Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, 86 nickels make the point. We saw this poster up at the Tin Hat expressing their dislike, no, hatred of Mayor Nickels. Why? We're guessing the Mayor's incessant campaign to crack down on nightlife is the reason.* Although it failed at the City Council, the Mayor's pet project - an ordinance that would require licensing for clubs - has branded him as one of the most anti-nightlife mayors we have had.
* He was involved in a highly publicized sting on "trouble" night clubs. Thankfully for bouncers and club owners, the first case to go to trial has come back with a not guilty verdict.
* Bars are still angry about loss of revenue from the smoking ban which Nickels backed.
* More stringent noise ordinances passed last year making it easier to crack down on clubs with live music.
Note to the Mayor: people in Seattle go to bars, clubs and they vote. They also organize.
5 comments:
Fuck Greg Nickels.
Seattle is a young, vibrant city with people who like to go out.
He is more suited to be the president of phase 3 of Del Boca Vista.
How did our mayor get re-elected? With almost every project that is built in Seattle he faithfully joins the developer's side and has tepid support of the citizen's support. Belltown is a perfect example. He would rather skirt the law and the rights that the bar owners and side with the condo developers. Does Nickels actually care about our citizens? No, he cares more about development.
Ok, I agree but I don't think we can blame him for the smoking ban -- isn't that state-wide and didn't we vote that in through an initiative?
Jahara - I wouldn't say they're blaming the smoking ban on Nickels, but he was a big proponent of the law and oversees the enforcement through local government. We voted for it in an election, it was put on the ballot by initiative by health care groups. However, it's just one of the many areas where the mayor has pushed legislation that impacts bars and clubs in a huge way. Quite a few Ballard bars lost money (up to 50% of their revenue) after the ban was enacted. They should be able to make up the revenue eventually, but it will take time.
It gets worse. Nickels and others used an isolated incident in Rhode Island to enact the most restrictive policy against nightclubs to date:
Any Seattle nightclub with a "dance or viewing area" over 350 sq ft in size will have to be fully sprinklered by December 1st of 2009. Most nightclubs will not be able to afford the tremendous cost to retrofit an existing building with sprinklers ($30-100K) and will be forced to shut down. See Seattle Fire Code 903.2.1.6 and "definition of Nightclub" in beginning of Chapter 9.
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