Pubblicati
Fri, Jun 2, 2023, 16:20
- City Hall denies the April 29th visit to H0l0 was part of the controversial M.A.R.C.H. initiative. But others disagree.
In the past six weeks, two New York clubs—H0l0 and SILO—were subjected to surprise inspections from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Local party Hot Honey Sundays was running at H0l0 during the inspection on Saturday, April 29th. Following the incident, two other local venue owners (who asked to remain anonymous) voiced their concerns to RA, likening it to a previous policing initiative from 2019 called Multi-Agency Response to Community Hotspots (M.A.R.C.H.).
M.A.R.C.H. inspections require a reason and a 30-day warning. The task force has previously been accused of targeting nightlife venues with "SWAT-like raids" during peak hours.
According to other anonymous sources who spoke to RA, the investigation at H0l0 was a response to "311 noise complaints, after-hours activity and outside venue activity that is not SLA [New York State Liquor Authority] permitted." It was confirmed that the SLA, the NYPD and the Department of Buildings were the three agencies present.
RA approached City Hall for comment on the H0l0 inspection. They denied it was part of a M.A.R.C.H. operation. Here's their statement in full.
"On the night of Saturday, April 29th, the NYPD received numerous community complaints regarding activity prohibited by SLA within the confines of the 104th precinct. As a result, officers were deployed to assist SLA with an inspection of the property and multiple violations were discovered and appropriate enforcement was taken. This wasn't a M.A.R.C.H. operation, and anyone saying it was is circulating inaccurate information—only causing confusion and leaving members of the nightlife community feeling unsettled. We're dedicated to ensuring New Yorkers are able to enjoy their weekends undisturbed, peacefully, and safely."
Olympia Kazi is a founding member of the NYC Artist Coalition, a group that has advocated for transparency in the NYPD'S M.A.R.C.H. task force. She believes the city needs to own up.
"It's unrealistic," she told RA. "[The H0l0 incident] was a M.A.R.C.H. These aren't agencies that are available on the ready on a weekend just to come up. It would require a lot of coordination to pull other agencies. We know that this isn't the way it works."
Kazi served for years on the community board and studied incidents like these when passing legislation. "It's very disappointing," she added. "I think they should behave like adults. They should say, 'Sorry we didn't follow the rule' and make sure that if they want to start doing those task forces again that they abide by the rule."
At around 10:15 PM on Friday, May 12th, four NYPD officers and an SLA inspector visited another local club, SILO. "I don't think they gave us an explicit reason," owner Lilly Wolfson told RA. "They checked a lot of things. They reviewed the licenses of our security team and everything was valid."
According to Wolfson, two undercover agents had attempted to enter the venue with fake IDs, but the documents were confiscated by security and they were turned away. The SLA representative proceeded to cite the club for four issues: two for the font on the pregnancy warning and no-service-to-minors signs, one for unreasonable noise and one for letting attendees leave the premises with alcohol.
But Wolfson said the officer didn't have a decibel reader to measure the sound, nor did they check anyone's drinks outside the venue. She said SILO only allows people to take out bottles of water and yerba mate.
"This is hard to say [if this was a M.A.R.C.H.]," she added. "My understanding is that there have been a lot of police visits to nightclubs in the past weeks, although it did feel a bit like the SLA inspector was planning to find a violation to cite when he walked in." The SLA didn't immediately respond to RA's request for comment.