The Free Man in Deep Ellum and Revelers Hall in the Bishop Arts District<\/a> started the small storm that led to the creation of the task force. The two restaurants had been charging a cover to pay musicians for years and were blindsided when they learned early in October that their restaurant permits didn\u2019t allow that. Code enforcement ordered them to remove their cover charges immediately. If they wanted them back, they\u2019d have to get a different kind of permit, they say, which is less compatible with their main business \u2014 serving food and drinks, in this case, to people who like jazz.<\/p>\nThe Free Man charged $10 for live music. Revelers Hall added $6 to people\u2019s tab, which is clearly stated on menu pages, signs in the interior and on its website.<\/p>\n
At Friday\u2019s conference, Council Member Chad West announced that the city is establishing a Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force. He was joined by Quality of Life Committee Chair Zarin Gracey and task force members Jason Roberts, owner of Revelers Hall, and Abel Mulugheta, representing the Greater Dallas Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city should be doing everything possible to help businesses like Revelers Hall thrive,\u201d West said. \u201cNot make it harder for them to exist. And this isn\u2019t an issue that is limited to Bishop Arts. It affects places like Free Man in Deep Ellum, the Libertine in Lower Greenville. We anticipate Wild Detectives just down the street and others across Dallas. And once again, to be clear, I\u2019m not blaming code compliance here. They are doing their job. And I know that there are some bad operators in Deep Ellum that really need to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s rules needed to be updated to reflect the realities of today\u2019s economy and entertainment culture. The task force includes 14 members representing Dallas\u2019 hospitality industry and will be chaired by Terry Lowery, former director of Dallas Water Utilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis task force will work closely with city staff, neighborhood stakeholders and business owners to find a balanced, modern approach that supports good operators while maintaining public safety and the neighborhood quality of life,\u201d West said. \u201cSpecifically, I\u2019ve asked the group to, one, review the music fee issue, two, re-examine the city\u2019s noise ordinance, and three, explore the creation of a new entertainment permit that supports innovation and flexibility. The recommendations will go before the Quality of Life Committee in the spring of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task force is due to deliver its recommendations by the end of February. After vetting by staff, they are expected to appear before the City Council in March. By city standards, this is a fast timeline spurred by the arrival of World Cup matches in June. What happens until then?<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we\u2019re adding a \u2018Donation to Revelers Musicians\u2019 fund to our tabs \u2026 which is allowed, Roberts said. \u201cWe just aren\u2019t allowed to charge an entrance fee or anything tied to that specific evening\u2019s performance. It\u2019s a little wonky, but keeps us compliant while the city updates its codes and permitting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts outlined one model of adding a music fee to customers\u2019 tabs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came from a live music background, so I loved the arts, really wanted to put together a jazz venue,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThe trouble we found was these little spots, I mean, we\u2019re 1,300 square feet. It\u2019s hard to make the numbers work in order to bring the talent that we have in the city to play here. These guys, they deserve to make a living wage. And so the model we came up with we found in New Orleans. That restaurant charged a music fee that was added to the end of your tab. That\u2019s maybe the model that we could apply here. And it\u2019s been working well. We paid out every year about $300,000 to the local musicians, which is amazing for a little tiny space of this size.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/task-force-revelers-hall-eric-diep-2.jpg\")
City Manager Kim Tolbert encourages collaboration with the community and various city departments.<\/p>\n
City Manager Kim Tolbert emphasized the importance of urgency. She says her staff is committed to working alongside the Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200b\u200bT\u200bhe Night Entertainment Team will be housed under the \u200bOffice of Cultural Affa\u200birs under the directorship of Martine Philippe,\u201d Tolbert said. \u201cTogether we will solve issues. We don\u2019t run away from our problems; we run to the problem, and we want to make sure that we\u2019re addressing this dead-on. I truly believe that that\u2019s what good governance looks like. It\u2019s about how we identify challenges, how we work together and bring real solutions that strengthen our city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revelers Hall owner Jason Roberts speaking at this afternoon’s press conference announcing the Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":347034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,63653,1596,24726,10607,14838,12079,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-347033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bishop-arts","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-deep-ellum","12":"tag-jazz","13":"tag-local-music","14":"tag-nightlife","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115472264274856449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/task-force-revelers-hall-eric-diep.jpg\")