On Monday, August 12, the Seattle City Council repealed the Teen Dance Ordinance and replaced it with the All Ages Dance Ordinance.
Sound familiar? That happened two years ago, with the same council members. But then-Mayor Paul Schell vetoed it, and the council didn't have enough votes to override him.
There won't be a veto this time: In fact, mayor Greg Nickels sent the AADO legislation down to the council himself. The loudest opposition to the AADO actually came from within the council; well, it was a lone council member, Margaret Pageler.
Pageler--whose anti-AADO stance spawned a poster portraying her as Osama bin Laden this summer--tried to add four restrictive amendments to the AADO, but she was stifled by most of the council. Even Pageler's regular ally, Jan Drago, voted against a few of the amendments, and supported the AADO in the end.
Pageler's proposals--to require licenses and insurance for security guards, require insurance from promoters, create a curfew on dances, and increase penalties for license violations--were all methodically shot down by the council because the changes threatened to morph the AADO back into the TDO.
"We were able to agree on what the basic character of the AADO should be, and we stuck together," says Council Member Nick Licata about the council majority. "It was like synchronized swimming." Pageler would make an amendment, a lonely Richard McIver would sleepily second it, and then either Licata, Richard Conlin, Judy Nicastro, or Heidi Wills would promptly pounce.
Pageler's two biggest amendments were insurance requirements and a curfew. Pageler wanted promoters to get a million-dollar insurance policy, and she wanted dances over by 2:00 a.m.
The insurance amendment was easily defeated because it was faulty on two counts. First, it was redundant: Most venues already have insurance, and if they don't, the fire department can require it. And secondly, the amount and type of insurance Pageler proposed is nearly impossible for promoters to get.
"Insurance is something that is good to have," Licata says. "But there's already a network in place to require insurance, and it works well."
Then Pageler tried to add a restriction to close dances at 2:00 a.m., arguing that parents need laws to help get their kids home at night. "The law is not a substitute for good parenting, but it can support parents," she said.
But Seattle doesn't have a general curfew for teens, and shouldn't place one on dances (when raves, concerts, and other events don't have time restrictions), Council Member Nicastro accurately pointed out. "I see this as a curfew," she said. "I don't support them." The council voted it down.
Pageler's other two amendments were more technical--she wanted insurance and licenses for security guards, and stricter penalties for promoters' minor license violations--but they were rejected too.
After her four amendments sank, Pageler tried to save face by saying she brought them up on behalf of community groups. "Somebody has to say this is bad legislation," Pageler said. She didn't name her community-group constituency, but it's likely the same handful of folks she invited to her May anti-AADO panel: the Pioneer Square Community Association, the Downtown Seattle Residents Council, and the West Seattle Community Partnership.
After that disastrous forum--Pageler's dozen supporters were outnumbered by a hundred folks supporting the AADO ["TDO Meeting Meltdown," Amy Jenniges, May 16]--Pageler brought a batch of changes to a council committee meeting on the AADO. "She had a whole two pages' worth of amendments then," says Licata aide Newell Aldrich. At that July meeting, Pageler succeeded in getting age restrictions (14 years old), and a readmission fee for kids who leave the dance floor. Licata and Council Member Conlin--who co-sponsored the AADO--went along with Pageler's changes so they could get the bill out of committee.
Luckily, Council Member Judy Nicastro yanked them on Monday.
Longtime TDO opponents Kate Becker of the VERA Project, rock and roll promoter Dave Meinert, and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana fame were on hand to celebrate once the final ordinance passed. "I think the music community is in a great position. We've won," Meinert said.
