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I went to the Cabaret Laws forum last night and I learned some interesting things. Since 1926, a permit has been required to allow dancing in New York City but this has only really been enforced strongly in the last few years. There are many kinds of violations, not as many licensing requirements. A club cannot be shut down for violations but it can be for violating a licensing issue. Even though the license is cheap, it is difficult to get and requires a lengthy paper process. Two liquor licenses were denied recently in comparison to MANY cabaret licenses.
Last night many members of the nightlife community, from promoters to artists to dancers like you and me came to advocate why dancing needs to be “decriminalized”. I thought I would bring up some good points people made and how the session wrapped up.
· Other club issues are from traffic, loitering, litter, noise, noise from smokers, and misconduct. None of these have anything to do with dancing.
· Dancing is a right (though she said “rite”; I believe “right” is a stronger statement.)
· Dancing is a form of human expression; we should be entitled to dance under freedom of speech.
· Dancing is healthy. Nightlife patrons in New York are “poor”. We can’t afford a gym. Let us do something we enjoy that is healthy. Someone also made the argument based out of the New England Journal of medicine that it decreases dementia.
· Dancers should not be assumed to be under the influence. Many do it for health. Many do not drink. The swing dancers made this point.
· A woman made the very relevant point that dancing should not be persecuted for dancing if the real target is illegal drug use. Drug use shouldn’t be tolerated; it is illegal. Don’t confuse that with dancing. They two are unrelated.
· The increase of enforcement on cabaret laws has negatively impacted the economy of the City. Business owners pointed out the decrease in business from international talent, as well as other artists.
· Someone gave stats on tourism due to clubs. This has gone down, and not just since September 11th. Where people used to come from all over the world to experience New York, it no longer has that appeal and a more local crowd is relied on to sustain the scene.
· Volume in the nightlife industry is down. Many people are turning to Jersey and other locations because New York no longer has the appeal it once had. One comment was that we don’t want New York to become a suburb of New Jersey.
· This has cultural significance. New York was esteemed as a musical and culture center but is not anymore. Artists are not as keen to come play here and New Yorkers are leaving because the City has lost its appeal as a vibrant nightlife center.
When it was all said and done, the DCA agreed that dancing is not at fault. There are issues that need to be addressed in nightlife such as traffic, loitering, litter, noise, noise from smokers, and misconduct. A major concern was that these licenses are necessary for closing clubs wit recurring problems because continuous fining is uneffective. (this was a point on the law that I was not too clear on; if anyone who was there understood it better please explain.) I think the fact that this hearing took places indicates that they know it is time to amend these laws. We need to make our voices heard to protect the scene from further problems.
They wanted us to provide an alternative for using these licenses to regulate. They want suggestions on how to monitor clubs. It seems that dancing is an easy way to target establishments. It is easy to target dancing to solve the problems of drug use, noise, loitering, or traffic, rather than addressing those issues directly. The public tried to make the point that you shouldn’t have to target dancing to eliminate other problems. Target those problems directly. But I don’t think that message was heard. The board continued to ask how to combat these problems, as fines are not enough.
To me it seems that the city has a grip of nightlife that they don’t want to lose. And so they will try to control it in a less absurd way than regulating dancing. By the end of the session last night I felt like some very strong points had been made. And that we were talking to a brick wall. They want a replacement for the cabaret laws, not moral justification why we should be able to dance. I think our points were heard but they did not get the feedback that they were looking for. So our nightlife is still in danger unless we do something about it. I urge you all to put together some clear thoughts on this addressing their specific question. We need to take action to protect nightlife in the City.
A series of questions were distributed, primarily targeted at communities, businesses, elected officials and experts. The deadline for feedback has been extended into July. If anyone wants to see the questions or contact information let me know. |
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