Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has announced a proposal for changing state policy to allow cities to allow extended service hours for Seattle nightlife. The plan is part of Seattle’s comprehensive Nightlife Initiative, which aims to maintain public safety and provide businesses with greater flexibility to adapt to the market demands of residents and visitors.

In a nutshell, McGinn’s plan is to stagger closing times at certain bars and clubs to ease the strain on police resources. As it is now, Seattle Police can be stretched thin at 2 a.m. when every bar and club lets out, especially in certain busy business districts, like Ballard, Belltown, Capitol Hill, and even parts of Upper and Lower Queen Anne.

“We’ve talked to the public, we’ve talked to businesses, we’ve talked to neighbors, and this is something the community wants us to do,” said Mayor Mike McGinn

The City Council will hear the resolution in committee on July 19 and a vote to follow soon afterward. The rule change application will be submitted to the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) by August 31. The LCB then has 60 days to decide whether to initiate the rule making process. Mayor McGinn hopes to have extended service hours implemented in Seattle in 2012.

What do you think Queen Anne? Would extending alcohol service hours improve closing-time noise, public safety and the local marketplace for small businesses, or would it have negative effects on the surrounding communities?

The inaugural Ales for Alzheimer’s pub crawl of 12 Lower Queen Anne bars last weekend raised over $12,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association, according to Western and Central Washington State Chapter director of communications Keri Pollock.

With over 400 participants for one night of fundraising and celebrating, Pollock calls the event a “big success!” The money raised, she wrote, “will go directly to programs and services that support individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s and related dementias.”

Photo taken from the Alzheimer’s Association, Western & Central Washington State Chapter Facebook page.

Check out pictures from the event on the chapter’s Facebook page.

According to the Washington State Liquor Control Board, Lower Queen Anne’s own Peso’s Kitchen & Lounge is the biggest restaurant/bar buyer of booze in the entire state!

Former Seattle PI columnist and Queen Anne bar owner Mike Lewis (who became one of the owners of the Streamline on Mercer St. last fall) broke the story on the Seattle Weekly’s Voracious blog today, Wednesday, April 28. From the story:

Peso’s spent more on liquor over the past 12 months than any other bar in the state, more than restaurants twice its size, more than hotels, more any other booze-slinging establishment except two large casinos, according to the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

A top ten list of purchasers release by the WSLCB revealed that Peso’s trailed behind only two establishments–the Snoqualmie Casino and Northern Quest Resort and Casino in Spokane. But just because it spent more, doesn’t meant it sold more alcohol–it all comes down to what you buy. Read Mike’s full story at the Seattle Weekly.

(Thanks to Mike for the tip!)

Publicola published an interesting story yesterday that raised the question of whether or not Seattle should extend the current closing time from 2 to 4 a.m. across the board, or stagger times throughout the city in an attempt to improve public safety. From Publicola,

The theory is that by encouraging staggered closing times, the thousands of customers who roll out onto the street at  am would be dispersed over the night. This would take pressure off of SPD, allowing them to do better, more focused enforcement. It would also help curb drunk driving (at 2 am there is little taxi cab availability due to the spiked demand for cabs with everyone settling up at the same time.) There would also be less concentration of noise on the streets at 2am solving one of the most frequent complaints from downtown residents. And of course with an increase in operating hours comes an increase in revenue (and jobs) for bars, and in turn, more revenue to the State and City.

Many cities across the country have started extending liquor service to 3 and 4 a.m., while a few have tried 24-hour service, including Birmingham, Alabama, Atlantic City, Memphis and the entire states of Nevada and Louisiana. Read Publicola’s full story here.

Since both Lower and Upper Queen Anne have a large bar and lounge presence, there’s no doubt the hill would be greatly affected by any change to the city’s current closing time. So, Queen Anne, what do you think? Should Seattle keep closing time at 2 a.m., extend it, or stagger it? Do you think this would improve safety in the neighborhood?