Nightclubs to silence music to protest proposed rules

Nightclubs throughout Seattle plan to hype their political message by putting music and booze on hold Thursday night.

The publicity stunt is meant to build opposition to Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed package of regulations for bars and other venues, which is being considered by the City Council.

Most of the more than four dozen participating clubs will cut their music and beverage service for about five minutes at the stroke of midnight, said Tim Hatley, a lobbyist for a Seattle night-life industry group. Some of the venues are planning their protests for earlier Thursday, when they're more crowded.

Nickels has proposed requiring most bars, clubs and taverns meet certain crowd-density standards to obtain special licenses and to comply with specific security, litter and noise rules. The council's economic development committee is considering the package and plans to begin debating it May 3, with a vote tentatively set for June 7.

Club owners complain that the mayor's plan would create excessive rules without meaningful support. For example, they say Nickels' office could ban clubs from offering specific genres of music or could demand clubs constantly upgrade their facilities to comply with ever-changing codes.

"It's basically a big club -- no pun intended -- that can be held over the business's head to essentially do whatever the city feels is appropriate," said Jerry Everard, part owner of Neumos, Spitfire and Rendezvous.

"Our concern is that it can vary broadly, and it can be very subjective depending on the political winds of the time," Everard said. "Music industry and business owners won't invest in that kind of environment, and they can't survive if they don't have any certainty that from year to year, if they follow rules that are established when they start in business, that they will be able to remain in business.

"It's not readily recognized by some people in the city that night-life businesses are a critical part of the music ecosystem," Everard said. "If we do something that critically impairs the ability of nightclubs to be able to have live music performances, we will basically destroy that ecology, and the dominoes will fall from that and we will lose our vibrant music scene."

SEE FOR YOURSELF

The City Council Economic Development & Neighborhoods committee plans to debate the mayor's package of nightclub rules at 9:30 a.m. May 3 in Council Chambers on the second floor

of City Hall,

600 Fourth Ave.

Watch it: Channel 21 if you have cable or over the Internet at seattlechannel.org.

Listen live: Call 206-684-8566.