Providence Club Using Loophole to Serve Alcohol After-Hours Facing Opposition
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
Providence Club Using Loophole to Serve Alcohol After-Hours Facing Opposition
Dusk 2 Dawn — formerly Club Therapy — and its music operations appeared before the Board of Licenses on Wednesday regarding having a DJ in December, but opponents to how the club operates, by utilizing a “catering license” in lieu of nightclub license in order to serve alcohol, have been voicing their concerns.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the neighborhood, or the city, what they’re doing — they’re undermining the whole system,” said City Councilwoman Sabina Matos of Dusk 2 Dawn’s operations. “If we allow them to do what they’re doing, what’s to stop other clubs from circumventing the system? If they want to be a nightclub, they need to go and get the license. We have to regulate the nightclubs, because right now we can’t monitor what’s going on.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe club makes use of the 1 to 4 a.m. operating license that Therapy had previously been given by the city. By having a catering license, Dusk 2 Dawn can serve alcohol for up to a five hour period as part of an “event.”
“The owners and operators have found a loophole, and what’s being manipulated is they have an entertainment license and a 4 a.m. closing, but they don’t have a liquor license — just a catering license to serve alcohol before 1,” said City Council President Luis Aponte. “I’ve talk with the attorneys, I don’t think they’ve run afoul of the law, but we need to monitor it closely. For all intents and purposes, they operate as a nightclub — a Class N — which has terms they don’t have to adhere to.”
Attorney Nick Hemond, who said he represents the catering side of Dusk 2 Dawn's business, said that everything they are doing is legal -- and that the Board of Licenses was overstepping its boundaries in terms of enforcing alcohol, given the catering license is under the Department of Business Regulation.
"They've been operating it in this way for ten years," said Hemond. "Again, they're a 1 to 4 dance club."
When asked why the club wouldn't just apply for a "N" license, Hemond said it is not necessary.
"Yes, there's a "N" license that is a rider to a liquor license. It only means the majority of your sales come from cover charges and liquor," said Hemond. "The DBR has said that there is no such thing as "acting as a nightclub."
Latest in Board of Licenses Battles
The dispute is the latest over Providence nightclubs, which continue to be plagued by violence and drugs — including stabbings at Club Euphoria and the Tropicana Bar this past weekend — and follows former Attorney General Jeffrey Pine's scathing report on the Board of Licenses issued in September.
“We took out action on the Council, and now it’s up to the [Elorza Administration] to implement the recommended changes,” said Aponte. “They’ve begun to implement the easier ones, such as changing the location of the meetings for accessibility, and I saw where they’re starting to utilize and online platform for [license] renewals….but I’m not sure they changes are happening with the velocity they should.”
Board member Johanna Harris, whose term expires in January, said she does not expect to be reappointed by Elorza — and blasted the way the board operations.
“They delude themselves in thinking that the Pine recommendations will make a difference. In the past year, it’s been ten times worse than the previous years,” said Harris.
Harris noted that when the Board took up renewals for licenses for establishments that had been fined $2000 or more during the past year, that they all were re-approved.
“What’s fascinating is that no one takes a position or justifies what they do,” said Harris. “Whether it’s a show-cause for violation, or renewals, the [city] solicitor makes a recommendation, and the board just ratifies. I voted against a number of those renewals, especially those with a pattern of harming the neighborhood. The board just renewed Ada’s Creations, who still owes $45,000 in police detail — and then we gave her the financial advantage of having an entertainment license. I don’t even know how this can be legal.”
SLIDES: Drugs, Violence at Providence Clubs in 2016
Providence Clubs and Reports of Crime and Violence - 2016
August 20
Van Gogh Nightclub
The Providence Board of Licenses voted on Saturday at an emergency hearing to shutter the Harris Avenue establishment for 72 hours, after a man was taken to the hospital with stab wounds following a fight in the vicinity of the club in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"When folks started calling me, I thought they were reaching out about Tel Aviv -- I had no idea yet another incident had occurred," said Providence Board of Licenses member Johanna Harris, of hearing from people on what she thought was the separate incident that occurred at another Providence club just the night before (see next slide).
August 19
Tel-Aviv
The South Water Street establishment was raided by Providence Police on Friday night, following a weeks-long narcotics investigation.
WPRI.com reported that two men were arrested - Theo Spyridis, 39, the bar’s manager, and Antonio Reverdes, 47, a customer -- and according to police, with a "good amount of cocaine and significant amount of cash."
Tel Aviv will now go before the city’s Board of Licenses at an upcoming meeting.
August 15
Aqua
Providence’s Board of Licenses ordered Aqua Hookah Lounge to temporarily close following a violent incident earlier in August - marking the second instance of an issue violence at the establishment.
Providence police told WPRI.com a passing officer heard a gunshot and saw people running from the establishment on Broad Street.
Police said a bullet grazed a man in his arm, but the wound was not serious. The Board decided to close the club for 72 hours -- and revisit the issue.
August 8
Flow
The police report for the August 8 incident at FLOW nightclub at Cranston Street and Potters Avenue -- that included four stabbing victims -- described victims as saying they were leaving the club at the time the altercation took place.
The club was closed for three days, and at the August 16 Board of Licenses' continuation of the show-cause hearing, the club entered into a deal with the City that would include police detail during a 45 day review period -- but that the stabbings would not go on Flow's record.
"The biggest travesty is they took a witness who'd been subpoenaed -- and appeared -- and they released him," said Jewelry District Association President Sharon Steele, who attends nearly all Board of License hearings. "Then the city and the club came together on a "recommendation" out in the hall. No witness, no detective testimony, and [the city] allowed them to say it was purely a disturbance of the public but it wasn't a stabbing at the club."
June 21
Vault Nightclub
The Providence Board of Licenses voted on July 21 to close The Vault nightclub on Federal Hill for an additional five days following a shooting outside the club - after a bouncer admitted to lying to police about the shooter having been inside, saying he was told by club management to lie.
The embroiled Providence hotspot, which is in a building formerly co-owned by Congressman David Cicilline and now solely owned by his brother John, was slated to have a ruling made ten days following a July 15 meeting, but the city unexpectedly moved it up earlier.
On Thursday, the Board of Licenses voted to shut Vault for five days, from July 27 to 31, reduce the weekend closing time from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. for 60 days -- and required the club to increase security, and pay up $2000 fine.
