Assuming a city council vote goes as it’s expected, New Yorkers will soon be getting their own City Hall advocate for sensible nightlife policies. A bill poised to pass the council later this afternoon would give Mayor de Blasio two months to appoint a Director of Nightlife, who will oversee the newly-established Office of Nightlife.
The office of the "Night Mayor" — a preferable title, in our opinion, though we'd also accept Night Czar, Party Mayor, or The D.O.N. — is to act as a liaison between City Hall and New York's $10 billion nightlife industry, and to help resolve problems between venues and neighboring residents. The other purpose of this office, according to Councilmember Rafael Espinal, will be to serve on behalf of the city’s DIY venues, and to fight back against the archaic rules and arbitrary enforcement that threaten their survival.
"NYC's nightlife culture is an integral part of its identity, yet bureaucratic red tape, rising rents and lack of community planning has made it increasingly difficult for venues that contribute to our iconic nightlife to stay in business," Espinal, who represents parts of Bushwick, East New York, Brownsville and Cypress Hills, said in a statement.
The bill will also establish a Nightlife Advisory Board comprised of 12 relevant stakeholders, ranging from industry service workers to zoning experts. Eight of those board members will be appointed by the City Council Speaker, four will be appointed by the mayor, and they'll each serve a two-year term.
As we first reported in May, the bill is modeled after Amsterdam's Nachtburgemeester, a former party promoter whose appointment has had “transformative” results, according to the Economist. Since then, similar "Night Mayors" have found success in Berlin, Zurich, Paris, and London, each with varying mandates based on the particular needs of the city's after-hours businesses.
In Espinal's vision, America's first "Night Mayor" would help promote the interests of the mixed-use, and sometimes less-than-legal, show space. "My main motivation to push for this office is to make sure that the DIY venues and the smaller venues that actually provide a hub for artists and musicians to come together and express their art are able to survive," Espinal said in May. He noted that the shuttering of Shea Stadium — a beloved Bushwick venue that folded in June due to increasing pressure from local authorities — was a perfect example of where the position could prove useful.
But as Nikki Brown, an organizer with the Dance Liberation Network and the manager of Brooklyn's Boiler Room points out, "it's now up to the city to ensure that this position is not an empty gesture but an empowered ally to the creatives that drive much of the cultural relevance and economic vitality of New York."
We've reached out to the day mayor to see how he is planning to work alongside his nightlife counterpart, who he plans on appointing, and whether he’ll continue to enforce the reviled cabaret law — we’ll update accordingly.
