SAN JOSE, CA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The city of San Jose has taken a step in the fight against some recent violence associated with nightclubs in the downtown area by passing a new set of laws to replace a temporary emergency ordinance adopted last November.
The revised ordinance is less strict than the temporary rules, but leave the nightclubs responsible for anything that happens within 150 feet of their walls. Downtown business owners and civil rights groups had blasted the emergency ordinance as harsh, as it gave police broader authority to immediately suspend the permits of clubs or bars that create a public nuisance.
To address the concerns, city council members approved measures that give club operators an opportunity to remedy problems themselves to avoid the suspension of their licenses, as well as more options to appeal a closure.
A major change in the law gives officers three days, instead of five, to approve a club owner’s appeal to being shut down, allowing the club to reopen sooner if the appeal is accepted.
Dave Powell, who owns three bars and is president of the San Jose Restaurant and Entertainment Association, expressed concerns that the original ordinance lacked due process and was created by the police without conferring with downtown businesses.
Powell, who worked on the revisions, told the San Jose Mercury News that he was satisfied with the new version.
“It will allow a deeper and more thorough dialogue to take place between the police department and entertainment permit holders…so that a crisis is prevented,” he said. “It is the right way of doing business in San Jose.”
The temporary ordinance was put in place in response to an October shooting near a downtown hip-hop club that injured three people and led to three arrests. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
