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New Urbanist Andres Duany backs keeping clubs open until 4 a.m., but city officials are pressing ahead with a prohibitionist approach
BY IAN DONNIS
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WHEN ANDRES Duany, the respected urban planner who serves as something akin to a spiritual adviser for the elusive, more perfected Providence of the future, last week backed keeping downtown watering holes until 4 a.m., nightlife proponents could readily conclude, this guy gets it. Duany, a Miami-based architect who has come to Providence twice over the last 10 years to lead imaginative planning sessions, was responding to a familiar problem — the way in which thousands of departing bar and club goers are forced to disperse from downtown and the nearby Jewelry District as rapidly as possible on weekend nights. Keeping nightlife establishments open later on a six-month pilot basis, as Duany suggested during a March 8 "charette" session, could curb some of the vandalism and other problems now associated with the sudden and concentrated outflow of club patrons. Still, even though the City of Providence helped to pay the tab for Duany’s recent visit, his support for the concept of keeping bars and clubs open later seemed about as welcome in some quarters as a heart attack. Although Mayor David N. Cicilline says he’s "certainly open to exploring this possibility," the mayor makes clear that his priority is quickly moving ahead with a plan to cut nightclub admissions at 1 a.m. The Providence Board of Licenses is scheduled to discuss the proposed curb during a public hearing on Monday, March 22, at 2 p.m., in the aldermans’ chambers on the third floor of City Hall. Although supporters of maintaining — and extending — nightlife hours in Downcity and the adjacent Jewelry District plan to make a stand, Cicilline calls it "very likely" that the new regulations will be adopted. The more stringent regulation of nightlife is included in a new licensing category for nightclubs – defined basically as establishments with a capacity for between 200 and 10,000 people. Bert Crenca, the artistic director of AS220, the nonprofit arts emporium on Empire Street, is among those who see the effort to cut off club admissions at 1 a.m. as a misguided effort. Keeping clubs open later (and perhaps curtailing alcohol sales an hour before closing), is "one piece of what would make a better scene," Crenca says. But rather than trying to make downtown as interesting, lively, and active as possible, he notes, the earlier cutoff for club-going sends things in a very different direction. "If people think they’re going to totally regulate and legislate people’s behavior, there are more subtle and profound ways of doing that," Crenca says, such as improving downtown lighting, and doing things that encourage the presence of late-night foot traffic. (He says AS220 would not make regular use of a later closing time.) Cicilline asserts that the earlier deadline for getting into Providence clubs will enhance business and nightlife by encouraging the view "that there’s value in coming here at the beginning of the evening." Like other proponents, he also contends that the 1 a.m. curb would do away with a situation — the extent of which is questioned by those on the other side of the issue — in which large numbers of people travel to Providence clubs to make last call on weekends. As far as the 4 a.m. concept, Cicilline says, "I think it will require lots of discussion," among the police, businesses, residents, and other stakeholders. Once the 1 a.m. club deadline is effective, extending hours for clubs might be useful in helping to disperse the exodus of nightlife denizens, he says. So, short of an outpouring of public opinion that sways the opinion of Providence’s elected officials, this is how things stand. After review by the Board of Licenses, the city council and Cicilline are expected to approve the new regulations. What might be called the battle of the two Mikes — nightlife impresario Michael Kent, the owner of NV at the Strand, the Complex, and other venues, and Michael Hogue, president of Jewelry District Association, and a driving force in the effort to more closely regulate nightlife — is poised to enter another chapter. Kent has vowed to pursue legal action to combat what he sees as an unfair restraint of his business, and Hogue, one could surmise, will feel a sense of accomplishment. Yet even though this battle has sometimes become personal in recent years, the likely effects will be widespread, ranging from the majority of law-abiding nightlife denizens who will be punished for the misdeeds of the few, and the small businesses that benefit from the influx of visitors to Providence, not to mention conventioneers looking for an extended night out. For his part, Crenca can recall when downtown was a more desolate and scarier place. He thinks it’s unfortunate that nightlife — a fundamental element of a thriving city — has become hostage to a debate marked more by emotion than examination of what might make Providence better. "The major cities in the world, they don’t close at 1 a.m.," he notes. Referring to the greatest metropolis in the world, and one of its old neighborhoods that was reinvented as humming nightlife destination, Crenca says, "We’re not New York, but we could be TriBeCa." As it stands, however, Providence might be more interested in becoming Podunk. Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.
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