PAUL SCHRAG: CHANGES COMING, SMALLER VENUE A POSSIBILITY >>>

Club owners, bar owners and other entertainment jockies, listen up. A change is gonna come. Maybe a whole slew of ‘em. OK, probably not a slew.

Whatever happens, it could begin as early as this summer.

A City of Tacoma-led team comprising city employees, police officials and community members hopes that changes such as increasing security requirements for new bars and clubs will benefit owners as well as neighbors. Club Juno on Market Street is the latest victim of Tacoma’s club woes, with owners vacating the space. It’s safe to speculate that the City of Tacoma’s call to revoke Juno’s business license, combined with the ending of its lease, led to the club’s demise. Juno is scheduled to close its doors for good this week, says Tacoma Police Lt. Sean Gustason, with the building’s owner eyeing the space for a smaller-scale venue of some sort. Tacoma Police Department attorney John Walker says an appeal of the city’s attempts to revoke Juno’s business license is still scheduled for April 16, but may very well change.

Meanwhile, a recent shooting at McCabes, which left one man in critical condition with several gunshot wounds, serves as a reminder of the continued dire need for a plan of action, says Gustason.

Gustason is among several dozen people that gathered last month to brainstorm ideas aimed at cleaning up crime and other nuisances associated with clubs in Tacoma. The city-led Safe & Clean team, known as P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E., hopes that a, well, proactive approach to dealing with security and safety at clubs and bars will make it possible for clubs to thrive without profoundly annoying neighbors.

“There are a lot of great ideas out there,” says Jodie Trueblood, manager of the city’s Tax and Licensing Division and member of the P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. posse.

Among those ideas are requirements for increased security measures at existing clubs, such as ID scanners that track patrons; information-sharing networks between bars and clubs that would allow owners to keep troublemakers out of their spot; requiring the creation of an approved security plan in order to receive a city business license; increasing transportation options such as taxi service, or extending operating hours for Link Light Rail; and focused enforcement of crowd capacity and over-serving laws to manage crowds and crowd behavior.

But the door is still wide open for bar and club owners to have their say, says Trueblood, who encourages owners, managers and anyone else who cares about entertainment in Tacoma to get involved. For now, new security standards, as well as placing management of security plans in the hands of the Tax and Licensing Department, are the only plans near certainty. City fire officials are in charge of it now, says Trueblood. The goal of the group is to have recommendations and a plan of action ready by summertime, as well as a review of the city’s chronic nuisance ordinance, which was invoked to close down Club Juno earlier this year. Once official recommendations are available and a plan crafted, changes will likely be phased in. City officials are keenly aware of the impacts that new requirements are likely to have on business owners, says Trueblood. The best way for club owners to be sure that new policies and practices don’t take a bite out of Tacoma’s nightlife is to get involved.

The P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. team meets regularly, and welcomes any members of the community, and their ideas. For more information, contact Jodie Trueblood at 253.591.5251 or jtrueblo@cityoftacoma.org.

Photo: The party is over at Juno.