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| Aerial Palitz, Noisemonger |
The City That Never Sleeps could soon live up to its nickname.
New York’s nightlife czar is pushing to create 24-hour “entertainment districts,” where it would be OK for booze to flow, bass to thump and bodies to sway around the clock.
Despite the city already partying like it’s 1999.
“Everything is on the table right now,” said Ariel Palitz, who runs the city’s Office of Nightlife.
“We do know that 24-hour usage is very successful in other parts of the world. People say it might be terrible for quality of life, but in fact we found the opposite.”
Her recommendation is buried on page 136 of a 160-page report issued this month by Palitz’s taxpayer-funded agency, a division of the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
The report claims that “uniform closing hours” for bars and clubs “can lead to increased tensions when groups of people simultaneously exit venues into public streets and sidewalks.
“Allowing 24-hour use in specified districts, if implemented properly, can help people to move at their own pace and reduce conflicts.”
But the proposal comes as crime in New York is surging, quality-of-life violations have escalated and city leaders have failed to stem raging after-hours parties — with hot spots that include Washington Square Park and Hell Square in the Lower East Side.
Adding 24-hour entertainment can only make matters worse, cautioned Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank focused on urban policy.
“We need to retain New York City’s fragile residential population right now more than we need a few thousand more drunk people in the streets,” she told The Post.
“The city is already having trouble policing disorder. Now think about the unique challenges of trying to police a place where people go to behave in a way they wouldn’t behave at home. You have to wonder if New York City is up to the challenge.”
