[Amended 5-17-1993; 7-16-2001]
As used in this article, unless context or subject
matter otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association,
society, club or other organization.
Buildings used exclusively for private dwelling purposes.
Includes any entertainment not conducted in a private home.
Any hotel, restaurant, tavern, hall, theatre, or other similar
building or structure to which the public generally may gain admission
and view or participate in entertainment. "Public entertainment hall"
shall also include outside entertainment, lawn fete, carnival or picnic.
[Amended 5-21-2007]
A.
Required.
(1)
No person shall hold or provide entertainment in any
public entertainment hall within the City until said public entertainment
hall shall first have been licensed as provided in this article.
(2)
Such license shall be issued by the City Clerk, and
the license shall be posted in a conspicuous place near the main entrance
in every public entertainment hall.
(3)
No person shall hold public entertainment within the
City without having first obtained a permit therefor from the City
Clerk.
(4)
The holder of a license for restaurant and hotel entertainment providing entertainment either vocal, instrumental or otherwise produced or reproduced by any mechanical device such as a jukebox, amplifying system, radio, television or other means is specifically subject to Chapter 159, §§ 159-1 through 159-10 thereof, of the City Code.
[Amended 5-21-2007]
B.
Applications for licenses and permits.
(1)
Public entertainment hall licenses. Application for
a license for a public entertainment hall shall be made to the City
Clerk on forms furnished by him or her which shall contain such information
as he or she may require.
(2)
Entertainment permits. Application for a permit for
public entertainment shall be made to the City Clerk at least two
days before the time of said entertainment and shall be in the form
prescribed by said City Clerk.
(3)
Hotels or restaurants. Application for a license permitting
entertainment in a hotel or restaurant shall be made by the owner
or operator and shall be addressed to the City Clerk and filed by
him or her to be transmitted to the Council and shall state the place
and purpose for which the license is desired as set forth in the classifications
hereinafter contained in this article.
C.
Investigation and approval of applications for public
entertainment hall licenses.
(1)
It shall be the duty of the Director of Public Safety
to examine all applications for public entertainment hall licenses
and to investigate, or cause to be investigated, each application
to determine whether or not the entertainment hall for which a license
is sought complies with the regulations, the ordinances and laws applicable
thereto, and whether or not the person or persons making such application,
or having charge or supervision of the hall are of good moral character.
In making such investigation, the Director of Public Safety shall
have the assistance of the Department of Public Works, and the Police
and Fire Divisions. Each department and division shall furnish to
the City Clerk in writing, the information derived from such investigation,
accompanied by a recommendation as to whether a license should be
granted or refused.
(2)
All licenses granted hereunder may be renewed upon
application therefore and after reinspection of the premises in the
manner provided herein for original inspection.
D.
Fees.
(1)
Public entertainment permit license fee. The fee for
a one- to five-day public entertainment permit applying to outside
entertainment or as part of a street entertainment, lawn fete, carnival
or picnic shall be $25.
(2)
Hotel, restaurant and tavern entertainment. The fee
for a license to conduct entertainment in restaurants and taverns,
to be paid at the time of filing the application for a license therefore,
shall be as set forth in the following classifications:
(a)
CLASS 1 - Entertainment in hotels, restaurants
and taverns where entertainment is given, such as floor shows, or
where music is furnished by orchestras or reproduced by mechanical,
electrical or other means: $50 per year.
(b)
CLASS 2 - Entertainment in any of the above-described
establishments where music is provided by any coin-operated device:
$25 per year.
F.
Restrictions and conditions.
(1)
No license for a public entertainment hall shall be
issued until it shall be found that such hall complies with and conforms
to all ordinances, laws and regulations for the protection of the
public health and safety and for the protection of the public from
fire; that it is supplied with sufficient toilet conveniences; that
it is a proper place for the purpose for which it is to be used and
that the owner, lessee, or other person having actual control of the
entertainment hall is a person of good moral character; and that there
has been posted upon one of its walls as required, a certificate of
inspection.
(2)
All public entertainment halls shall be kept at all
times in a clean, healthful and sanitary condition, and all stairways
and other passages and all rooms connected with a public entertainment
hall shall be kept open and well-lighted at all times while entertainment
is being held.
(3)
The holder of a license for restaurant and hotel entertainment
shall not permit at any time in connection with the privileges exercised
hereunder, any kind of an exhibition, show or entertainment which
may in any way be classified as obscene or immoral, which will tend
to corrupt the morals of any youth or other person. All entertainments
for hotels or restaurants shall be procured through a licensed employment
agency, unless the entertainers are employed directly by the management
of such hotels or restaurants.
A.
Authority. The Director of Public Safety and the Chief
of Police shall have the power and it shall be their duty respectively
to cause a public entertainment hall where any entertainment is being
held to be vacated whenever any provisions of this article or any
applicable law or ordinance with regard to public entertainment is
being violated, or whenever any disorder of a gross, violent or vulgar
character takes place therein, with the knowledge or consent of the
owner or lessee, or his or her agent, or other person in charge of
the entertainment.
B.
Access. The Director of Public Safety, his or her
duly authorized employees and agents, and all police officers shall
have access at all times to all public entertainment and public entertainment
halls, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this article,
except in private homes. The Director of Public Safety shall investigate
complaints and shall inspect at intervals the public entertainment
halls within the City and shall cause to be prosecuted all violations
of this article.
C.
Supervision. All public entertainment shall be continuously
attended and supervised by a security officer in uniform, whose duty
it shall be to preserve order and require compliance with all provisions
of this article. The owner, lessee or other person giving or in charge
of such public entertainment shall pay compensation of such security
officer and furnish his or her uniform. Upon certification to the
Director of Public Safety, the Chief of Police may require such owner,
lessee, or other person giving or in charge of such public entertainment
to furnish additional security officers for duty at such entertainment.
D.
New licenses. During the first six months of a new
license or permit issued hereunder, the Director of Public Safety
shall at least once submit a report in writing to the City Council
and to the licensee describing any public reports, citizen complaints,
code violations, and any other relevant records pertaining to the
conduct and operation of the licensed premises as it pertains to public
entertainment as provided for in this chapter.
[Added 5-21-2007]
A.
All public entertainment shall be discontinued, and
all public entertainment halls shall be closed, at or before the hour
of 11:00 p.m. on any day on which entertainment is allowed; provided,
however, that upon application of any person, and after an investigation
by the Director of Public Safety, the Director may grant to such a
person a special permit to continue any public entertainment until
a later hour. No tickets shall be sold for admission to any public
entertainment after 11:00 p.m., and no return check shall be given
or issued at any time.
B.
No entertainment shall be permitted in any hotel or
restaurant from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. on any day.
C.
Notwithstanding the issuance of any special permit pursuant to this section, the provisions of Chapter 159, Noise, shall apply to all public entertainment, including any public entertainment extended after 11:00 p.m. pursuant to a special permit issued under this section, and in all circumstances involving permit holders as aforesaid providing live music, such music being generated by live musicians producing any music, either vocal or instrumental, on the scene at the time shall terminate at 2:00 a.m., and any music emitted by any mechanical device, instrument, mechanism, equipment or apparatus, such as a jukebox, amplifying system, radio, television or other means which emits any sounds discernable to the human ear, shall cease at 4:00 a.m.
[Added 4-17-2006]
D.
The special permit application shall clearly describe
the use applied for, and the special permit issued thereunder shall
specify the hours of operation allowed under the special permit, and
the purpose thereof.
[Added 4-17-2006]
E.
The Court or the Director of Public Safety, for good
cause shown, may immediately suspend and/or revoke any permit issued
pursuant to this section.
[Added 4-17-2006]
No person shall after 10:00 p.m. permit any
person to attend or take part in any public entertainment who has
not actually or apparently reached the age of 16 years, unless such
person be in company with one of his or her parents or a suitable
guardian. No person shall represent himself or herself to have attained
the age of 16 years in order to obtain admission to a public entertainment
hall or be permitted to remain therein, when such person in fact is
under 16 years of age. No person shall represent himself or herself
to be a parent or guardian of any person in order that such person
may obtain admission to public entertainment, or be permitted to remain
at such public entertainment, when the person making the representation
is not in fact a parent or guardian of such minor person.
The Director of Public Safety may make and publish
reasonable rules and regulations governing the manner in which public
entertainment shall be conducted, subject to the provisions of law
and of the ordinances of the City.
B.
Any entertainment and private instructions in entertainment given in private homes; dances given by a bona fide society, club or organization, where the attendance is restricted to the members of the society, club or organization, who have been such members for more than 10 days before the date of any such entertainment (provided that where the membership of any such club, society or organization consists of men only, or of women only, persons of the other sex, to a number not exceeding the number of members of any such society, club or organization, may be admitted as guests), and where the entertainment is merely incidental to the purposes of such society, club, or organization, shall be deemed to be private and not public entertainment; but notwithstanding this section, no such private entertainment, except in private homes, shall be held or given without a permit obtained as provided in § 63-19A.
C.
The provisions of § 63-20C shall not apply to any regular classes in entertainment held in licensed public entertainment halls; nor shall the provisions of § 63-19D(1) apply only to any bona fide religious, benevolent, charitable, fraternal, singing, musical or labor society, club or organization, nor shall § 63-19D(1) or (2) apply to a bona fide, nonprofit, musical society or a nonprofit society for the public promotion and encouragement of fine music, nor shall the provisions of § 63-19D(1) or § 63-20C apply to a bona fide social settlement or social center, nor to a bona fide club formed in connection with such social settlement or social center, and which shall hold or give an entertainment as merely incidental to the purposes for which it is formed. Provided, however, that all entertainment given or held in a licensed public entertainment hall, and all buildings owned by or under the control of the City of Lackawanna in which entertainment shall be authorized or permitted, shall be deemed licensed public entertainment halls for the purposes of this article.
A.
The license of any public entertainment hall may be
revoked by the City Clerk with the recommendation of the Director
of Public Safety for disorderly or immoral conduct on the premises
with the knowledge and consent of the owner or lessee of the public
entertainment hall, or his or her agent in charge at any public entertainment
held therein; or for the violation of any rules, regulations, ordinances,
and laws governing or applying to public entertainment halls or public
entertainment. Such a license shall be revoked in the manner provided
by the City Charter. If at any time the license of a public entertainment
hall shall be revoked as herein provided, at least six months shall
elapse before another license shall be given or a permit shall be
given for entertainment on the same premises.
B.
Any license heretofore granted for restaurant and
hotel entertainment may be suspended by the Council for any reason
which it deems sufficient, and promptly thereafter it shall hold a
hearing thereon after giving reasonable notice thereof to the licensee.
After the closing of the hearing, the Council may revoke such license
or remove the suspension and reinstate it. The Council, in its discretion,
may direct that the hearing shall be held by the Director of Public
Safety and not by the Council, in which case, the Director of Public
Safety shall hold a hearing, take the testimony and shall make a report
to the Council in reference thereto, including in the report a recommendation
whether the license should be revoked or reinstated. Upon receipt
of such report by the Council, it may approve or disapprove the recommendations
of the Director of Public Safety, and take such action in reference
to the revocation or reinstatement of the license as it deems proper.
