Night moves
City OKs after-dark entertainment czar
WANT TO GET paid to know everything about New York City nightlife? Mayor de Blasio has a job for you.
Hizzoner signed a bill Tuesday to create an Office of Nightlife, tasked with helping the city’s nightlife industry grow while managing community concerns.
“The office will be led — I’m not going to announce any names yet, there is a massive competition going in — but the office will be led by someone who undoubtedly will be more popular than me and will wield tremendous power: the nightlife mayor,” de Blasio said.
The mayor signed the bill — at night, of course — at House of Yes, a Bushwick venue for art and music that in recent weeks hosted events dubbed “Pole Play Wednesday,” and “Foreplay: Sensual Theatre.”
De Blasio brought along a little star power for the signing — he was joined by jazz musician Ron Carter and Marky Ramone, the drummer of the legendary punk band The Ramones, which led the mayor to wax poetic about the dear departed rock den CBGB.
“The punk movement was tremendously important and spoke to my heart and so many of the hearts of people around me,” he said.
Ramone said CBGB was one of just three clubs that would allow bands like his to perform.
“There’s a fine line between becoming a bedroom community or a Big Apple,” Ramone said, adding that the mayor hopes the Office of Nightlife and an attached 12-person Nightlife Committee would keep the city accessible and vibrant.
The bill was sponsored by Councilman Rafael Espinal (DBrooklyn), who noted that a slew of iconic venues, many of them DIY venues, had closed in recent years in the face of rising rents, and adversarial relationships with the city and community boards.