Repeal the TDO
In federal court on March 27, Judge Robert Lasnik put a basic question to both anti-TDO plaintiffs from JAMPAC and their pro-TDO rivals from the Seattle City Attorney's Office. "Why is this case necessary?" Lasnik wisely asked. He then proceeded to lay out the political reality: Things have changed since JAMPAC filed its lawsuit against the city two years ago. Back then, Mayor Paul Schell vetoed a 7-1 city council vote to replace the TDO with JAMPAC's pro-dance All Ages Dance Ordinance (AADO). Now the new mayor, Greg Nickels, supports the repeal. So, in a no-brainer, Lasnik encouraged the parties to take care of business legislatively.
So last Friday, March 29, Nickels sent legislation to the Seattle City Council that would repeal the TDO--the exact same legislation the council passed 7-1 in 2000.
But don't bust out your glow sticks or plan that rave just yet. The council--the very same people who responded to Schell's veto with five defiant votes to override--apparently ain't interested. (By the way, those five votes--Richard Conlin, Nick Licata, Judy Nicastro, Peter Steinbrueck, and Heidi Wills--weren't enough to override Schell, but would be enough to pass the ordinance again.)
As far as I can tell, there's one reason the council isn't repealing the TDO. I've surveyed the council twice now--once back in February, and again this week, in the wake of Judge Lasnik's comments. Survey says: Steinbrueck--who voted to repeal the TDO and to override Schell's veto back in 2000--has changed his tune. Steinbrueck (684-8804) cited concerns about recent drug busts at dance clubs like Club FX.
Earth to Steinbrueck: Club FX wasn't even regulated by the TDO, because it wasn't a teen club. Therefore, the TDO did nothing to root out any drug problems there. Moreover, for the sake of argument, if Club FX had been a teen club, repealing the TDO and replacing it with JAMPAC's preferred AADO (the thing Steinbrueck voted for in August 2000), would have prevented drug problems more effectively than the current TDO.
"Under the AADO," says JAMPAC board member David Meinert, "you have to have criminal background checks. Under the TDO you don't."
(Last January, at the time of the drug busts, The Seattle Times reported that one of the club associates was a convicted drug dealer.)
My guess is that the newly appointed council president is now sensitive to conservative voters who incorrectly draw sweeping connections between high-profile drug busts and allowing teens to dance.
"We have stifled a very natural, healthy, and good activity in this city," Steinbrueck said when he voted to repeal the TDO in August 2000.
Steinbrueck, by waiting for a court to do his work (even though that very court encouraged city leaders like Steinbrueck to take action), is now stifling no-brainer legislation.
