For years, customers at the trendy Harbor East restaurant Pazo could get up and dance if they liked the house music.
That stopped about 18 months ago, when city officials threatened to shut down the restaurant if the dancing continued, according to co-owner Tony Foreman. Pazo operates in a B-2 business district, where live entertainment is not allowed. Technically, when Foreman's patrons got up and danced, it was considered live entertainment. Foreman was shocked.
"We were warned that playing music and people getting up and dancing to music - we're talking about grown-ups dancing to a little bit of music after dinner - is illegal and we'd be shut down and lose our [liquor] license," he said. "If you want to dance after dinner, you're going to jail."
A new bill sponsored by City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake could change that. The legislation, which is scheduled for a committee hearing Thursday, would allow live entertainment in city districts where it was previously illegal.
"I'm trying to come up with a vehicle to change the way we do business in the city - to really open the door for more live entertainment and an increased quality of life," Rawlings-Blake said.
As it stands, taverns and restaurants can only have live entertainment if they are in the proper city zones. They include B-3 through B-5 business districts and, conditionally, M-1 and M-2 industrial districts.
This bill would allow taverns in B-2 and restaurants - such as Pazo - in B-1 and B-2 zones to apply for a live entertainment license with the Board of Municipal & Zoning Appeals and the Board of Liquor License Commissioners. If approved by both, they could then hold live entertainment events.
"Live entertainment" is a broad-reaching term that includes musical and theatrical performances, magic shows, karaoke, DJs, dances and revues. It does not affect adult entertainment licenses.
B-1 and B-2 zones are scattered throughout the city, and cover Belvedere Square, parts of Harbor East and also Main Street areas in neighborhoods such as Lauraville.
Rawlings-Blake introduced the bill last July, and asked for input from bar and club owners and neighborhood residents. She held a series of community work sessions and unofficial discussions with communities and club owners.
