Members of Jersey City’s arts community are wondering what new regulations in a recently-amended city ordinance on entertainment will mean to them.
Many are concerned because the June 27 version of ordinance 07-122, which updates Chapter 157 of the Jersey City Code, requires them to acquire licenses for live performances.
Others say they are concerned over “acceptable levels” of noise, and definitions of obscenity and pornography. On July 24, over 30 residents and performers met with Jersey City’s Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop to discuss the law’s effects and to make suggestions on how it can be adapted to suit their needs.
The meeting was organized by Christine Goodman, founder of Art House productions, an organization that provides exhibition and performance opportunities for artists.
Goodman, who started Art House Productions in 2001, said she never knew about the entertainment clause of the city code until she read in the paper that Fulop’s amendment had passed last June.
“I called this meeting because arts organizations were coming to me and asking me about [the ordinance],” Goodman said. “There were lots of questions they were coming up with that I couldn’t answer.”
The ordinance
At a June 27 Jersey City Council meeting, members overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to Chapter 157 of the City Code, that requires “entertainment and dance venues” to acquire a specific license.
According to the law, this would allow city officials to monitor noise, and, additionally, any “obscene or pornographic actions” in the venues. The ordinance sets out to license and regulate all entertainment and dance activities in the city, offering three different licenses with varying costs according to the number of people in attendance: Class “A” licenses cost $300 per year, Class “B” licenses cost $600 per year, and special event licenses cost $25 per performance.
The ordinance also stipulates times that “outdoor entertainment” and sound that is audible outside of a venue must end at 11 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Fulop said he introduced the changes to the law based on complaints he had gotten from residents about noise late at night. The complaints were about a number of different venues, the Councilman said.
“It’s not just one place despite what anybody said,” Fulop stressed.
Questions and concerns
Goodman, whose JC Fridays events draw hundreds of people to the city at the beginning of every season for a full day of art said she understood residents’ concerns about loud clubs.
But, she said, much of the entertainment that she and her colleagues provide actually has a positive affect on the city.
“The arts organizations have, in a large part, contributed to the city’s quality of life,” she said.
Many artists who joined Goodman at the July 24 meeting with the councilman said they were worried about the limits defined in the ordinance.
Jersey City resident and comedian Melissa Surach was one of the performers who came to the meeting.
“I’m concerned because of the arbitrary nature of the enforcement of the ordinance,” she said in a later interview.
Surach, 26, performs her monthly “Black Hole” comedy show at The 58 Gallery, located at 58 Coles Street. According to Surach, the gallery was refused an entertainment license based on zoning, because it is located in a residential area. She said she received a phone call before her June show, warning that police would come and issue tickets for violating the ordinance at the event.
In an interview last week, Fulop said it would be police and not ABC who would enforce the law, primarily responding to complaints or infractions that they are made aware of.
“It’s a quality of life issue,” he said. “If they see an issue they’ll probably respond.”
Police did not end up coming to Surach’s show, and she later went to City Hall to discuss the matter with Cultural Affairs. She ended up changing her show to begin at 8 instead of 9, but said that the time change has hurt her audience.
“For some reason no one in Jersey City leaves their house before 8:30,” she said. But hours are not the main thing that the comedienne is worried about.
“My biggest concern is the obscenity part,” said Surach.
The ordinance prohibits “obscene entertainment and obscene dancing.” It contains a definition of obscenity and pornography that “reflects contemporary community standards as enforceable by relevant judicial decisions.” It goes on to say that these definitions were written based on testimony taken from “ordinary citizens as well as members of the clergy, teachers, business people and professionals.”
Surach said members of these groups may object to the content of her show.
“In many groups, obscenity and pornography are defined the same way,” she said. “I’m a comedian, I tell a lot of dirty jokes.”
Resident Tris McCall is also alarmed by the council’s approval of the clause regulating content, calling the obscenity provisions from the ordinance “draconian.”
“[The members of the City Council] re-read it, had the chance to take it out and revise it and they didn’t,” McCall said.
McCall, who is a musician but rarely plays in Jersey City, said that he objects to the ordinance as someone concerned about civil liberties, and not as an arts organizer who would be directly affected by the law.
McCall said that like most musicians in Jersey City, he is forced to play outside the area at venues such as Maxwell’s in Hoboken and other clubs in Brooklyn due to the lack of live music venue spaces in town.
Limiting local music?
McCall and Goodman both said that they were worried about the acceptable outside noise levels defined in the ordinance, as this could further hinder the city’s dwindling live music scene.
Though there are hundreds of musicians in the city, there are few venues that feature live music performances on a regular basis in downtown Jersey City. High insurance costs, noise complaints, and niche interest in original music forced many music venues to close their doors.
Uncle Joe’s, the downtown neighborhood bar on First Street that featured live original music every night, closed in the spring of 2005, and few other venues have stepped in to take its place.
McCall lamented the fact that there are still only a few places to practice and play live music in Jersey City. “We’ve made no progress in [finding new live venues], and it seems we’re moving backward,” he said.
The councilman’s response
During and after the meeting, Fulop said he was willing to work with artists on their suggestions about the ordinance, especially about the price of entertainment licenses and the hours.
“The concerns about fees and scheduling will be revisited,” he said in an interview last week.
“From [the artists’] perspective, they are part of the community, and [the licensing fees are] a back door tax,” he said, adding that he would be willing to waive some of the fees for arts organizers.
But he would not back down from the original purpose of the ordinance.
“It’s important for the city to monitor entertainment and the groups that are congregating,” Fulop said.
He said that he was drawing up another version of the ordinance that could go before the council at its second meeting of this month. He has gathered a working group of 9-10 people from varying backgrounds to work with him on the revisions. “Everyone who expressed an interest has been included,” he added.
“The point of this is not to strangle or stop arts or live music,” Fulop said. “It’s to encourage it.”
Goodman said that she was looking forward to working with the councilman on keeping the lines of dialogue open between artists and politicians.
And Surach stressed that artists and performers must stay vocal if they want to see changes made.
“I think they’ll only make the effort if the arts community keeps pressing,” Surach said.
Comments on this piece can be sent to mfriedman@hudsonreporter.com