Everything Is Political … in South Seattle

The After-Hours Club Bill Is Back

On Tuesday, April 8, a bill proposing new regulations for after-hours clubs advanced from the Public Safety Committee to the full council, with support from all five committee members.

The bill would apply new regulations to any club or business operating between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., including requirements that they obtain a valid liquor license with an after-hours endorsement from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), not serve alcohol to minors, and create and share a safety plan detailing security procedures and crowd control measures.

The bill was originally crafted by departed District 8 appointee Tanya Woo, who said she was inspired to create it by the 2015 death of Donald "Donnie" Chin, who ran the International District Emergency Center and whom she credits as a mentor. Chin was shot while trying to defuse a disturbance outside an after-hours club in the Chinatown-International District, and the club subsequently refused entry to police officers who came to investigate.

Given that the city's Department of Finance and Administrative Services already regulates after-hours clubs, requiring them "to have a written safety plan that addresses security, crowd control, and procedures for ensuring that underage patrons are not served alcohol," and that serving alcohol to anyone (let alone minors) between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. is already illegal, it would add a requirement that clubs allow law enforcement access to all public areas of the business at all times.

To its credit, the bill does add a few other concrete requirements, like specifying that any club must have two security personnel on shift at all times, must conduct pat-downs or metal detector scans of patrons to screen for weapons, and must maintain video surveillance of all exits. It also requires that clubs shut down between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. I admit, I'm not cool enough to have still been in a club at 6 a.m., but from what I've heard, that would definitely put a damper on the type of weekend-long raves they run at places like Monkey Loft in SoDo.

Where I start to lose faith in the bill's fundamental necessity is when I try to understand what clubs it aims to regulate. Are we talking about the Monkey Loft, where ravers go to keep dancing before their party favors wear off, but which does not sell any alcohol after 2 a.m. and already employs ample security? Or are we talking about private clubs that are already selling booze after-hours in defiance of state law? Or are we talking hookah lounges, which the bill specifically mentions as being the site of several other high-profile shootings?

One public commenter, David Haines, who was against the bill (but only because he wanted there to be NO after-hours nightlife whatsoever), was certainly talking about hookah lounges. And he was spewing perhaps some of the most racist stuff I've heard in any public comment, period. I'm not going to quote him directly, but here's a recording of what he said (at the 22:16 mark):

There's a lot going on in his statement. But there's also a lot going on here. Is this a weirdly anti-Black crackdown on nightlife, or is it a key measure to combat our city's uniquely high rates of gun violence? Or is it perhaps a new and purely symbolic layer of bureaucracy that is more about the council posturing than any serious public safety improvements? Or a toxic soup of all three? Either way, we'll soon find out — the council that passed Councilmember Rob Saka's "Denounce the Defund" resolution is almost surely going to pass this thing.

The Port Isn't Giving Up on Axing Chris Hansen's Sara Nelson's SoDo Housing Rezone

Before the ink was dry on Council President Sara Nelson's dubious deal to rezone the specific area in SoDo that contains properties bought by hedge fund megamillionaire Chris Hansen in his ill-begotten bid to #BringBackOurSonics, the Port of Seattle filed an appeal in King County Superior Court to block it.

"The Port believes the Ordinance is an unlawful spot rezone," the agency wrote in a press release. "It appears that substantially all of the developable land covered by the Council's action is controlled by one property owner. Other parcels covered by the Ordinance are fully developed for railroad or stadium uses. It is clear the obvious target for this amendment is to the benefit of this one owner."

During the original debate around the rezoning ordinance, Nelson and co. argued the rezone was not a giveaway to Hansen, but rather an exciting vision of what a somewhat forlorn area of SoDo could be. Namely, a "maker's district" consisting of light industrial facilities with almost 1,000 new units of "workforce" housing above. The housing units would carry a 50% affordability requirement. Hard to hate that, but the Port has plenty of reasons to.

Besides the obvious fact that if it looks like favor-trading, swims like favor-trading, and quacks like favor-trading, it's probably favor-trading, the Port contends that siting that much housing in an industrial area would be recreating the environmental injustice we've inflicted on low-income people in neighborhoods like South Park. Due to exposure to pollution, residents in South Park die on average 13 years sooner than the average Seattleite.

"Placing housing next to freight corridors isn't justice — it echoes the legacy of redlining, pushing low-income communities and communities of color into the most polluted, least protected areas," said Duwamish River Community Coalition Executive Director Paulina López, who was quoted in the Port's press release.

The Port is also worried that adding housing to an area that's home to key trucking lanes would jeopardize their ability to compete for international shipping. Not an unreasonable appeal to our economic better interest, but it also might be a moot point, given Trump's isolationist aims.

Moore's MHA Shenanigans

District 5 Councilmember Cathy Moore wants to apply mandatory housing affordability (MHA) fees to any new projects allowed under HB 1110, the so-called "missing middle" housing bill passed by our state Legislature in 2023. (PubliCola writer Erica Barnett went into incredible detail about this, so I really want you to read her piece.)

There's a lot going on here, because on one hand this story involves one of our more conservative electeds basically telling developers to suck it up and pay for affordable housing, which is kinda cool and counterintuitive. But on the other hand, it appears to be her way of basically guaranteeing a lot of this housing won't get built, which is kind of lame and NIMBY. Getting in between NIMBYs and YIMBYs is not something any sane person should want, but suffice to say neither side has it exactly right.

If you want to understand why building more housing doesn't automatically engender lower rents, this interview with University of British Columbia professor Patrick Condon, who studies a housing crisis very similar to ours up in Vancouver, B.C., is a great place to start. Speaking of lower rents, or at least not-ludicrously-higher rents …

Bill to Limit Rent Increases Takes One More Step Towards Ferguson's Desk

A bill that would place limits on the amount landlords can raise a tenant's rent made its way one step closer to Gov. Bob Ferguson's desk, getting past the committee that killed it last year. At an April 8 meeting of the state Senate Ways and Means Committee, Democratic supporters of the bill argued in its favor, voting down 18 proposed amendments meant to hamstring it, and advancing it to the Senate Rules Committee mostly unscathed.

While opponents of the bill refer to it as a "rent control" bill, it would not do anything to cap rent. It would only limit rent increases to 7% during any 12-month period, or 5% for people in mobile homes. It would also preclude any rent increase in the first year of tenancy and require landlords to provide 90 days of advance notice before increasing rent.

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The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Tobias Coughlin-Bogue is a writer, editor and restaurant worker who lives in South Park. He was formerly the associate editor of Real Change News, and his work has appeared in The Stranger, Seattle Weekly, Vice, Thrillist, Thrasher Magazine, Curbed, and Crosscut, among other outlets.