Changes proposed to White Plains cabaret law
You won”™t be twistin”™ the night away to the dulcet tones of Sam Cooke ”“ or any other artist ”“ past 1 a.m. in White Plains if new cabaret rules pass the Common Council.
Damon Amadio, the city”™s building commissioner, has prepared a proposal to amend the city”™s cabaret law. The amendments would force the establishments to close at 1 a.m. and would bar them from charging an admission fee, or cover charge, and business owners are not happy.
“I think it”™s utterly ridiculous and defies explanation,” said Gary A. Jenkins, a White Plains attorney who represents Executive Billiards and Ichiro Fusion, two Mamaroneck Avenue businesses that have applied for cabaret licenses but have seen the licensing process put on hold since the summer.
- Coliseum, on South Broadway in White Plains, operates under a cabaret license. File photo
The Common Council put a moratorium on the issuance of cabaret licenses in July. Shortly after it was enacted, Amadio told the Business Journal the moratorium would give the city time to codify regulations that were typically written into each cabaret”™s operating permit. Amadio said that if cabaret law is updated, rules that previously were written into each license will be uniformly applied through the city ordinance.
Jenkins, however, thinks the proposed changes go too far.
“If the purpose is to run out every nightclub and restaurant on Mamaroneck Avenue, then this legislation is perfectly suited to do that,” Jenkins said. He said he has been in contact with many of the businesses on the avenue and that they are unanimously opposed to the proposed changes to the cabaret law.
Daniel Coughlan, the owner of Coughlan Inc., which has operated a cabaret doing business as Coughlan”™s, Prophecy and Coliseum for the past 10 years in White Plains, said live bands and DJs will disappear from the city”™s nightlife if business owners can no longer charge admission. He said bringing in a DJ can cost a business from $250 to $25,000, and bands draw similar fees.
“They have to charge admission to be able to afford to bring in bands or DJs,” Coughlan said. Bars and restaurants are “not going to ring up $50,000 or $15,000 or even $5,000 at the bar.”
In addition to enabling business owners to bring in entertainers, Coughlan said being able to take a cover charge helps draw a better crowd.
“A cover charge draws people who come for more than just drinking, but to enjoy the entertainment,” he said.
In Coughlan”™s opinion, the 1 a.m. closing time is even more ominous for the city”™s food and beverage businesses.
“If the city did a 1 a.m. closing, more than half the restaurants on Mamaroneck Avenue would disappear within 24 months,” Coughlan said. “You”™d see a drop in young professionals moving to White Plains because of that drop in the nightlife.”
Under the current White Plains municipal code, a cabaret is a “place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, entertainment or amusement, where refreshments of any kind are served for gain or profit, and where dancing, entertainments or exhibitions are given or permitted in connection therewith, or a place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, entertainment or amusement where exhibitions or other forms of entertainment or amusement are given or conducted for gain or profit and dancing and serving of refreshments of any kind are permitted.”
A voicemail left for Karen Pasquale, White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach”™s senior adviser, seeking comment from Roach or Amadio about the proposed amendments was not returned. A message left with the White Plains Department of Building seeking comment from Amadio also was not returned.