Mayor Randall Woodfin Won’t Sign Nightclub Safety Ordinance After Outcry

The city council on Tuesday unanimously passed the first reading of the amended Kelvyn Felder Ordinance. The second reading is expected this week.

The ordinance is named after a 21-year-old who was stabbed to death in 2009 on the dance-floor of Club Zen, which was later shut down.

“That’s why this ordinance exists. So when the Council moves to strengthen it, I get the instinct,” Woodfin posted on social media Saturday.

The ordinance addresses businesses open between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. that had a “serious incident” in 12 months.

A “serious incident” is defined under the ordinance as “shots fired inside the establishment or within the immediate vicinity, physical altercation involving 3 or more people (affray), person shot, bodily harm, injury, or death inside the establishment or withing the immediate vicinity.”

The ordinance required late night spots to provide the chief of police with detailed safety plans, evacuation plans, and site plans. They also were required to provide details of the training received by security members.

It would also require security cameras with footage retained for 30 days.

Each location with a capacity of up to 150 people would have to employee two state certified police officers — and those beyond 150 people would need three officers — from 10 p.m. until 30 minutes after closing.

Dave’s Pub, in a now deleted post, threatened to move to Homewood if the changes were enacted. The Southside bar later posted Woodfin’s statement and thanked him.

The ordinance sparked discussion on social media after it passed on Tuesday as people feared the additional security costs would force some of Birmingham’s most popular night spots out of business.

“Public safety at our bars and clubs matters. It has to,” Woodfin said Saturday.

“But over the last few days I’ve been hearing from a lot of folks. Bar owners. Small operators. People running clean spots who showed up and said this is going to impact them in a big way.

“I listened. Those concerns are fair. So I’m not signing it. We’re pulling it back to the table to sit down with business owners, public safety leaders, and the Council and get this one right,” he said.

“Safe venues. Accountability for bad actors. But not at the expense of the good operators doing things the right way.”

Woodfin said plans for making night spots safer will be revisited.

“More soon. In the meantime, tip your bartenders.”