Following up on editorials in which they exploited the grisly murders on Capitol Hill by calling for a crackdown on teen dances, overzealous editors at the Seattle Times sicced their beat reporters on music-scene folks in order to pick a fight. “Defend teen dances!” the Seattle Times has prompted provocatively in phone calls and e-mails to people like longtime music-scene advocate David Meinert.
Most longtime music-scene folks—including activists who helped repeal the Teen Dance Ordinance in 2002 (people like Meinert, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and Vera Executive Director Shannon Roach)—aren’t taking the Seattle Times‘ bait. Indeed, disgusted at the Seattle Times‘ agenda-driven coverage to connect the tragedy to teen dances, they collectively decided not to talk to the paper about the shootings.
(One person who was interviewed said the Seattle Times tried to make a big deal out of the fact that the nonprofit, all-ages venue Vera doesn’t have an all-ages dance [AADO] license. The fact is, Vera is exempt because they put on concerts, not dances. Duh. Moreover, AADO licenses are intended for private clubs and promoters who may need to come in line with all code and security requirements. Vera—in part an educational institution, which can also be exempt—meets the standards already.)
“We didn’t want to respond to questions that connected all-ages dances to the tragedy,” says Roach, who didn’t return calls from the Times.
“I don’t want to dignify the Seattle Times‘ crusade,” says Meinert. “So I’m not going to give them a quote.” The Times even dangled the possibility of a guest editorial on the debate about teen dances, according to Meinert, but he wisely declined.
“Why draft an opinion piece for the Seattle Times?” Meinert reasoned. That would just play into the paper’s hands by giving the impression that there’s a debate about teen dances in the first place. In reality, the only debate over teen-dance policy is happening in the offices of the Seattle Times.
City officials, from Mayor Nickels to Seattle City Council President Nick Licata to Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Debra Brown, have all made it clear that they don’t see a connection between Kyle Huff’s rampage and teen dances.
SPD’s Brown told The Stranger, “We aren’t comfortable making a connection between any music venue or music choice and this incident.”
Emphasizing the stupidity of clamping down on teen dances, mayoral spokesman Martin McOmber told The Stranger, “There is nothing to connect the rave to the shooting. Raves are well-regulated events, and by all accounts the rave at CHAC on Friday night was well operated. We don’t want to drive this scene underground.”
Nickels himself stood with Vera’s Roach this week at Seattle Center and announced that the city is providing $350,000 to help Vera move into a 9,000-square-foot facility at the Center. In his own goofy way, even a square like Nickels was giving the Seattle Times the finger: “The Vera Project is what every teenager needs—a safe, fun place to explore their love of music.”
