Clubs Get the Spotlight

Yesterday's Nightlife Summit couldn't have gone better for the city's nightlife industry. NYNA was recognized and praised as the sole legitimate voice of the business sector and its recommendations were give top billing in today's press coverage of the event. The NY Post deserves the most credit in this regard and in particular the report of Stephanie Gaskell.

Gaskell's story, accompanied by what could have been a NYNA chart, led with the Association's concerns and continued to reference these issues throughout the piece. The key proposals outlined are the request for paid detail, and the call for the establishment of an office of nightlife affairs.

NYNA's David Rabin was placed front and center in the story and NYNA founder, Andrew Raseij, was also quoted on the considerable contribution made by the industry to the city's economy. When the issue of underage drinking was mentioned the Post discussed the NYNA call for a crackdown on fake IDs.

Smaller, but no less sympathetic pieces, were done in the NY Daily News and the NY Sun. The News trumpeted the NYNA demand for paid detail while the Sun reported on the Association's proposal for an age restriction on club entrance. This last issue, a radical departure for the industry and evidence of its concern about a serious social problem, was the central feature of a WINS 1010 report interviewing Richard Lipsky. In addition, an Associated press story that ran in Newsday featured the comments of Rabin on the need to nurture one of New York's most important industries.

All in all this was a good start on establishing the kind of dialogue that can only help the industry and the city in any joint effort to enhance public safety while also preserving a vital city asset. NYNA now needs to insure that this good start continues and results in the forwarding of some positive proposal that will help the nightlife industry in these difficult times.