Inspections make raids unneccessary

When the Oakland Raiders secured a spot in Super Bowl XXXVII, more than a few Pitt students… When the Oakland Raiders secured a spot in Super Bowl XXXVII, more than a few Pitt students responded with predictable jokes about living in Oakland, “Home of the 2003 AFC Champions.” But so far this week, Oakland, Pa., really has lived up to the name of its west coast counterpart, hosting two highly publicized raids. In addition to Monday’s raid involving city and federal authorities at Tela Ropa, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday that officials crashed the party at Club Laga, The Attic and The Upstage Lounge early Sunday morning.

The latter occurrence, which affected three clubs located in one building on Forbes Avenue, had the building’s owner, Robert Levick, up in arms. He complained that fire and building inspectors don’t visit the building unless there’s a raid, leaving safety concerns largely unnoticed. He has a point – one that is duly noted by members of city council – and this situation may be resolved happily for all parties if fire and building inspectors are required to make their rounds through area clubs to check safety concerns on a regular basis.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Jim Motznik has stated that he supports a resolution requiring inspectors to check regularly for overcrowding and safety issues at area nightclubs and concert venues. If adopted, the resolution would be a welcome addition to safety regulations at nightclubs, especially in the wake of recent club disasters in Rhode Island and Chicago.

On Sunday, Levick was cited for 10 safety violations. These included outdated fire extinguishers, an inoperable emergency light, extension cords used for permanent wiring, storage of lumber and propane on site, lack of permits for storage of compressed gas and flammable liquids and lack of a second-floor fire extinguisher. But none of the clubs were guilty of overcrowding, implying that a simple inspection would have yielded the same result as a police raid.

Levick admits that the building – which was constructed around the time of the Spanish-American War – is in technical violation of several building codes, but insists that it does not present a serious threat to patrons, and the problems uncovered during the raid would be easily addressed by regular inspections.

Public concern for nightclub safety is peaked right now, and Pittsburgh City Council should respond by taking extra caution with local clubs. More frequent small-scale inspections would keep clubs up to par and encourage owners to evaluate their practices more closely. In doing so, they would eliminate any need for unpleasant police raids, allowing Oakland residents to be certain their mascot is a panther rather than a pirate.