Strip Club Standards
Strip club lobbyist Tim Killian, who testified at a public hearing at City Council Member Peter Steinbrueck's Urban Development and Planning Committee, says his clients oppose Steinbrueck's proposal to restrict strip clubs to areas 800 feet or more from schools, parks, day cares, and community centersâa tiny area of the city that could get smaller as more parks, schools, and day cares open. Killian does not support any of the current proposals, such as the mayor's plan to consolidate strip clubs in South Seattle near Georgetown.
"[Steinbrueck's plan] severely restricts where these clubs can go, and in short orderâtwo, three, five years outâthis map is going to be even more restrictive, as more of these land uses, like child-care centers, open up," Killian says.
Steinbrueck points out that his proposal is far less restrictive than the mayor's. "It's not my goal to unduly restrict strip clubsâit's to apply a common set of principles to every neighborhood," Steinbrueck says. ERICA C. BARNETT
Double Standards
The LGBT Community Center wants to wrest control of the Pride Parade from Seattle Out and Proud and move it back to Capitol Hill.
They say they oppose the downtown parade because Capitol Hill is the historic home of Seattle's gay and lesbian community. That's why the parade belongs here. Moving the parade downtown and the rally to Seattle Center was, they insist, an unforgivable betrayal of the gay community and, more to the point, gay business owners on Capitol Hill. (In actual fact, Capitol Hill only became Seattle's gay neighborhood in the 1980s. Pioneer Square is the "historic" home of Seattle's gay community. Maybe the parade belongs there?)
The LGBT Community Center's biggest annual fundraising event is the Fruit Bowl Awards, which honors "individuals and organizations in Seattle whom have made significant contributions to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender community." Last year the Fruit Bowl Awards ceremony was held on Broadway, at the old Safeway. And where is this year's Fruit Bowl Awards ceremony being held? Seattle Center. DAN SAVAGE
Setting the Standard
Stranger writer Erica C. Barnett won the Government News Reporting of the Year award from the Municipal League of King County, the 97-year-old local good-government group.
The Muni League describes the award, one of its nine Civic Awards including Citizen of the Year (Walt Crowley) and Organization of the Year (Asian Counseling and Referral Service), this way: "The individual, publisher, or station that has provided the most outstanding news reporting on governmental issues or public affairs."
True dat, we say. The Muni League chair, and MC for the awards shindig (held half way up the Space Needle), introduced Barnett by citing her viaduct coverage, and name checked her influential "No and Hell No" cover story (February 20, 2007) published in the run-up to the March 13 viaduct vote. NANCY DREW
