Jersey City restaurants located in neighborhood commercial districts will now be allowed to have live music as late as 2 a.m. on weekends, due to an ordinance passed by the City Council on Wednesday.
Restaurants can host live music played until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 1 a.m. from Sundays to Thursdays. Previously, restaurants that wanted live entertainment had to request a variance.
The city has for years struggled with how best to balance the growth of its nightlife scene with the needs of residents – some of whom welcome the lively atmosphere that comes with living in a vibrant urban community, some of whom have complaints about noise and issues that stem from the city’s bars and restaurants. The city believes it has struck a fair compromise.
The long-awaited changes set new regulations for live entertainment, which restaurant and bar owners say is needed to help them compete with thriving entertainment scenes in nearby Hoboken and New York.
With a series of amendments, the city set strict decibel levels for live entertainment at bars, restaurants, and nightclubs, and dictated hours when such entertainment can occur.
Restaurants and bars can now for the first time obtain an entertainment license that will allow them to host live performances.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people. Eleven o’clock seems to be the sticking point,” said Ward D Councilman William Gaughan at the meeting. He said he received a “tremendous” number of calls about the ordinance. “Most establishments that I’ve spoken to, and even some community groups, feel that 11 is too soon to cut off entertainment. In some places, the entertainment doesn’t even start until 9:30.”
The city has struggled with how best to balance the growth of its nightlife scene with the needs of residents.
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Some still not satisfied
Resident and professional DJ Anthony Susco suggested the new hours still aren’t realistic and he predicted that restaurants would try to skirt the law – as some do already – to keep their entertainment going later.
“This has been a work in the making for over five years. This has been something that multiple council members and [municipal] staff have been involved in,” responded Carl Czaplicki, director of the Department of Housing, Economic Development, and Commerce, who was thanked by the council for revising the ordinance to accommodate the concerns of residents. “If we have to change or tweak the hours, then so be it.”
Community groups that attended the meeting supported the ordinance, calling it fair.
“We’re very supportive of what the city is trying to do. We want entertainment in our neighborhood. We think it’s an exciting place to live,” Stephen Musgrave, president of the Harsimus Cove Association, told the Reporter. “We still have some concerns about whether the city will be able to adequately enforce this. But it’s a fair ordinance and I believe the council and [Czaplicki] listened to us and heard many of our concerns.”
Comment at www.hudsonreporter.com. E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.