Council could revoke two nightclubs’ permits
Douglas Hadden 01/21/2006
PAWTUCKET -- Two city nightclubs -- including one that was apparently operating
without a liquor license -- will come under scrutiny when the City Council meets
Wednesday in its capacity as the Liquor Board.
On the docket for a show-cause hearing on whether to revoke its alcohol license
is the Tabu Lounge, 17 Exchange St., which was cited for underage patrons,
serving after hours and other problems when police arrested two people in an
altercation there on Dec. 4. (An earlier hearing date for Tropical Vibes Corp.,
doing business as Tabu, had to be rescheduled for lack of a stenographer.)
The new operators of the club, who have put several thousand dollars into
repairs and upgrades (including a $40,000 fire alarm system) to remedy fire code
violations they inherited, had their liquor license suspended briefly by the
council last October, including for not filing their annual corporate statement
with the Secretary of State’s office.
The city previously suspended the club’s license last May, also for a brief
period, after legal questions arose over whether the owner, Marcus Smith of
Milton, Mass. was the actual operator as required under state liquor laws.
Not on Wednesday’s docket, but extensively referenced in the packet of materials
for the meeting, are onoging fire code problems at Club Macondo, in a building
at 242 Middle St. owned by Robert Thibeault of Central Falls.
Over the last several years, various operations at the club have been cited for
underage drinking and fights in the parking lot, among other problems. At one
point Macondo changed its name to target a higher-end clientele, then changed it
back again, in moves approved by the council.
More seriously, letters from city and state fire marshals show the club has been
cited for fire code violations going back to 2004.
That the club had been operating without a liquor license was referenced in a
Jan. 14 letter by city Fire Lt. William Sisson, an assistant deputy state fire
marshal who inspects buildings for fire code compliance, to City Clerk Janice
Laporte,
Apparently replying to a verbal request by Laporte regarding when detail
firefighters had been stationed at the club, Sisson specified that had occurred
on the Friday and Saturday of Jan. 6-7.
Then Sisson added, "The Pawtucket Fire Department was unaware that Macondo’s was
operating without a liquor license until our [apparently prior] conversation."
Sisson, following a Nov. 30 fire safety inspection of the club pursuant to
renewal of its alcohol license, listed a long list of deficiencies in a Dec. 6
letter to Thibeault.
The letter stated that "the deficiencies shall be corrected" by Jan. 6, or
variances be sought from the city Board of Appeals, or Thibeault would be
subject prosecution under the state fire safety code.
The inspection found the building had an "out of code local alarm system with no
evidence of the last system test. The building requires a municipally connected
fire alarm system."
The system tests, under safety code changes enacted by the legislature in the
wake of the deadly Station nightclub fire in 2003, are required to be conducted
at least quarterly and documented.
Sisson in his letter also said the building lacked a required sprinkler system
and had been cited for deficiencies several times by city and state fire
marshals. "Compliance," Sisson wrote, "has been ignored."
Those citations for fire safety violations were hardly new but enforcement seems
to have been lacking.
Previously, the club was ordered to install a municipal fire system by Aug. 1,
2004, an emergency plan by Oct. 1, 2004, emergency power circuits and lighting
by Feb. 20, 2005 and an automatic sprinkler system by Aug. 1, 2005.
Sisson, among a total of 23 deficiencies cited in his Dec. 6 report, also found
that basement exit doors weren’t wide enough, some doors did not meet
fire-approved ratings and lacked panic hardware, there was no handrail on stairs
leading to the dance floor in the basement and a coat storage area interfered
with a basement exit.
Several deficiencies were found with the club’s kitchen, including a pizza oven
with no fire suppression system; lack of a hood and duct system, automatic gas
shutoff, proper fire extinguisher and emergency lighting; empty boxes stored on
the oven and "vertical openings" in the ceiling.
The club has an allowed occupancy of 142 on the first floor and 180 in the
basement.
Several of the more serious deficiencies, including the lack of sprinkler and
municipal alarm systems, were referenced in a July 18, 2005 letter to Thibeault
from the state fire marshal’s office.
The letter, written by Deputy State Fire Marshal Michael Proto, noted the
state’s newly toughened fire codes and said the five violations listed "shall be
corrected immediately but no later than 30 days from receipt of this notice,"
and that Thibeault would be subject to state prosecution "should you fail to
correct all of the violations noted."
The Macondo fire safety documentation is listed under the "communications"
section of the council agenda, with no Liquor Board hearing yet set on the
matter.
©The Pawtucket Times 2006
Source: The Pawtucket Times,
http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15973330&BRD=1713&PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6
