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Cabaret Licence Reform Plan (NYC)
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Surrender
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
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Posted : Nov 20, 2003 20:10
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Consumer Affairs Commissioner Gretchen Dykstra Announces Proposal to
Abolish the City's Cabaret Law.
Here is an attached pdf file that explains the proposal.
Here is some more copied info:
______________________
The Department of Consumer Affairs held a meeting yesterday previewing their
cabaret reform bill, which they plan to unveil at a press conference later
today (2 p.m. at the Knitting Factory). At the preliminary meeting,
and at this juncture, the news looks pretty damn good, but it's hard
to
know how it'll all play out and we want to temper our initial enthusiasm by the
knowledge of how real politik works - you just don't get something for nothing
-- especially in this city...
The good news is that the DCA are completely getting rid of the cabaret laws
and dancing will no longer be a part of any DCA licensing process. There will
be no "dance police" or enforcement of dance laws from the DCA. This is
seemingly a HUGE step in the right direction for us. If this reform
bill passes the
city council, dancing will never be enforced as it has been over the last six
or so years.
Dancing, however, will still be subject to fire code and zoning laws, which
means dancing can still only "legally" happen, as I understand it, in
manufacturing zones (or perhaps mix use zones), and if your
establishment meets a
higher fire code standard. Nobody knows how strictly -- or even if --
these codes
will be enforced. But DCA will have nothing to do with enforcing these codes.
The bigger obstacle for clubs in the new reform plan is that they are
proposing Nightlife Licensing scheme if your establishment meets all
three of the
following criteria:
1. You serve food or drink
2. You're open after 1:00 a.m.
3. You chose to be louder than 90 decibels (w/ a meter reading 3 feet from
the transducer/speaker).
This applies in residential zones to places with a capacity above 74.
in commericial/mixed-use/manufacturing zones, capacity
above 200.
that exempts a lot of places from needing the "nightlife license."
If you meet all three conditions you will have to get a Nightlife License
that makes sound proofing/certification by a professional sound engineer (which
they will define) necessary. Dancing is not a trigger for the license. Also
any place over 200 people in a commercial/manufacturing zone will
have to get a
license. There will also be sanitation requirements, security requirement
for bigger clubs (499 and above I think - one paid security person
per 50 people of the
place's capacity), and you'll have to conform to DEP
(environmental protection's) outside noise standards which are seemingly being
updated. The DCA will have new power to padlock if you get your
licensed pulled
three times in two years (i think..). They also want to have a flexible
licensing system where stipulations can be added to licenses for
places that get
violations and are up for rewnewal.
So, the long and the short of all this is that after years of hard work on
legalizing dance in NYC we are one major step closer to seeing that become a
reality so there's good cause for some celebration. While nothing is final yet,
the DCA are finally extricating themselves from regulating dance and they were
the ones actively enforcing the laws during this stupid period in NYC's
social/cultural history. If this proposal passes the city council
(which it still
must do) it should be easier for people to dance at most places. It's
important to keep in mind that through zoning laws (why zone dance?)
or fire laws (we
obviously support all "reasonable" fire codes) the city, if it ever gets
another Giuliani, still has a mechanism to penalize dancing.
It remains unclear how onerous the new licensing scheme will be on clubs.
They claim their main goal is to control noise and have some efficient way to
regulate nightlife, I'm afraid they may inadvertently make things
harder for the
"good" clubs as well.
The DCA plans to submit the bill to the City Council on 11/26.
  "On the other hand, you have different fingers."
http://myspace.com/gadimon |
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Surrender
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
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Posted : Nov 20, 2003 20:12
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and alittle bit more:
What the Times has to say about it:
Title: Decades Old Cabaret Law Faces Repeal
November 20, 2003
By MICHAEL COOPER
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.
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."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/nyregion/20CABA.html?ex=1070316661&ei=
1&en=583b3633eb752a7e
"On the other hand, you have different fingers."
http://myspace.com/gadimon |
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Surrender
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
506
Posts :
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Posted : Nov 20, 2003 20:12
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looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for NYC 
"On the other hand, you have different fingers."
http://myspace.com/gadimon |
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The Tree Tribe
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Nov 21, 2003 00:57
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Can anyone tell me what this has to do with TRANCE? |
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Apocalypse Now
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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Posts :
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Posted : Nov 21, 2003 01:00
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very good news (I think)
I never fully understood the dancing laws in NY and what exactly they were trying to accomplish.
What exactly does this mean for party organizers in NY if this new law passes? How does this affect loft parties? Do you think we'll ever see a club in the city that plays strictly psytrance and chillout music?
Both teams played hard |
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Surrender
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
506
Posts :
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Posted : Nov 21, 2003 07:40
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Apocalypse-
- this means that there will be more venues open for possible location in nyc for promoters to use. this would mean that there will be much more psyorganizers in nyc and that's a great thing for the scene. more local parties in better locations, more international act parties as well... more exposure, more chance.
i think its an enitrely possible situation to have this goal one day, of having a strictly psy club. this is great news in my opinion.
Geshtunkenfucked-
- this has nothing to do with TRANCE.
"On the other hand, you have different fingers."
http://myspace.com/gadimon |
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daya
Started Topics :
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Posts :
307
Posted : Nov 29, 2003 20:50
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