Is it time for a Night Mayor?
Championing the ‘dusk ’til dawn’ economy
by Erin Maclean
In July 2016, to curb alcohol-fuelled violence, Queensland’s state government introduced its “last drinks” policy and banned the sale of shots after midnight — sparking debate about the effect of alcohol restrictions on the night-time economy.
ABC News reported that Brisbane venues immediately saw an almost 20 per cent drop in revenue, while The Courier-Mail linked the closure of one Fortitude Valley bar to the impending lockout laws. Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government has since squashed further plans for a mandatory 1am lockout, but the debate about the restrictions continues.
With the Gold Coast’s Commonwealth Games in 2018 and Brisbane’s grand plan to become a “new world city” by 2022, the rapid growth of our cities means now is the time for our state to consider installing “night mayors” to ensure the right balance between the after-dark economy, culture and safety.
Already common throughout the Netherlands and major European cities, these nightlife representatives — whose duties are more extensive than that of a glorified “hostie” or club promoter — are gaining traction in the United States and even some Australian cities, in line with the United Nations’ “new urban agenda.”
What do night mayors do?
Night mayors, or “night czars” as they are sometimes called, are essentially an advocate and overseer of a city’s night-time industries.
Though clubs, pubs and arts venues are the cornerstone of such an after-hours economy, night mayors are responsible for all branches of night-time businesses and activities. They deal with everything from litter and noise complaints, to safety and crime reduction, to zoning and public infrastructure.
Even a 24-hour library or a late-night movie theatre could fall under their purview.
While a night mayor’s duties vary from city to city (as a paid governmental job in London, a volunteer position in Groningen and the leader of an independent non-profit in Amsterdam), their primary function is liaising with local government, police, residents, party-goers, business owners and night workers. In other words, they act as a single figure for all sides to consult — with the ultimate outcome of influencing business practices and local governmental policy.
The focus, as Public Sector Digest explains, is developing innovative solutions for day/night conflicts and “encouraging safe night-time activities … [rather] than prohibiting them.”
In Amsterdam, for example, night mayor Mirik Milan used his unofficial negotiation powers to revitalise Rembrandtplein (now one of the city’s busiest nightlife squares). With funding from both bar owners and the city, he pushed for the introduction of weekend “square hosts,” who mediate conflicts on the ground, provide advice to tourists and act as a friendly reminder of rules around noise and public urination.
This, combined with infrastructural measures like increased lighting in back alleys and a website for nearby residents to quickly report disruptions to local security (without involving police), has supposedly meant a significant decrease in violence and noise/nuisance complaints.
The rise of the 24-hour city
More substantially, Milan worked closely with venue owners over several years to pitch 24-hour licenses to the local government.
These licenses, which are limited in number and therefore highly competitive, allow approved businesses outside the city centre to operate as long as they like. This shifts the party away from heavily populated residential areas and means club-goers leave steadily throughout the night, reducing the noise and crime associated with drunken mobs being expelled from bars and clubs all at once.
Despite obvious concerns about 24/7 partying, the idea is to encourage multi-functional buildings that are used all day — as with Radion, where the nightclub transforms into a restaurant and playground on Sundays.
This benefits both night workers and those who consume nightlife culture by making venues more lucrative and potentially diverse (cultivating a strong after-hours economy), but it also enriches the lives of locals during the day and breathes new life into the cityscape more broadly.
Other cities with night mayor roles have similarly expanded trade hours, like Cali in Colombia and Asunción in Paraguay. This is despite previously having strict lockout laws, which had the counterintuitive effect in these South American cities of promoting corruption and the public’s fear of the night.
Of course, a push for longer trade hours must be accompanied by appropriate services and infrastructure. In Cali, this meant increasing police presence in particularly dangerous areas, while in London, the focus has been on the popularity of late-night public transport.
Ultimately, it is the night mayor’s job to coordinate these multifaceted changes.
If done right, they are able to provide better experiences for patrons and night workers in everything from transport to hospital services, street-lighting to public bathrooms — with the potential to also reduce costs through appropriate targeting of resources.
The Australian context
Though the Adelaide City Council eventually rejected a proposal to appoint a night mayor for the CBD, as disagreements with the city’s actual mayor could be politically damaging, Sydney’s lord mayor previously expressed interest in “strong advocacy that gets the balance right.”
There seems to be no plans for such a position in Brisbane, but a night mayor would play an important role in bringing about the “new world city” vision in coming years.
While there are plenty of ideological arguments about introducing night mayors to cultivate nightlife culture and make cities like Brisbane more vibrant, there are obvious economic benefits — longer hours of trade and attracting tourists means more money exchanged, as well as more jobs for night workers.
But this conflicts with well-intentioned lockout laws and “last drinks” policies, the social and economic effectiveness of which is still heavily debated. Such laws appear to reduce crime, but are also said to cause increases in surrounding areas. Meanwhile, there are economic costs of businesses closing or jobs being lost, which may even exacerbate social issues like crime.
For Amsterdam’s night mayor, Australia’s various lockout laws should continue to be wound back, because they punish the venues when the problem, he says, is the culture around the consumption of alcohol.
“In Europe, for 70% of millennials — if they had more things to do at night, the focus would be less on the drinking culture. I think we really have to offer things for young kids to do instead of drinking,” Milan said.
Regardless of whether lockout-like laws prove to be successful in parts of Australia, having night mayors in our cities would mean a more visible dialogue about drinking culture and policies affecting the valuable night-time economy. Ideally, it could even mean a move away from blanket to more tailored approaches.
Planning ahead: The case for night mayors in Brisbane and the Gold Coast
While the specific policies of overseas night mayors may or may not work in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, the value of adopting a night mayor is they negotiate with stakeholders and develop progressive, targeted solutions that may not occur to ordinary councillors who sleep during the night.
This is especially crucial when Brisbane and the Gold Coast are wanting to undertake large-scale forward-planning and be active on the global stage. Indeed, it would be an oversight for Brisbane to pursue a 2028 Olympics bid and tourism boost without taking the city’s after-hours economy seriously.
But change is not instantaneous and night mayors are merely negotiators.
It is up to local councils and state governments to willingly partner with mayors of the night and respond enthusiastically to solutions involving renovations, roads, transport and so to create more vibrant cities.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ERIN MACLEAN
Erin is a freelance journalist and PhD student at Griffith University.
Erin specialises in news media depictions of popular culture, but is particularly interested in the way media framing affects public perception and politics.
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