'Footloose' Law That Bans Dancing Should Be Repealed, City Councilman Says

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — City Councilman Rafael Espinal wants his constituents to dance more and get hit by baseballs less.

The Bushwick representative will spend the upcoming weeks attempting to repeal the Cabaret Law that prohibits dancing in bars, while enacting a bill demanding Yankee Stadium and Citi Field install more protective netting to protect fans from foul balls, he said.

“We have a Footloose situation in New York City,” he told Patch, comparing the cabaret law to the 1984 film about a town where dancing is outlawed.

“We want to figure out how to help people who want to express themselves through dancing.”

The cabaret law mandatesthat all New York City dancing venues that also serve food or drink must get a licence that is notoriously difficult to procure. In a city with more than 12,000 bars, only about 130 are licenced to host dancing, according to city data.

Espinal and the small business owners and activists who back him argue the cabaret licence law should be repealed for three reasons — the law limits opportunities for musicians, hurts many new bars popping up in Bushwick, and it is mired in a racist history.

“It was the government’s way of impeding on jazz clubs and stopping people of color from having a good time,” Espinal explained. He said it was first enacted in 1926 at the height of the jazz age.

“And in current day it is used as an informal tool to crack down on clubs — a lot of other smaller venues and bars that are trying to provide a safe space for artists and musical artists to perform are being affected.”

Espinal first tried unsuccessfully to repeal the cabaret law in 2016 but is reviving his efforts after the grassroots organization Dance Liberation Network gathered almost 3,000 signatures on a Change.org petition, he said.

“Having the community pushing and yelling for the repeal is going to help me repeal it,” he said.

Espinal hopes to have a bill ready for submission by the end of spring, he said.

The councilman is also pursuing legislation that would mandate the Yankees and Mets provide more netting in their stadiums to better protect fans from foul balls, the New York Times first reported Monday.

The problem came to Espinal’s attention when a fan who had been hit in the eye by a foul ball complained of a $20,000 medical bill that Yankee Stadium management refused to help pay, he said.

Espinal's bill would prevent such injuries by mandating netting that extends 90 feet from home plate in both directions, covering patrons seated behind the dugouts, the foul lines and home plate, he said.

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