{"id":508,"date":"2018-03-08T10:27:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T15:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/?p=508"},"modified":"2018-03-08T10:27:34","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T15:27:34","slug":"footloose-in-new-york-city-the-repeal-of-the-cabaret-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/2018\/03\/08\/footloose-in-new-york-city-the-repeal-of-the-cabaret-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Footloose in New York City–The Repeal of the Cabaret Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1984 film, Footloose<\/span><\/a>, imagines the small, midwestern town of Bomont, where dancing and rock\u2019n roll music have been banned, only to be redeemed in the end by a teenager\u2019s impassioned plea.\u00a0 Footloose<\/em>\u2019s plot may seem farfetched but a law with similar intent has gripped New York City since 1926 when the city passed the Cabaret Act<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Under the Cabaret Act, any place open to the public<\/span><\/a> that sells food or drinks, alcoholic or not, including \u201cpubs, taverns, and discos,\u201d are required to obtain a license if they want to allow dancing in the establishment.\u00a0 One of the pre-requisites for a cabaret license states that \u201ccabarets\u201d must have video surveillance and security on the premises at all times.\u00a0 However, after 90 years of forcing most of its bars and nightclubs to effectively operate like the clandestine prom from the end of Footloose<\/em>, New York City Council member Rafael Espinal and Mayor Bill de Blasio have finally\u00a0brought dancing back to New York City.<\/p>\n

\"Ice<\/a>The cost of obtaining a cabaret license was\u00a0inexpensive<\/span><\/a>, ranging from $150 to $1,250 (with minor additional costs), but the process required to get a license and to meet the accompanying surveillance requirements were\u00a0particularly onerous.\u00a0 To obtain a cabaret license, an establishment had to\u00a0submit extensive and intrusive records about both the business and building where the establishment is located, as well as receive approvals from the Fire Department, a licensed electrician, and the local Community Board<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Due to these overwhelming requirements, and a lack of consistent enforcement, there were\u00a0only 104 licensed \u201ccabarets\u201d<\/span><\/a> in the entirety of New York City as of 2017.\u00a0 Most establishments where dancing occurs are unlicensed and can potentially be subject to severe penalties.<\/p>\n

The Cabaret Act, as originally passed, was a blatantly racist law, targeting African American jazz clubs<\/span><\/a> in Harlem. When passing the law, the Board of Alderman used coded racist language in their rationale, referring to the individuals going to the dance halls as \u201cwild people<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 At the same time, the Aldermen exempted large hotels<\/span><\/a> in upper class, primarily Caucasian areas, from the licensing requirement.\u00a0 Until 1967, the law also required musicians<\/span><\/a> who played in establishments with liquor licenses to obtain \u201ccabaret licences\u201d as an individual.\u00a0 As the process of obtaining a musician license required a criminal background\"Billie-Holiday-2\"<\/a> check and could be revoked for almost any reason, many prominent jazz musicians<\/span><\/a> were unable to perform in New York City clubs, including Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and Thelonious Monk.<\/p>\n

While New York City officials have occasionally made concerted attempts to crack down on unlicensed \u201ccabarets,\u201d wider scale closure movements occurred in the aftermath of nightclub fires<\/span><\/a> in 1976, 1988, and 1990.\u00a0 For long periods of the Cabaret Act\u2019s history, there was almost no enforcement at all, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 However, beginning with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani\u2019s election in 1994, New York City began to strictly enforce the cabaret law as part of Mayor Guiliani\u2019s quality-of-life initiatives<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Through his Multi-Agency Response to Community Hotspots, or MARCH, Mayor Guiliani directed several municipal agencies to scrutinize establishments<\/span><\/a> for violations, with the purpose of curtailing the city\u2019s nightlife.\u00a0 Some people believe that Mayor Guiliani\u2019s strict enforcement of the cabaret law contained a racial element<\/span><\/a> similar to the law\u2019s original intent.<\/p>\n

Mayor Michael Bloomberg<\/span><\/a>\u2019s administration continued Mayor Guiliani\u2019s crackdown on New York City\u2019s nightlife, employing the cabaret law as well as noise ordinances and a ban on smoking in public places, to severely limit the proliferation of nightclubs.\u00a0 Towards the end of his tenure in office, Mayor Bloomberg considered repealing<\/a> the cabaret law but ultimately failed to do so. \u00a0Following his election, Mayor de Blasio<\/span><\/a> relaxed enforcement of the cabaret law and, and after over 90 years, repeal finally became a reality.<\/p>\n

In 2017, City Council member Rafael Espinal introduced several bills<\/span><\/a> to reform New York City\u2019s nightlife, including repealing the Cabaret Act.\u00a0 On September 19, 2017, Mayor de Blasio signed bill number 1688-2017<\/span><\/a> – which amends the New York City charter, in relation to establishing an office of nightlife and a nightlife advisory board – into law.\u00a0 The law establishes a Nightlife Advisory Board and an Office of Nightlife to examine the issues affecting the city\u2019s nightlife and to make recommendations to the Mayor for improvements.\u00a0 The bill passed almost unanimously, with only City Council member, Rosie Mendez, voting in the negative.<\/p>\n

The Cabaret repeal,\u00a0bill number 1652-2017 <\/span><\/a>\u00a0subchapter 13, however, retains similar security and surveillance requirements<\/span><\/a> to those under the Cabaret Act, including having video surveillance cameras and security guards in all nightlife establishments with dancing.\u00a0 The bill defines a nightlife establishment as one that is \u201c(i) open to the public after 12:00 a.m. at least one day each week; (ii) is required to have a license to sell liquor at retail pursuant to the alcohol beverage control law; and (iii) satisfies at least two of the following factors: 1. At least 2500 square feet of such establishment is open to the public; 2. Has an occupancy load of at least 150 persons as described on the certificate of occupancy; or 3. Imposes a fee for admission at least once a week.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

On November 27, 2017,\u00a0Mayor de Blasio signed\u00a0Int. 1652-2017, <\/em>officially repealing the Cabaret Act<\/a>. \u00a0de Blasio stated<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cThis law just didn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0\u00a0Nightlife is part of the New York melting pot that brings people together. We want to be a city where people can work hard, and enjoy their city\u2019s nightlife without arcane bans on dancing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In March 2018,\u00a0Mayor\u00a0de Blasio appointed<\/a>\u00a0the City’s first “Night Mayor,” Ariel Palitz. \u00a0Mayor Palitz\u00a0will be paid<\/span> $130,000-a-year to lead the newly created Office of Nightlife that has\u00a0a $300,000 annual budget. \u00a0Palitz is the former owner of now-closed East Village nightclub Sutra, which\u00a0was once <\/span>labeled the city\u2019s loudest watering hole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It appears that New York City is\u00a0finally free of its connection to the fictional town of Bomont.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lubershane_Peter_U17944267\"<\/a>Peter Lubershane<\/strong> anticipates graduating from Boston University School of Law in May 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 1984 film, Footloose, imagines the small, midwestern town of Bomont, where dancing and rock\u2019n roll music have been banned, only to be redeemed in the end by a teenager\u2019s impassioned plea.\u00a0 Footloose\u2019s plot may seem farfetched but a law with similar intent has gripped New York City since 1926 when the city passed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13890,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,12,11],"tags":[90,92,91,89],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}