Friday, October 23, 2009

It's all politics!

For the most part I'm pretty disappointed by the candidates in Seattle's upcoming elections. Mike McGinn, the supposed progressive candidate for Mayor, has flip flopped on his tunnel stance and promises a lot he can't deliver to the music and arts communities, I'm pretty sure he'll say about anything to get elected at this point. Plus he's way more big government than I am, I think inviting a lot of government involvement in music and the arts always backfires with added bureaucracy and regulation. I'm still voting for him, but it's one of those lesser of two evils situations.

Same with the city council elections, I really wish we had better options. Nick Licata, who was once an advocate for term limits, has been in office way too long. Although his opposition, Jessie Israel, has the energy and enthusiasm Licata totally lacks, she's too green around the gills. I'm totally over Richard Conlin as well. And Dow Constantine totally wastes our money, but it's not like I can vote for Susan Hutchinson, she's anti a woman's right to choose. I'm still voting for all of the progressive/liberal people (well, I voted for Isreal as a protest vote since I know Licata will win), but only because there aren't worthy enough candidates to unseat them. Next time I guess, we definitely need some changes in Seattle's leadership, especially on the city council.

Really, the issues I care about that are on the ballot are the referendums and voting City Attorney Tom Carr out of office. Tom Carr has been a constant thorn in the side of music fans, clubs, bands and concert promoters and it's time to get rid of this guy. Please please please vote for Pete Holmes for City Attorney if you care at all about Seattle's music community. There will be a little protest against Carr tonight at most of the clubs around town. And when you have punk clubs, big clubs, neighborhood bars and big corporate clubs like the AEG-owned Showbox uniting on one issue, you know it's serious to the music community. Here's the press release about tonight's haps:

THE NIGHT THE MUSIC DIED: SEATTLE NIGHTLIFE TO OBSERVE A "MINUTE OF SILENCE" IN FEAR OF TOM CARR'S RE-ELECTION

Seattle nightlife establishments from throughout the City are scared of what will happen if Tom Carr is re-elected on November 3. How scared? In an effort to raise awareness of City Attorney Tom Carr's anti-nightlife policies — and to emphasize the importance of a safe and vibrant nightlife — bar, live music venue and nightclub owners will observe a "minute of silence" on Friday, October 23, 2009, at 11:30 PM.

For one minute, nightlife as we know it will cease to exist in Seattle. Participating establishments will use a portion of this minute to inform their patrons of Carr's anti-nightlife policies and the importance of electing his opponent Pete Holmes. Carr, a longstanding opponent of the nightlife industry and the mastermind behind Operation Sobering Thought — a botched "sting" operation that cost the taxpayers over $50,000 and resulted in zero convictions — has continued his efforts to hamper nightlife and the arts as the election approaches.

Many in the nightlife community believe it is the ultimate goal of Carr's office to shut down bars and nightclubs in the City of Seattle, thereby decimating an industry that employs thousands of people and generates nearly $100 million in annual tax revenue.

The Stranger and the Seattle Times over the past week have been giving extensive coverage to the issue of nightlife. The bar, venue and club owners have been particularly fearful in the wake of blistering attacks from Carr's office that occurred at a meeting on October 6 on Capitol Hill. At that meeting, a member of Carr's office threatened to stop pedestrians on the street to find out where they were drinking and then use the information collected to issue citations and possibly revoke the licenses of those nightlife establishments.

"A vote for Carr is a vote against nightlife," said Crocodile Café owner Marcus Charles. "If you want someone who is pro-consensus, pro-music, and pro-arts then Pete Holmes is the only choice." Charles has decided to join the event and to take it one step further: The Crocodile will close down for the entirety of Friday night.

Participating in the Minute of Silence will be the Crocodile Café, Neumos, Moe Bar, Havana, The Saint, Trinity, The Sunset Tavern, Tractor Tavern, Cha Cha Lounge, Bimbos, Baltic Room, Rendezvous, Del Rey, Shorty's, Spitfire Grill, Venom, Amber, Funhouse, Nectar, High Dive, The Red Door, ToST, Skylark Café and Club, Trinity, Cowgirls inc., Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, Lock and Keel Inn, War Room, Century Ballroom, R Place, Seattle Eagle, Quinns Pub, and many others.

"Music and nightlife makes a city great, plain and simple," said Havana owner Quentin Ertel. "Nobody wants to live in a ghost town."

As a show of support, the marquee at Showbox Market will be dark all night.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I work for Nick. I googled you cuz I recognized your name and read your wiki entry and see that you are a library manager and thought you might reconsider how you feel about Nick if you knew that Nick Licata is the author and prime sponsor to restore library funding in the Mayor's propose budget.

more on his last term here, I think we've gotten a lot done!
http://www.nicklicata2009.com/

Take care ~ Lisa Herbold

Dan 10Things said...

I love Licata's position on library funding. And honestly I like a lot of his positions, but I think he moves way too slowly on issues and is part of the old guard that eventually needs to turn over for Seattle to move forward. He's just not a candidate to get excited about.