Transcript: Mayor Adams Launches Effort to Enhance Nightlife Safety and Strengthen Small Businesses, Phasing Out 'March' Enforcement

December 28, 2023

Jeffrey Garcia, Executive Director, Office of Nightlife: Well, thank you, everyone, for coming today. Good morning. Thank you for joining us. My name is Jeffrey Garcia, and I'm the executive director of the Office of Nightlife at the Department of Small Business Services, SBS. 

I'm thrilled to be at Paragon today with Mayor Adams and nightlife lovers and advocates to unveil a new, transformative city‑wide policy that has been years in the making. For those who don't know, the Office of Nightlife at SBS serves as a central point of contact among the nightlife industry, community and city agencies. 

We help nightlife business start and grow New York City and work with countless agency partners to help New Yorkers party safely. Our goal is to help build a more vibrant nightlife industry that creates good jobs and contributes to our community. 

With just a few nights until New Year's Eve — one of the biggest party weekends of the year — we want to embrace the theme of leaving behind the old and ushering in the new. The bold new policy formed together between ONL and the NYPD to engage nightlife businesses in making our city more safe and end outdated enforcement practices have unduly shut down dozens of nightlife businesses. 

With this plan, we will keep the heartbeat of New York City, our nightlife venues, vibrant throughout the five boroughs. Before we hear from Mayor Adams and other speakers, I would like to acknowledge the individuals who played a key role in getting this done. 

Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis‑Martin, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, SBS Commissioner Kevin Kim; my team at the Office of Nightlife, Jose and Francesca; and my predecessor, Ariel Palitz. Also, Councilwoman Marjorie Veleázquez is here. Inspector Ted Federoff from the NYPD, Deputy Inspector [Kevin Kane] and attorney [Liz Moley]. 

Also, Bertha Lewis from the Black Institute, the Caribbean Restaurant Association, New York City Artist Coalition, the New York City Hospitality Alliance, New York State Latino Restaurant, Bar and Lounge Association, New York City Nightlife United, former Councilmember Rafael Espinal, who spearheaded this office. Greg Miller from the Dance Parade, and so many other advocates. 

With that, I'd like to introduce our mayor. In New York City, we're lucky to have a true nightlife mayor who understands the importance of the nightlife industry and who understands that these are small businesses with a 350 billion economic impact supporting over 300,000 jobs. 

Mayor Adams, it is clear on day one that the administration, small businesses will thrive in our city's recovery. As a city, we benefit most when we engage our small business partners to address city‑wide issues. Now I want to turn it over to the great 110th mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much. And really good to see our borough president, Antonio Reynoso, understand the importance of this, and our amazing councilwomen, who saw vision of why this is important. You know, Councilmember Velásquez, we want to really just thank you so much. 

But you know, we really need to take our hats off to Councilman Espinal. You know that? You know, we used to have so much fun when he was a councilman. We did a couple of spots together. 

You know, Commissioner Kim, the entire team and Jeff, you really understand we had a great leader of the Office of Nightlife who really laid down the groundwork, and it just shows the improvements of how you do not dismantle things that were in place before. Hats off to the former mayor who understood this, appointed a great leader to be in place and just really changed the dialogue and conversation of how we treat the nightlife industry. 

These are businesses. These are businesses. They generate billions of dollars in revenue. They attract people to the city. This city does not stop at 5 p.m., there's an entirely new level of economic development that happens in the late evening hours. 

And that's what I knew I had to do when I became mayor, I wanted to show the nightlife establishment — the people, the DJs, the DJ up in the DJ booth, you know, the DJs, the waiters, the waitresses, those who were the cooks, the chefs — this entire ecosystem that I knew so well. 

And they really respected the fact that they had a mayor that did not want to demonize their industry but wanted to lift up that industry. All of us know after a hard day there's nothing better than going to your favorite watering hole to sit down talking to someone that won't identify you because you dropped that business sale but will lift you up because you're there to bring your business to their establishment. 

And that's what this is all about. And MARCH was the wrong way of doing this. This is something that was put in place in the nineties. It was extremely abusive and intrusive in a real way. Many of us can talk about sitting in a restaurant or club somewhere and all of a sudden the lights come on, you have this large number of people that come in and just treat our businesses in an unprofessional way. 

That is not how you treat a business, and that is what this momentum is all about. 

Look at this city. This city is the place of Studio 54, Paradise Garage, [Max's] C.B.G.B., Loft and so many others. We're the king and queen of nightlife industry globally. People come to New York because of our exciting night life. Only city on the globe where you got the theme "the city that never sleeps." And in fact, we don't even take a nap. Something is always happening in New York all the times of the day. 

And so today's like here at Paragon, Nowadays, Made in Mexico and Mamajuana, Cafe Bronx are provided space for people to go out, listen to music, dance. Something that you were able to get done, you know. It used to be illegal to dance in the cafes of the city. To come out and dance and just really enjoy it's like in this city. 

But listen, let's be clear: if it's not done correctly it could impact the quality of life of those New Yorkers who live in the area. And so noise, trash, crime can disrupt local residents and complaints can lead to unannounced inspections. And so we want to get it right, and that's what Jeff is doing as the new head of the nightlife… The mayor of the nightlife industry in our city. We must provide public safety while assuring businesses can remain open and New Yorkers can still dance in the dark.  

So, today, we are changing the way we engage with nightlife businesses throughout the city by launching CURE, the acronym C‑U‑R‑E. We're bringing together NYPD, SBS, Commissioner Kim and his entire team in the Office of Nightlife to improve public safety responses to nightlife establishments.  

Now, it's not lost on me that chief, you're a DJ. So, we have the right the right people and the right mix. And so we want to better engage business owners to focus on compliance and education, not overenforcement. While previously nightlife establishments have faced unannounced late night and multi -agencies inspections of, again, this is something that was borne out of the nineties called the MARCH That was a different time, a different place. 

We're in a new place where these establishments are really establishing a business model that can grow and that could expand, and that is why we're here with our team and just is including, as I stated, Commissioner Kevin Kim from SBS, the Office of Nightlife's former executive director and now current executive director, Jeff Garcia, really moving us all in the right direction. 

We're going to work with Police Commissioner Caban and his team, Chief Maddrey and entire team to make sure that we can use CURE to create direct lines of communications between the Office of Nightlife and local establishments and give businesses a chance to correct issues. We want them to correct the issue before we come in with heavy handed enforcement. 

So, this is an era of no more demonizing successful businesses but promoting, lifting them up, letting them know what they need to do to take corrective action so they can continue to thrive and grow. We want to continue to be the city that never sleeps, but we don't want to interrupt the sleep of those who are near nightlife establishments. 

That is the perfect balance. That is the combination we're looking for, and that is how we're where we are right now. Jobs are up, our crime is down, and we'll continue to roll out programs that make living in the city easier for residents and business owners. 

CURE is another way we can protect public safety, ensure better quality of life and keep business doors open and invest in working class people throughout the city. Great job. We're happy to be here and make this happen. Thank you. 

Garcia: Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is really a big day for the industry not only now as an executive director but coming from the advocacy space and dealing with many of these folks and what they've dealt with throughout the years, this is music to their ears. 

Well, as the mayor said, jobs are up, crime is down, and that's thanks to the brave men and women and dedicated police officers and public safety leaders. As a former police officer myself, I'm proud to bring some of that perspective to the Office of Nightlife. And as a nightlife and hospitality advocate, I'm excited to announce and set a new tone for how the industry and public safety officials will continue to work together and make our communities more secure and make sure more New Yorkers can party and get home safely. 

Let me just say we would not have done this announcement today without the leadership at the NYPD, Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey as well as Chief of Patrol John Chell and Commissioner Edward Caban. Thanks to them, we're able to bring this initiative to life. I'm pleased to introduce to you NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. 

Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Department, Police Department: Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I want to say first thank you to Mayor Adams, and of course, thank you to Executive Director Jeff Garcia. Also, I want to take a moment to say thank you to Ariel Palitz, your predecessor, who when I first took over this role, me and her spoke about how the NYPD should be interacting with the nightlife community, and you know, she really set you up, Jeff. 

And she did. She set you up for something great, and I'm proud to be a part of it. I'd like to take a moment also to acknowledge all the members of the business community who are here today as well. Today we stand shoulder to shoulder with you to ensure that we build on success, the success of us driving down crime while working together to modernize our approach to engaging with our business communities. 

Today we mark a big step forward in our united effort to maintain public safety while supporting our city's vibrant nightlife. CURE provides business owners with multiple opportunities to address community concerns related to their establishments so that we may come to a mutually beneficial solution before we resort to enforcement action. 

We aim to prioritize community building rather than punitive measures. CURE focuses on a solution‑oriented approach. Our local precinct commanders will establish direct lines of communication with our business owners, so they are made aware of any potential issues before enforcement is necessary. All right? And that's key: before enforcement is necessary, we want to make sure we have that dialogue established. 

This engagement not only allows businesses to address community concerns but serves as a benchmark for creating a stronger relationship between those living, working and visiting communities and the police officers protecting them. The only venues who can expect to see significant enforcement action are those who intentionally ignore community concerns and shun multiple opportunities to collaborate towards solutions with the NYPD and the Mayor's Office of Nightlife. 

CURE will not impede our ability to conduct investigations or to respond to emergencies; in fact, it allows support to our businesses, community and it improves quality of life in all five boroughs, and it ensures the safety of New Yorkers every day and every night. I'm extremely happy and proud to be a part of this initiative. I think it's going to really help create stronger bonds with the community and the police and it's going to really allow the communities to thrive in a peaceful manner. So, thank you all. 

Garcia: Thank you, Chief Maddrey. And I would like to just piggyback real quickly on the fact that he said Ariel left me a great foundation, and that is true. We changed the name slightly on you, but the core and the heart still stayed firm, and I'm happy to be here today and I thank you. 

We're also luck to be at Paragon, one of Brooklyn's newest nightlife venues, a true New York City nightlife advocate leading the way. John Barclay has been involved in the New York City nightlife for many years and has a huge role in our do it your way party scene as well as the growth of the dance in Bushwick, from Bossa Nova Civic Club — a true home for Brooklyn's grassroots — and now Paragon, which opened just over a year ago. 

He's been working with our Office of Nightlife for many years and advocates of the nightlife industry and has been a champion for issues like repealing the cabaret law and reforming MARCH. I'm pleased to introduce today, John Barclay. 

John Barclay, Owner, Paragon: Hi. How are you doing? Sorry, I'm a little nervous. A lot of cops in here. [Laughter.] 

So, I'm the owner/operator here, I'm also a former victim of the MARCH taskforce, which was a very frustrating and confusing process to go through. We started working on this campaign with the New York City Artists Coalition, Ariel Palitz, Rafael Espinal and a lot of other advocates, I believe about five years ago. 

I'm very excited to hear that we're doing away with the MARCH taskforce. I think this is going to save hundreds of establishments, maybe more, and certainly hundreds if not thousands of jobs in the future. So, I think this is a great step in the right direction. Thank you. 

Garcia: Thank you, John. And hopefully we can cure that. Well, that concludes our press conference today. Oh…  

Mayor Adams: Hold on… Hold on. 

Garcia: I'm sorry. 

Mayor Adams: We can't have these great nightlife advocates, the BP and…  

Garcia: Yes. Well, let me introduce to you Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. 

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso: Thank you. Thank you. The mayor used to be a borough president so he shows a lot of love. But I'm so happy to be here. My name is Antonio Reynoso. I'm the president of the greatest borough in the City of New York, which is Brooklyn, first and foremost. But I know everyone around here, just the great Biggie Smalls said spread love is the Brooklyn way. So it doesn't matter where you come from, we love you all. So, I'm so happy to have all the advocates here. 

I do also want to thank Former Councilmember Rafael Espinal who was really the lead on this type of work in Bushwick and in Brooklyn long before it was cool. It was good to have his perspective to allow for advocacy to finally happen for a nightlife area that was really left for itself. It was a fending for itself on a lot of these issues. We found that many of the laws that were put in place that were holding back the nightlife area were related to race issues. 

They wanted to shut down places where Black people can dance. And in doing so, put together the cabaret law and other enforcement mechanisms that made it impossible for them to succeed. Through time and the work of Ariel and John and Rafael, we've been able to dismantle a lot of these things. 

What we've come to now is that especially with the NYPD, when Jeffrey Maddrey shows up somewhere, you should be happy. He's a great guy, and the last thing he wants to do is enforcement. If you've ever met this… The chief of police, he is not somebody that is heavy-handed. He is not someone that wants to push enforcement. He wants to make things right. He wants to build the community. And that's the type of effort that most police officers want to move forward with. 

And now we've been able to give them that opportunity. Instead of having them forced to go in and MARCH, we're going to have them come in and CURE. And it really speaks to this administration, moving away from an enforcement attitude on these types of issues and moving towards a public service attitude is giving these establishments an opportunity to fix the problems they have. 

And I'll give one easy example. If you leave your ice… Refrigerator open and you don't shut the door and an inspector comes in, that's a fine. The inspector can't tell them, just shut the door. And I just think of the courtesy, to be like hey, that shouldn't be open, can you close it? And they close it. We solved for that problem. If the second time an inspector comes, we have a bigger conversation about it. But it's just giving people an opportunity to really save face. 

When we talk about the amount of jobs, the amount of jobs, that nightlife creates and the thousands of dollars that are spent by these businesses on fines and how it hurts the bottom line of these businesses that have very thin margins really means the difference between jobs as well. 
So, in moving forth with this effort, I really think it's going to continue to increase jobs. We have the most jobs in the City of New York under this mayor, and that is going to continue to happen because of the effort that's happening in nightlife. 

We're not relaxing. We have the pedal to the floor, I guess, the gas to the floor. We want more jobs. We want nightlife to open up more opportunities for people. We have a bunch of migrants that are coming in that could really use these nightlife jobs. Let's keep them open, let's keep these places open. 

And I just want to say one last thing. This place where you're standing is an iconic location. It should be considered a landmark. This place used to be called [Lampeda] about 22 years ago when I was just old enough to come into a nightclub. 

Don't do the math on that. [Lampeda] was a very classic location for Dominicans when they first arrived from the Dominican Republic to the United States. This felt like home. And to be able to come back and see that we're using this location as a place to speak about CURE‑ing and allowing for people to live their happiest selves really means a lot to me. 

I'm happy it's happening in Brooklyn. Thank you to Jeffrey Garcia for all the work they've done. Again, thank you to the mayor. And don't forget to spread love, it's the Brooklyn way. Thank you. 

Garcia: Thank you, BP. Look at that, and he even gave us some history. I like that, you know? But like he said, you know, there's so many ways that you can improve on public safety, and one of the ways is having lights on, having people walking around, and that happens when we protect our nightlife businesses. So, with that, I also want to now introduce our councilwoman, Marjorie Velázquez. 

Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez: Thank you so much. And I want to give a shout out to BP Reynoso for stamping my passport all the way from the Bronx here. Thank you so much. Because of our work together we were able to accomplish outdoor dining and so thank you for spearheading that during the pandemic. And certainly, thank you, mayor: first time eight hours hearing, January of 2022, thank you for believing in me and thank you for just getting it done. 

And that's where we are today, standing and making sure that we're listening to our communities, that we're listening to our business community as well because this is New York City. This is where dreams are made of and this is how we get it done. It's working collaboratively. It's understanding that we can work with NYPD to deliver for our communities and work together to make sure that we're all protected. 

Gone are the days where I get calls from our businesses that MARCHes are happening and it shuts them down for weeks. That's not great for any community. What we're talking about is accountability, transparency; and more importantly, safety for all. And with this, thank you, Jeff, for taking the lead on this and changing what it is for our nightlife and what it is to protect our nightlife that has built our communities. 

Certainly I am a great patron, and certainly looking forward to what 2024 looks like for all. So, thank you for this opportunity, and let's get partying. 

Question: Mayor, you mentioned you've all been there when the lights would come on. I'm wondering if an anecdote registers with you, a club you were at when you saw something like this happening, can you describe it? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. More than once on Bedford Avenue, I think it was called Bedford Lounge. And you know, we were just sitting there. People, a bunch of working class people just enjoying themselves. You know, probably at about 10 p.m., and all of a sudden the lights came on. FDNY came in, NYPD came in, DOB jackets came in. They told everyone you can't leave, sit down. They started walking through the place, you know. And it was just so disruptive. 

And it happened again on, I was at a place on Flatbush Avenue, and that's what really said, listen, we've got to do this better because these are business people. And then you had patrons, you're reluctant to come back to an establishment if you're treated that way because there is a belief that, okay, there's something illegal happening at the establishment when it was not. 

It was a simple inspection, but that inspection was intrusive. That inspection could be done early in the day when the person is not establishing their business. I mean, you could only imagine if you are an accountant then all of a sudden someone walks in, turn on your lights and just starts just disrupting your business flow. 

These are everyday businesspeople. And so I just thought councilman at the time, Espinal, he understood it. There was a real energy that many of us probably have our own times that we were in legitimate places that were well run, well managed and all of a sudden there was this intrusive, disrespectful way of treating not only the business owners but the patrons at the same time. 

Question: You were a civilian when these things happened? 

Mayor Adams: I was a state senator and it also happened when I was borough president. 

Question: Mayor, Ms. Ariel Palitz, former nightlife mayor, you are now a part of your former chief of staff's lobbying and public affairs shop, Frank Carone's Oaktree Solutions…  

Mayor Adams: Oh, congratulations. We had some good times there. Wow, wow. 

Question: ...Ms. Palitz, did you lobby the administration, did Frank Carone and any of his people at Oaktree lobby, is this… And benefit of any of your clients or the shop's clients? 

Mayor Adams: Whatever communication they do with this administration is going to be within the confines of the lobbying rules and lobby laws. You know, everyone knows Ariel is above reproach in handling her business, and so they're going to follow the rules that are put in place. There are very clear lobbying guidelines if people are going to follow it. That was a real pick up by Frank. I got to call him. Some good stuff. 

Ariel Palitz, Founding Director, Mayor’s Office of Nightlife: May I just say… I appreciate the question. I used to own a nightclub called Sutra Lounge for 10 years in the East Village before I was the founding director of the Office of Nightlife. I experienced MARCH operations almost every week because of a chronic, unsubstantiated caller regarding sound issues. 

And it was really part of the inspiration and what activated me to become the first director of nightlife and why reforming MARCH operations from day one over the last five years of work that it took to reform this to create a CURE process. 

And so this day is a fruition of five years of work working with Police, Fire, Health, Buildings Department to evolve; and ultimately, with this new administration to realize that cooperation and communication and respecting these businesses is the best way to find safety and quality of life improvement. 

Question: But did you do that work while you were working at Oaktree? 

Palitz: No. This was in my previous role as the founding director of the Mayor's Office of Nightlife. 

Question: What are the specific changes to response and enforcement? 

Mayor Adams: You want to…  

Chief of Department Maddrey: So, when we become aware of an issue, our precinct commanders are mandated to make contact with the location, the business owner, the manager or whoever's in charge. We're going to work with them through the problem and we're going to give them like a 30‑day period to work with them collaboratively through the process to make sure we can address whatever it is. 

And as long as they're working with us, we'll provide them with help, guidance. So, if we have to call other resources: Jeff, Ariel, whoever we need to reach out to, we'll call those resources. Enforcement is going to be our absolute last option. That's going to be the last resort. And it's really going to be based on a business who just basically puts up a wall, who doesn't cooperate with us, who doesn't want to work with any of the partners up here. Then we'll start enforcement. 

But it's going to be about communicating, it's going to be about how we can improve the business, what changes can we make and just working with them and help them build the business up. We want to businesses to thrive. When the businesses thrive, the community thrives. So, we're going to work with them and enforcement is going to be the last resort. 

Question: Just a follow up to that. After that 30‑day period is there going to be an in‑person inspection by you guys? 

Chief of Department Maddrey: If everything is going smooth there would be no inspection. If there's no problems, why… We don't want to inspect. We want people to sit down and eat and relax and listen to the music, enjoy themselves. We want the businesses to thrive. We want people to spend money. We want the businesses to hire people. 

So, if there's no need for us to be there, we will not be there. We'll go there, we see potential issues. If we have calls, we'll go there, we'll talk through what the issues are concerning any calls, 311 calls. If there's an issue there, we'll go there, take our time, really understand what the issue is. If there is no need for enforcement there will be no enforcement, there will be no need for inspections. 

Question: So, how are you going to identify if there is a need for inspection? 

Mayor Adams: Now, the traditional inspection apparatus that takes place — DOB, DOHMH — all those things will happen. The traditional annual routine inspections. But I think Ariel really touched on it: the form of harassment that you get that one caller making 120‑something calls, and you know, we were looking at the 311 calls and police commanders were being basically held accountable because of this one caller that just wanted the establishment to close down and just really never respected that the establishment was a business. 

And so if there's a need to go in to make sure that it's a quality of life issue and a health issue, we're going to do that. But we're not… We're moving from the model of the disruption of the business. I think nightlife establishments were probably the only businesses in the city that's number one, they're misunderstood. People don't understand the economic value of them. 
And that many people didn't realize the benefits that they provide in the communities, and that's what we want to lift up, and that's what I've been saying from day one as having that phrase of being the nightlife mayor. I knew the economic values of nightlife institutions in our city. 

And so we're going to make sure that they're safe, make sure that they follow all Health, DOHMH health rules. We're going to make sure they follow the codes of Department of Buildings and others, FDNY codes. But that harassment that you saw in the past is not what you're going to see now. 

Question: Hi. 

Mayor Adams: What's happenin'? 

Question: Hi, how 'ya doin'? 

So, as everyone here knows with the MARCH raids in 2020 there was a law that required them to be documented for the public. Are enforcement actions under this new CURE initiatives, do they fall under the same… Do they have to also be reported and announced to the public? 
Mayor Adams: Are you familiar with that? 

Chief of Department Maddrey: Yes. You know what? And before 2020, we weren't required, there was no mechanism to count how many MARCH operations occurred. But we do believe based on our review and taking a look back that in 2019 we did about 200 of these. Since 2020, we've done 44, total, city-wide. 

We're definitely going to make sure we document everything. If we have to go into a location, we're going to make sure that there's a documented communications, a documented history, documented complaints. We're just not going to go into any place randomly. We're not going to going to any place without just cause. 

And I just want to make myself, make one thing clear from my last answer. The Department of Health, SLA, they still have independent jobs to do. We want them to go on there. We want to make sure the food we're eating is proper and at the right temperature. We want to make sure the place is clean. 

They have a job to do. So, independently, they still have to do their jobs, but when we talk about going in as a unit with all the different agencies, there has to be a lot of just cause for us to go in there to take enforcement action. 

Question: And are the CURE enforcement actions led by the NYPD? 

Chief of Department Maddrey: No. Jeff's the boss when it comes to that. Jeff's going to be the boss. We're going to work with Jeff. And we're going to make it clear. From my standpoint, if we have a club that's really problematic, not only will a precinct commander go to that owner or that manager, we're going to have Jeff involved. 

We're going to have his office involved, Commissioner Kim's office will be involved. If we have to get the borough president or the local councilmember involved, we will do that, too. All right? This is what it's about. It's about CURE, we want businesses to thrive. We have other things to do in the city than to chase business owners around. We want to take care of real crime out there. 

Question: And lastly, is CURE an acronym; and if so, what does it stand for? 

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry? What was that? 

Question: Is CURE an acronym; and if so, what does it stand for? 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: Okay, get it to him. 

Garcia: Thank you very much. Have a great day.