Newark City Council unanimously passes a measure that legalizes live entertainment venues in the city.
This ordinance reverses a ban Newark had in place since the 1990s barring live entertainment in venues serving alcohol, sending many local and regional music acts elsewhere.
This new law defines a live entertainment venue as a place providing live music, comedy, spoken word, cultural or similar performance for an audience, but does not include exclusively pre-recorded music played by a DJ.
The move allows for live entertainment venues on and around Main Street as well as Newark’s major shopping centers, and alcohol and food can be sold at these venues.
"Well this is something that I was pushing for maybe starting two years ago is re-evaluating our downtown codes, and were they still useful, were they, too prohibitive, or were there things that we could do to improve our downtown area as a destination to support, businesses get people to rent spaces out those types of things. I think this is a good step in the right direction," said Newark Mayor Travis McDermott.
The new law will also allow existing bars and restaurants to offer live music.
City Manager Tom Coleman says this can be a big boost to downtown businesses.
"So I think until we've re-established a reason for people to be downtown, I think it's going to be difficult for some of our non-restaurant businesses to survive,” said Coleman. “So I think anything we can do to get people downtown, especially in the offseason, will help us keep those business types that really struggle in the offseason."
Revitalizing downtown is a big goal for the city. Coleman notes he counted 19 vacant storefronts on Main Street, leading to lost revenue, especially on utilities and in the city’s general fund.
The new law will allow for the opening for a live music venue at the Newark Shopping Center by Demitri Theodoropoulos – who spoke in favor of the new law – it will be called Stella’s.
