Gemmayzeh pub owners appeal for end to curfew

23 April 2010

BEIRUT: Gemmayzeh pub owners are mounting a response to a recently imposed curfew, which they claim is putting hundreds of jobs in jeopardy. The restrictions came into being earlier this month after protests by residents against noise pollution succeeded in attracting support from the Tourism Ministry.

The Gemmayzeh Development Committee (GDC), an association of local pub and restaurant owners, has now written a letter to Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud, petitioning him to end the curfew and reverse a current proposal to pedestrianize the area.

The GDC is now waiting for Abboud’s response before considering what action to take next. They have not ruled out a potential counter protest of their own.

“The curfew is completely illegal,” said Ziad Kamel, the owner of a number of restaurants and lounges in The Alleyway just off Gouraud Street and a member of GDC’s executive board. “According to a clarification to the original decree, places that do not cause a disturbance do not have to abide by the shutting times.”

Following the March 31 residential protest, the ministry shut down nine bars. Although these have since been allowed to reopen, the ministry has begun imposing an area-wide curfew. Pubs that once stayed open as late as they wished are now required to shut their doors by midnight on weekdays and 2 am on weekends, turning the music off by 1 am.

Since the time restrictions were instated, many pub owners in the area have reported a 40 to 60 percent fall in revenue. They are warning that if the curfew persists, some establishments may be forced to close their doors within months.

Abboud, who according to his office has not yet read the letter, is thus far refusing to reconsider the ministry’s position and has remained insistent that the restrictions stay in place.

“There is no curfew. What we are simply doing is making sure that law of the land is applied,” he told The Daily Star by telephone. “Having night clubs like these in a residential area would not be allowed anywhere else – so why should Lebanon be different? Residents must have a chance to live their lives normally.”

The ministry enjoys a virtual monopoly on which Gemmayzeh establishments to close, and when, as the majority of them operate without a proper license.

The issue is further complicated by Lebanon’s outdated law on the subject, which dates back to 1968 and fails to independently classify bars or pubs and only contains provisions for restaurants or night clubs. As night clubs cannot operate in residential areas, most of the pubs operate with a restaurant license, even though many do not serve food.

“None of them [the bars] are there legally,” explained Abboud. “In Lebanon we do not have pubs. If you want to play music loudly no one will stop you. We have clubs that open till six, seven in the morning, but just not in residential areas – we cannot permit that.”

While bar owners admit that the noise and traffic generated by pub-goers is a nuisance, they emphasize that controlling what happens on the street is the government’s job and dismiss the measures as short-sighted and ineffective.

“As early as three years ago, we proposed a solution for this problem to all the concerned bodies,” Makram Zeenny, the former president of the GDC, explained. “We’ve repeated our proposal in the recent petition.”

The outlet owners have proposed the creation of code of conduct and say that they are ready to pay for traffic police to regulate the traffic, something the Interior Ministry has thus far declined to do, citing a lack of manpower.

“Although it is the government’s job to control the street, we have not seen any police here in all the years,” said Paddy Cochrane, Kamel’s business partner. “The only thing the police ever did around here was confiscate a sign saying ‘Please be quiet and respect our neighbors’ we had put on the sidewalk,” Cochrane added.

According to the GDC, the bulk of the problem could be solved by opening two currently unused floors of the nearby Charles Helou bus terminal to be used as parking spaces, a measure long demanded by residents, bar owners and now the Tourism Ministry alike.

It’s hoped allowing the extra parking space for thousands of cars would reduce general congestion on the street as well as cut down on the problem of valet parking, which remains unpopular with residents. The bar owners have also suggested banning parking on one side of Gouraud Street in order to ease the flow of traffic.

Despite constantly petitioning the government to open Charles Helou, nothing has happened for years,” said Huguette Sfeir, a resident of Gemmayzeh for over 40 years. “Private firms have bid to run it but their efforts have been ignored. I do not understand why, no one is benefiting, something beyond my comprehension is going on here.”

Not all residents, however, think that these measures will prove sufficient. Most have similarly dismissed any compromise that would see the bars revert to their old opening times.

“No one can control these people, they are animals,” said Fadia Kiwan, a resident who is spearheading the campaign against the pubs. “We must have a total end to what has been going on. These are our homes and our lives, no half-measures will do.”

“Things have gotten so bad that some residents have begun throwing eggs at people on the street,” said Kiwan, a human-rights activist and the director of the Institute of Political Sciences at St Joseph University. “I do not like this, it is uncivilized, but I can no longer stop them, their frustration is so high,” he said.

The current crisis, which has been brewing for three years, mirrors a 2008 incident when a group of residents protested on the street in pajamas to signify their sleepless nights. Like today, the Tourism Ministry closed a few establishments and imposed a curfew, but within weeks things reverted to normal.

With over 90 bars and restaurants now operating in the area – up from fewer than 40 as little as three years ago – the current gray areas in the law which infuriate bar owners and residents alike need to be resolved. Owners often receive the first stage of the license, allowing them to renovate and open a space, but then fail to secure the second stage license which leaves them in a legal limbo, with startup loans to repay.

The GDC estimates that the bars and restaurants bring in as much as $36 million in annual revenue, or roughly around $400,000 per bar. An estimated 1,200 – 1,300 people are directly employed by the entertainment industry on the strip, while an additional 6,000 individuals are thought to be reliant on it economically.

“We need a long-lasting solution, because the implications in the long term are serious: with its bars and nightlife, Lebanon offers something unique in the Middle East,” said The Alleyways’s Kamel. “If you kill that, you harm the country.”

Another argument being used is that Gemmayzeh faces the disappearance of its traditional charm, should the nightlife be chased away. The bar owners claim that the high business rents, which have almost tripled over the last three years and average $40,000 per year for smaller establishments and goes up to about $ 150,000 a year for larger establishments, are the only thing preventing landlords from selling their lots.

“The tenants’ rents here are very low, so landlords would be more than happy to sell,” GDC’s Zeenny said. “The real-estate investors are just waiting to pull down the historic villas and erect high-rises in their place.”

“Until now, we’ve decided to try all diplomatic means to solve this situation. But if the situation doesn’t improve, we will stage a demonstration with all people who are dependant on this business,” Kamel explained. “The residents’ demonstration was around 40 to 50 people. Ours will be 5,000 to 6,000.”

Although the GDC hopes the ministry will fold under increasing pressure, Abboud remains defiant.

“We live in a democracy and if they want to protest, they are free to protest,” Abboud said. “But if you want to be successful, you need to have the law on your side, which they do not.”

Instead, he has proposed a more drastic alternative.

“We are looking at the possibility of opening up an area in a more commercial district where the bars can move to and open up second branches, which stay open longer than the ones in Gemmayzeh,” the minister said.

“There are plenty of suitable locations not far from central Beirut,” he added.

Although this solution seems to have won support at least from the more vocal residents, bar owners claim that a continuation of the curfew will put them out of business, destroying one of the country’s main attractions. “It’s up to Fadi Abboud if he wants to become known as the minister who killed tourism,” a bar owner who wished to remain anonymous concluded.

Whether any long-term changes will be implemented remains to be seen. “I’m not sure that the curfew will work,” Sfeir concluded. “I am Lebanese and I know that if someone tells me to move and I am having a good time, I probably will not listen. After all, this is not Europe.”

Copyright The Daily Star 2010.