By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Mayor Adams, an avowed booster of New York City’s nightlife scene, is dismantling a decades-old, multi-agency enforcement task force that has long been accused of using heavy-handed tactics during inspections at bars and venues across the Big Apple.
The so-called MARCH task force, which has comprised the NYPD, the Department of Buildings, the FDNY, the State Liquor Authority and other agencies, will be replaced by a new initiative called CURE — Coordinating a United Resolution with Establishments — that’s going to focus on “compliance and education, not over-enforcement,” Adams told reporters Thursday.
“This is an era of no more demonizing successful businesses, but promoting, lifting them up,” Adams said during a press conference at the Paragon nightclub in Bushwick. “We want to continue to be the city that never sleeps.”
The NYPD-led MARCH initiative, which was launched by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s, has drawn the ire of nightlife establishment owners for decades over its SWAT team-like surprise raids during peak business hours in response to noise complaints, health code violations and other community grievances. The raids resulted in either fines or mandatory closures of nightlife spots.
“It was a very frustrating and confusing process,” said John Barclay, Paragon’s owner who was subjected to MARCH raids at other establishments he’s operated.
CURE, by contrast, will not have such raids be part of its regular operations, according to City Hall.
Rather, it’ll require police precincts to establish direct lines of communication with bar and restaurants owners and inform them of any suspected violations at their establishments, including noise complaints. Owners will then have 30 days to address any infractions, according to City Hall.
“The only venues who can expect to see significant enforcement actions are those that intentionally ignore community concerns,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, the city’s highest-ranking uniformed cop.
“We have other things to do in the city than to chase business owners around,” Maddrey added. “We want to take care of real crime.”
Another shakeup is that the CURE effort won’t be spearheaded by the NYPD. Instead it’ll be overseen by Office of Nightlife Executive Director Jeffrey Garcia, the city’s so-called “nightlife mayor” who was tapped to his paid gig last month despite a hiring freeze enacted by Adams across all municipal agencies due to budgetary concerns.
Adams, who’s known to frequent high-end nightclubs across the city, like NoHo’s Zero Bond, said he was on hand for a MARCH inspection that took place at a Brooklyn bar he was socializing at while borough president.
“It was just so disruptive,” Adams said.
Adams and members of his inner circle have a history of clashing with agencies policing the city’s nightlife sector.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin , Adams’ chief adviser at City Hall, helped East Williamsburg club Avant Gardner get meetings last year with a top aide to Gov. Hochul to resolve issues it had with the State Liquor Authority after the agency accused the venue of turning a blind eye to “rampant” drug use at its premises that had resulted in multiple fatal overdoses, as first reported by Gothamist. The club’s attorney used to be Frank Carone, Adams’ former chief of staff and longtime political confidante.
When asked about the Avant Gardner situation earlier this year, Adams suggested the State Liquor Authority should be blacklisted from operating in the city. “I’m hoping that eventually we’ll get to the day that the state SLA is handled on a city level,” he said then.
While Adams’ abolishment of the MARCH task force was welcomed by business owners, at least one Council member voiced skepticism after Thursday’s announcement.
“Eliminating MARCH operations might inadvertently send the wrong message to the scofflaws,” said Queens Councilman Bob Holden, a conservative Democrat who’s typically supportive of Adams. “More layers of bureaucracy will only prolong the existing quality of life issues. I hope this does not backfire.”
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