In the month since Mayor Mike McGinn announced his eight-point Nightlife Initiative (.pdf) to improve Seattle’s nightlife and street safety, only 1,791 people (out of Seattle’s 617,000 residents) have completed his online survey calling for public input. That’s 0.2 percent of the population—hardly the kind of solid support the state liquor control board needs before they agree to extend the city’s liquor service hours, or the city needs to see to seriously invest in taxi stands and other late-night transportation options. Meanwhile, at public meetings, the mayor’s heard from residents who say his proposed noise ordinance is worthless and who equate hot dog vendors to street thugs, not the people who celebrate Seattle’s nightlife.
So now officials need to hear from you. And everyone knows that civic duties are more palatable when they’re accompanied with a shot of whiskey, which is why The Stranger and Washington Bus are throwing a little party—a Nightlife Throwdown, if you will—on September 1, at 8:00 p.m. at the Hunter Gatherer Lodge, featuring Mayor McGinn and State Liquor Control Board policy director Alan Rathbun.
The event is free. We’ll have more lovable city leaders with open ears, including Seattle Nightlife and Music Association president Pete Hanning, City Attorney’s office government affairs director Bob Scales, 5 Point owner Dave Meinert, and police, police, police!, with music by J-Justice of SunTzu Sound and DJ Mike Nipper of Emerald City Soul Club.
Doors open at 7:00 p.m., forum starts at 8:00 p.m., music before and after the talking. Drink specials are cheap, so come out and support later bar hours! New noise regulations! Better late-night transit!
fix the archive link so i can facebook that shit.
What’s up with all the perma-links?
I took one look at the first page of that survey & know why I’m leery about filling it out, as much as I support the cause – asks for name, address, & e-mail, without any indication of how that info will be used or stored.
I’m not entirely against entering personal info online – if they’re going to use it to check that I’m a Seattle resident, then I’d be fine with it & wouldn’t want to invalidate my survey by telling them I’m Donald Duck. But if not … dunno. Wish I could make it to the hearing, I guess.
Maybe one reason folks won’t fill out the survey is that it requires you to enter a full name and address…I don’t know if I need the mayor’s office knowing my nightlife habits
@1,2, our tech guys are working on it!
Hey, Cienna – who can I e-mail at the city about their lack of survey-savvy? Thanks!
The name and address stuff is probably so they can be sure suburbanite non-citizens don’t fill it out, cause they’re the ones whining for more cops downtown.
@6, email aaron.pickus@seattle.gov. He loves public feedback.
Yes, I jumped at the chance to fill it out when it was released until I saw that it asked for the name, address and e-mail. That was a no-go for me.
I hope Aaron brings his word cloud to this. The word cloud makes me go, “oh, wow.”
Maybe I’m completely missing it in that poster, but you’re missing the location.
The poster has no location or address. Should be a big crowd!
I don’t give away my address or email address online without some kind of explanation of why it’s necessary or at least a privacy policy explaining how they plan to manage the information.
Even the bullshit Dex “opt-out” form had a privacy policy link that explained that Dex reserved the right to sell your contact information. If Dex can disclose their dickbaggery so clearly, I’m sure the city can manage to make a promise that they’re not going to employ my email address. And seriously, why is my email address required in the first place?
The shindig at the Hunter-Gatherer is another thing.
@11, thanks. I’ll get it fixed.
@11, In the meantime, as my post says, it’ll be at the Hunter Gatherer Lodge.
Cienna – to add to your comments, I’ve been at several community meetings where normally more conservative business and neighborhood types you’d expect might oppose this initiative actually fully support it. It’s been getting pretty great community support so, far. Even on the Seattle Times poll, over 75% of people support the extended service hours part of the proposal. And the more people hear about it the more they seem to support it. Even the SPD is supporting it. I’m pretty sure the LCB is going to see the sort of community support they need to.
This is kind of a weird question:
“Safety concerns discourage me from going out, and affect my decisions about which neighborhoods to go out in”
Safety concerns affect my decisions about which neighborhood to go out in, but they don’t discourage me from going out in MY neighborhood.
@17 yeah.
Kind of strange. Maybe it’s a familiarity breeds contempt effect?