[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Mount Vernon 11-13-1957 as Ch. 15
of the General Ordinances, approved 11-15-1957. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any room or place in which dancing is freely permitted, practiced
or taught, or any room or place in which dances are held, daily or
weekly or at stated times or at regular recurring intervals, and to
which the public is invited or admitted.
It shall be unlawful to hold any public dances or to maintain
or operate dance halls or dancing schools or to permit dancing in
any place to which the public is freely admitted, except as hereinafter
provided, until the place in which the same may be held shall first
have been duly licensed for such purposes as a public dance hall or
dancing school.
All licenses shall be issued by the Mayor and countersigned
by the City Clerk.
No license for a public dance hall or dancing school shall be
issued until it shall be found that such place complies with and conforms
to all ordinances and health and fire regulations of the City, that
it is properly ventilated and supplied with sufficient toilet conveniences
and that it is a safe and proper place for the purposes for which
it is to be used. All public dance halls and dancing schools shall
be kept at all times in a clean, healthful and sanitary condition,
and all stairways and other passages and all rooms connected with
such place shall be kept open and well lighted. The Commissioner of
Public Safety or any member of the police force shall have the power,
and it shall be their duty, to cause the place, hall or room where
any dance or ball is held or given to be vacated whenever any provision
of this chapter or of any other ordinance with regard to public dances
or public halls is being violated, or whenever any indecent act shall
be committed, or whenever any disorderly, violent or vulgar act shall
take place therein.
The license of any public dance hall or dancing school may be
forfeited or revoked by the Mayor for disorderly or immoral conduct
on the premises, for permitting dancing on a Sunday or for the violation
of any of the rules, regulations, ordinances or laws governing or
applying to public halls or public places.[1]
For every license for a public dance hall or dancing school
so granted, there shall be paid to the City Clerk the sum of $50 for
a yearly license and $25 for a six months' license. No such license
shall be granted for a lesser period than six months.
No public dance hall or dancing school license shall be required
for any hall or room, nor if licensed as such shall it be considered
as licensed, when used and controlled by a religious, benevolent,
fraternal, political or labor organization formed in good faith for
religious, benevolent, fraternal or political purposes; nor of any
incorporated volunteer fire company; nor of any military organization
comprising a part of the regular state or federal military forces;
nor of any hall or room owned and controlled by a responsible gymnastic
or athletic organization formed in good faith and owning its own gymnasium,
and which aforementioned organizations shall have or give occasional
public dances as merely incidental to the purposes for which any such
organization was formed; nor of any hall or room not used for dancing
except by community center clubs or associations formed under the
provisions of the Education Law or by organizations of public or parochial
schoolchildren.
All licensed public dance halls and dancing schools shall be
closed on or before the hour of 12:30 a.m., except when, on application
to the Mayor, he may grant a permit allowing such place on a particular
occasion to remain open until a later hour. No tickets shall be sold
or accepted for admission to a public dance hall after the hour of
12:00 midnight.
No license for a public dance hall shall be issued unless the
application therefor is accompanied by the consent in writing of the
owner of the real property where such dance hall is located.
The giving of return checks to public dances or public balls
conducted in a licensed dance hall, permitting holders of such checks
to leave the place where such public dance is being held and to return
thereto during the public dance or public ball, is prohibited.
No license shall be issued for a public dance hall or dancing
school which is located in a building in which there are rooms for
hire, nor in a hotel, nor in a building having a direct or indirect
connection with a rooming house or hotel.
