CITYWATCH A West Side favorite faces an uncertain future BY IAN DONNIS

Julian Forge contained his simmering frustration as he described a city demand that he install a sprinkler in the subterranean office/storage area of his idled Providence restaurant. As told by Forge, the proprietor of Julian’s — which has become a mecca for the burgeoning West Side arts community since opening on Broadway in 1995 — such unusual requests, and a lack of clear guidance for bringing his establishment into code compliance, are casting uncertainty over the future of his popular hot spot.

An answering machine message on the phone this week at Julian’s says workers are striving to create the "safest restaurant in Providence," and pledges that, after closing for renovations over the summer, it will reopen as soon as possible. But Forge, 32, who has been painting a dark picture in talking with acquaintances, says his business is "teetering on the brink of destruction."

The trouble began in March, he says — not long after the Station nightclub disaster — when a customer noticed a smoky air conditioning wire in a bathroom (which was extinguished by an employee without incident), and felt that one of the restaurant’s doors didn’t open freely when pushed. Forge says he recognized the need for improvements to the Depression-era structure housing Julian’s, but that some city inspectors have been rude and uncooperative in requests for information since then. Instead of offering a conclusive list of what needs to be done before his restaurant can reopen, he says, there have been obstacles and unusual demands — like placing a sprinkler in the basement, but not in the area where customers are served.

Sam Shamoon, acting director of the Providence Department of Inspection and Standards, was not familiar with all of the details of the Julian’s situation, but he added, "I don’t think the criticism is fair. Our primary mission here is really to have code-compliant buildings." About the demand for the sprinkler in the basement, Shamoon says, "I don’t know where that came from." (Other inspectors, separate from the Department of Inspection and Standards, also work for the fire department.)

Shamoon, who pledged to look into the situation regarding Julian’s, says inspectors have been told to view the people they work with as customers and to offer a business-friendly approach. "My orders to my men is that they’re not to be heavy-handed or unruly or rude, or anything like that," he says. "Right now, we’re trying to establish a different culture. The past [mayoral administration] might have been different."

Although he believes his establishment faces more scrutiny because of its artsy clientele, Forge says, he was also motivated to speak out because of what he sees as an overreaction to the Station disaster. "This is going to hurt more and more people," he says. "I want to put the brakes on."