Mayor Thomas Menino issued a new set of regulations this month aimed at ensuring safety in Boston nightclubs, bars and restaurants, in response to the Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people in February.
At the end of October, the mayor’s 12-member task force, formed after the fire, issued the new recommendations, including a mandatory safety checklist which owners must go through to renew their entertainment and liquor licenses. Boston is the first city in the nation to implement the safety checklist, which is currently in its initial stages, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
‘The general idea is that to renew your liquor license, you have to have a safety checklist, which involves training your staff, having an emergency evacuation plan, and making sure all exits are checked and unblocked,’ said Maureen Montanus, a task- force member and general manager of Parish Café on Boylston Street.
Managers and owners of The Station, the East Warwick, R.I. nightclub destroyed in the fire, allegedly violated safety codes despite orders by inspectors to correct the hazards. The stage door exit was covered with foam, impeding patrons’ abilities to escape. Reports also said exit locations were not clearly marked for patrons, who had to tunnel through the building’s narrow ticket booth to escape.
‘I appointed a task force to examine safety regulations for Boston nightclubs and I gave them a clear directive: to make whatever changes are necessary to ensure that Boston is using the toughest standards when it comes to nightclub safety,’ Menino said in the statement. ‘Boston already has some of the toughest safety standards on the books, but that doesn’t mean much unless every bar and club owner is educated and informed as to what those regulations are.’
Montanus said the new regulations are fair to all clubs and bars. ‘I think the standards are great because they’re tiered,’ Montanus said. ‘[The standards] of a club of 500 capacity are so much more in-depth than a pub with 50 capacity.’
Boston Beer Works’ Robin Finnestead said safety is especially important in her establishment.
‘We are always really careful because we’re really close to Fenway Park, so we get a line out the door,’ she said.
Finnestead said Boston Beer Works already trains staff on safety procedures to handle large turnouts.
‘We can set up a couple of seminars that [the staff] can take a variety of times,’ she said. ‘We teach our door staff to keep everyone safe and the numbers down inside and outside.’
Montanus said she was optimistic that bars and clubs will comply with the new safety checklist.
‘After Rhode Island, I can’t imagine people wanting that in their establishment,’ she said.
But Katherine Von Bernowitz, an interior designer who lives in Boston, said she is skeptical.
‘Clubs and bars just want money, and they’ll do whatever they want,’ she said outside The Modern on Lansdowne Street Saturday.
Von Bernowitz said as an interior designer, she is concerned with nightclub safety.
‘I think that there should be regulations,’ she said. ‘I think they let too many people in.’
She also said she feels clubgoers should be more responsible for their own safety.
‘People should care [about safety], but when they go to a club, they just want to get drunk and they don’t care,’ she said.
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