Blacklisted
The St. Petersburg Times
Issue #1536 (98), Friday, December 18, 2009
City’s Clubs Blacklisted Following Fire Checks
By Sergey Chernov
Staff Writer
Twenty-six local nightclubs, cafes and restaurants were put on a blacklist by the Ministry of Emergency Situations due to fire safety regulations on Wednesday.
The nationwide campaign to inspect clubs and other venues was launched after a deadly fire at a nightclub in Perm. Caused by sparks from a firework show, the Dec. 5 fire left 149 dead and 80 injured, Interfax reported on Thursday.
“Unfettered freedom for nightclubs has ended - as well as for other entertainment businesses,” St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko was quoted by Interfax as saying on Dec. 8. She said every venue would go through a thorough fire safety check in the next six to eight weeks.
Mass violations have already been exposed as the prosecutor’s office and fire inspectorate conduct dozens of checks every day, but so far only 26 venues have been blacklisted by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which posted a document titled “Black List of Nightclubs, Discos and Restaurants” on its local web site.
Although most of them are obscure local venues, some well-known clubs such as the live music venue Glavclub, techno bunker club Tunnel and Central Station, the city’s leading gay club, were blacklisted as well.
Most of the blacklisted clubs continued to operate on Thursday, however. Glavclub will host a concert by Swedish metal band Dark Tranquillity [sic] on Saturday before taking a break until Jan. 2, the club’s press officer Alexandra Parpluts said Thursday.
Although a concert by British veteran electronic band The Orb, which was due to perform at Glavclub on Sunday, was cancelled, Parpluts said the cancelation was caused by different, “technical” reasons. She did not elaborate.
Central Station was also operating while improving its fire alarm and fixing other defects identified during the inspection, a club employee who did not give his name said by phone Thursday.
Mass violations discovered by fire inspectors during the current campaign indicate that many venues have been operating without following fire regulations for years, ever since the first nightclubs emerged in the city in the early 1990s.
A local club manager who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the practice was nationwide and reflected Russia’s total corruption. “Because everything can be bought, many problems are dealt with as they arise,” he said.
According to him, only a few of the wealthiest local nightclubs could afford to comply with the fire prevention regulations, which include more than 100 requirements. To comply, the clubs would have to order an expensive expert report and not use the premises for commercial purposes during the licensing process, which can take up to six months, while continuing to pay rent to the owner of the premises.
The rest chose to bribe fire inspectors so that they would turn a blind eye to the violations, he said.
The sum of the bribe depended on the number of violations. The minimal bribe, paid if only a few minor violations were found, was about 10,000 rubles ($330), he said. The bribe had to be paid again during routine inspections that took place approximately once a year.
“Some clubs bribed fire inspectors before they opened, and some opened without any inspections and came to an agreement with fire inspectors only when they visited the venue,” he said. According to him, there are clubs operating that the fire inspectors simply do not know about.
“Some opened without even suspecting they needed a fire prevention and hygiene certificate - if they sat quiet, without holding high-profile concerts and posting posters, they could only be spotted by pure chance,” he said.
http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=30556
Issue #1536 (98), Friday, December 18, 2009
City’s Clubs Blacklisted Following Fire Checks
By Sergey Chernov
Staff Writer
Twenty-six local nightclubs, cafes and restaurants were put on a blacklist by the Ministry of Emergency Situations due to fire safety regulations on Wednesday.
The nationwide campaign to inspect clubs and other venues was launched after a deadly fire at a nightclub in Perm. Caused by sparks from a firework show, the Dec. 5 fire left 149 dead and 80 injured, Interfax reported on Thursday.
“Unfettered freedom for nightclubs has ended - as well as for other entertainment businesses,” St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko was quoted by Interfax as saying on Dec. 8. She said every venue would go through a thorough fire safety check in the next six to eight weeks.
Mass violations have already been exposed as the prosecutor’s office and fire inspectorate conduct dozens of checks every day, but so far only 26 venues have been blacklisted by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which posted a document titled “Black List of Nightclubs, Discos and Restaurants” on its local web site.
Although most of them are obscure local venues, some well-known clubs such as the live music venue Glavclub, techno bunker club Tunnel and Central Station, the city’s leading gay club, were blacklisted as well.
Most of the blacklisted clubs continued to operate on Thursday, however. Glavclub will host a concert by Swedish metal band Dark Tranquillity [sic] on Saturday before taking a break until Jan. 2, the club’s press officer Alexandra Parpluts said Thursday.
Although a concert by British veteran electronic band The Orb, which was due to perform at Glavclub on Sunday, was cancelled, Parpluts said the cancelation was caused by different, “technical” reasons. She did not elaborate.
Central Station was also operating while improving its fire alarm and fixing other defects identified during the inspection, a club employee who did not give his name said by phone Thursday.
Mass violations discovered by fire inspectors during the current campaign indicate that many venues have been operating without following fire regulations for years, ever since the first nightclubs emerged in the city in the early 1990s.
A local club manager who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the practice was nationwide and reflected Russia’s total corruption. “Because everything can be bought, many problems are dealt with as they arise,” he said.
According to him, only a few of the wealthiest local nightclubs could afford to comply with the fire prevention regulations, which include more than 100 requirements. To comply, the clubs would have to order an expensive expert report and not use the premises for commercial purposes during the licensing process, which can take up to six months, while continuing to pay rent to the owner of the premises.
The rest chose to bribe fire inspectors so that they would turn a blind eye to the violations, he said.
The sum of the bribe depended on the number of violations. The minimal bribe, paid if only a few minor violations were found, was about 10,000 rubles ($330), he said. The bribe had to be paid again during routine inspections that took place approximately once a year.
“Some clubs bribed fire inspectors before they opened, and some opened without any inspections and came to an agreement with fire inspectors only when they visited the venue,” he said. According to him, there are clubs operating that the fire inspectors simply do not know about.
“Some opened without even suspecting they needed a fire prevention and hygiene certificate - if they sat quiet, without holding high-profile concerts and posting posters, they could only be spotted by pure chance,” he said.
http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=30556