Mayor Bloomberg Maintains Guiliani's NY Club Crackdown

Rudolph Giuliani's replacement Michael Bloomberg is escalating New York City authorities' anti nightlife campaign, after a brief pause following September 11, the New York Times reported this week.

Since April 2002, Mayor Bloomberg's administration has re-enacted M.A.R.C.H. (Multi Agency Response to Community Hotspots) a puritanical police squad who raid entertainment venues looking to close them down for breaching minor licensing violations.

"The Police Department is not less tough on night life," division chief Robert F. Messner boasted to the Times.

"If you listen to stories about what led to this homicide or what led to this assault, you would be surprised how many stem from nightclubs. We don't want those places in New York."

According to the Times, Mayor Bloomberg is also intent on outlawing smoking in all public places (including clubs) as well as vigorously enforcing the city's noise code "a new effort aimed in part at bars and clubs with noisy patrons who spill into the city's streets."
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