Mansion Still Closed: Action Must Be Taken To Fix This Now

The Hartford Courant's Cityline is reporting that downtown Hartford's Mansion nightclub is still closed, about two months after violence erupted inside and outside the club forcing the State Department of Consumer Protection to take action and close the club. There have been ongoing negotiations between club owners and the state.

I am in full support of the club being shut down. Despite my support for city businesses, including downtown clubs and bars which draw much needed people downtown the violence at the Mansion was scaring people away. People do not want to come downtown when there have been shootings and stabbings.

The Mansion has been shut down during what some would consider peak season for any bar, restaurant or club. People tend to go out when its nice outside and that usually occurs in the summer. In Hartford peak season is also during the academic school year when thousands from area colleges and universities are back in the region and Hartford becomes the place to be. Again, these college students will be deterred from coming downtown when they return to school if they feel it is unsafe.

At the same time downtown is minus one club. A cluster of bars and clubs is essential for every successful city. It allows people to come to one place and club/bar hop. In major cities people can go from one district of clubs to another via public transportation. This would be amazing for Hartford but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we need to create the best downtown nightclub scene we can. (The recent shootings near Room 960 that resulted in 2 arrests at the end of July is not helping)

The process of creating the best downtown club scene possible is being hurt right now by having a prime downtown space that has been outfitted for a club closed. The club owners and the state must come to a decision immediately on the future of the Mansion. Either the owners and the state come to an agreement on how the Mansion should be run to prevent ANY future violence or the club should be sold to new owners who are willing to operate a successful and popular club that is draws people from all over.