Toronto Cracking Down On Nightclubs Yet Again
Just what we need. More over regulation. I suggest that the condo owners that live in the entertainment district move if they dont like the noise. After all it was the clubs that made that area vibrant. Metal detectors wont do anything and this new ratio will just increase your cover charges. Security is already decent at most clubs and id argue most of the time its at or beyonf 1 to 100. The noise thing is what pisses me off the most though. Typical Canadian thinking. Move in next to a business and then complain until you force it to close.
Pretty soon mcguinty will give the city new powers of taxation and Toronto has already said it plans to add extra tax to bar alcohol and entertainment fees. That means higher drink prices and cover for everyone.
And people ask me why they should care if they vote or not...
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Owners brace for crackdown on clubland
New rules aim to curb noise and violence, increase security at venues
By JERED STUFFCO
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Toronto nightclub owners are bracing for a massive hangover as city hall prepares to pass a sweeping set of new regulations that will force them to turn down their slamming sound systems, install metal detectors and hire more security guards.
Councillor Olivia Chow told The Globe and Mail yesterday that the rules, outlined in a report written by senior staff from the municipal licensing and standards department, will pass next week and be instituted immediately.
"This report is long overdue," said Ms. Chow, who, until she resigned this week to pursue federal politics, was the councillor for the ward that includes the entertainment district.However, nightclub owners are raising alarms over some of the new guidelines.
Charles Khabouth, owner of massive nightclubs that include Guvernment, This Is London and Ultra, said some of the recommendations "don't make sense."
In particular, he said, implementing metal detectors is a waste of time unless staff are properly trained.
"I can take you to two places in this city that have them, and you can go in and out and the thing is buzzing all day and all night -- people don't pay attention to it."
Other recommendations in the report stipulate that club owners maintain two security guards for every 100 partiers, acquire $2-million of liability insurance for personal injuries and install trash containers for cigarette butts and other club garbage such as laminated flyers.
The report, which will also force some clubs to improve sound-deafening insulation, was commissioned after three motions were introduced at city hall to address growing concerns about noise, fights and drunkenness.
Councillor Kyle Rae supported most of the new regulations, but said the security-to-patron ratio should be "nuanced" for slower club nights.
The rules will also carve out a new licensing category for nightclubs, one that would make them entities distinct from restaurants.
Mr. Khabouth questioned the proposal. "It was a bit confusing [about] who is a nightclub and who is a bar. About 50 per cent of the [clubs] will be in a grey area," he said.
One such club is Supermarket, which is located in Kensington market and operates as a restaurant and a nightclub. Owner Greg Bottrell said yesterday that his establishment could be caught in a licensing nightmare.
"I'm not sure what is going to be enforced . . . since the city doesn't have strict guidelines for what is what."
But Ms. Chow said there is no grey area.
"Clubs have very loud music. Most restaurants don't have music that goes till 2 a.m. It's not very hard to tell the difference."
The strategy, she said, is long overdue and will keep irresponsible, fly-by-night operations from opening clubs, making a short burst of cash and then quickly shutting down.
Toronto wasn't always so strict with nightclubs.
As the city's textiles industry slumped in the mid-1980s, companies began to abandon the warehouse district in the King Street and Spadina Avenue neighbourhood.
To help reverse the exodus, the city "dezoned" the area to instigate renewal. At that time, the city's attitude was, "Whoever wants to build -- anything -- can come in," Ms. Chow said.
The vibrancy of the area these days speaks volumes about that strategy, she said. But success has come "with lots of problems, especially when you have local residents living side by side with very big nightclubs."
Police working in the district, which stretches from Spadina Avenue to University Avenue and from Queen Street to King Street, acknowledge there are concerns.
"It's not something the division can handle with its own resources," 52 Division Detective Sergeant Gordon Sneddon said. Officers from other divisions are imported to help maintain control, he added.
On a Friday or Saturday night, when most clubs are at capacity, 55,000 revellers will pour into the area, Det. Sgt. Sneddon said. "It's quite a drain on police resources."
Police statistics suggest the area needs even more officers.
This year, 82 of 171 assaults within the division occurred in the club district, Det. Sgt. Sneddon said. In 2004, clubland logged four shootings and reported 16 gun-related calls. In 2005, those numbers have swelled to 12 and 53, respectively, he added.
"That's a pretty clear and telling picture," the detective said.
Randall Barrs, a lawyer with about a dozen clients in clubland, including Craze, Fluid and Metro, called the new guidelines an "invasive" and "knee-jerk reaction" from city staff who don't understand the nature of the nightclub business.
Noting that metal detectors were installed at Metro after an October shooting there, Mr. Barrs said club owners have adequate security on staff.
He said most of the people who live in the area "like the action" in the district, and he described residents who complain as a vocal minority. "These people moved in way after [the clubs] were there. And now they're complaining about the noise." |
I suggest we TAs start our own citizen's committee to fight back against these morons.
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| quote: | Originally posted by jester
Everything in this country is illegal. |
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill
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