quiet disturbed while they slept in the middle of the city. A more balanced investment by the city between more residential real estate and more support for local nightlife might have been the wiser business strategy.

It is easy to see how Mayor Bloomberg’s term in office was more beneficial to New York nightlife than Mayor Giuliani’s, since Rudy would have preferred to close all clubs. It is difficult to say that his impact on New York nightlife has been wholly negative, given some of his actions. It is impossible to tell if nightlife would be given more support to thrive under a new mayor because we don’t know who the opposing candidate might be. But it is possible to see that he is willing to impose his own lifestyle on others and circumvent or rewrite laws to achieve his goals. If that kind of brazen cowboy attitude to power fails miserably on a national level with Bush/Cheney, what makes us think it will work better on a city level?

Have fun.
Gamal

Source: Michael Barbaro: New York Times

Give us your opinion on what’s going on. Use the comments space below to tell people what you think.

Dating: New York Strengthens the Domestic Violence Law

Restraining orders are not available to any partner who was harassed, abused, beaten or threatened. In order to get one, you have to go to the police, have the guy (the abusers are usually guys) arrested and then get the prosecutor to help you, unless you were married. Most people aren’t willing to go through all that. Now Governor Paterson has agreed to expand the law to cover a wider range of relationships, including people who are dating.

A Brooklyn politician named Helene Weinstein has been pushing for a change in the law since 1988, but this is the first year that there was support from the state senate and the governor’s office. The new law will allow anyone in an “intimate relationship” to get a restraining order in civil court instead of going to criminal court. The relationship could be straight or gay and doesn’t have to include sex at all. The intimate relationship could even be created on the first date if that’s when the stalking starts.

With so many current relationships falling outside the traditional marriage structure, it makes sense that the law evolves to match the society it’s supposed to protect. Even though restraining orders can’t keep someone safe, it’s a step in the right direction and extending that to everyone who could be abused is another positive step. An expanded law can itself be abused by manipulative dates, but a lot of us have seen people at clubs abusing their partners. Maybe a few of them will be able to drink in peace once the law is past.

Source: Danny Hakim: New York Times

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Opinion: The Evolution of Gay Sex Clubs

Opinion
The Evolution of Gay Sex Clubs
(Steve Weinstein Village Voice)
This year’s New York Pride Week marks a turning point in the relationship between heterosexual and homosexual culture in America. California has recently started issuing same sex marriage licenses and the political climate might be right for other states to follow suit.

This year could also see a change in the relationship between homosexuals and nightlife. As the social system changes, staples of gay culture begin to fade away. Gay sex clubs might be one of those staples. It is not necessarily government persecution or disease that’s fueling this trend. A certain segment of the gay community doesn’t seem to want those kinds of parties anymore. The argument is that because coming out doesn’t automatically lead to social isolation anymore, gays and lesbians are less likely to seek release in public sex venues and are therefore less likely to seek out gay sex parties.

While there might be some merit to this argument, there is evidence that the city is helping the trend along by exerting pressure on local gay sex clubs (See Nightlife News Health 4/29/08: “City Cracks Whip on Gay Sex Clubs”) and HIV is still a major concern (See Nightlife News Health 1/8/08: “HIV Cases on the Rise”). Maybe it’s the combination of all three factors, plus the rise of the internet as a source of sexual contact, that are killing off the gay sex parties. This combination could lead to lower HIV rates and further social acceptance between straight and gay communities. It could also be another sign of the homogenization of nightlife in New York, where more and more things are the same and the unique flavor of the city is harder to find.

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.

Club Cruises, Dance Parades and Smoke Smuggling

Nightlife News for May 13, 2008

Events: Club Cruises
Events: The Dance Parade
Smoking: Smokers Will Choose Quitting or Crime

The Cops Chase Weed. The SLA Holds Back.

Nightlife News for May 6, 2008

Crime: Cops Hooked on Pot
Government: SLA Holding Business Down

Nightlife News for April 29, 2008

Drinking: Rum without the Little Umbrella
Government: Cracking the Whip on Gay Sex Clubs.

Nightlife News for April 29 2008

Lesbian Mayors, Fashion Mentors and Free Condoms

Nightlife News for February 19th 2008
By Gamal Hennessy

Cougars, Connections and Giuliani's Other Failure (Nightlife News)

Nightlife News for February 5th, 2008
By Gamal Hennessy

Dating
Turning the tables on the Sugar Daddy
Robert Campbell: Reuters
The image of an older man dating a younger woman isn’t that unusual. Using money and status and pursue a younger woman is also an accepted social practice. But what happens when the tables are turned? How do we view older women who use money, experience and status to pick up younger men?

Government
Is Times Square Smut Free? Not Really.
Keith Richberg: Washington Post
When Rudy Giuliani ran for President his main claim to fame was his experience as Mayor of New York. He was here during 9/11, so he should be President in a dangerous new world. He stopped crime and cleaned up the smut on 42nd Street, so he had the moral character to be President. But the reality of the situation could be that Giuliani didn’t mastermind the purity of 42nd Street and even if he did plan it, he didn’t succeed in cleaning the place up…

Special Announcement
New York Nights Adds Connections to the Magazine
Gamal Hennessy: New York Nights

New York Nights readers are being given the first chance to join a new social network devoted to nightlife. The service is called Connections and it is available starting this month.

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