The Seattle City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting a petition to the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) to create extended service hour areas within local jurisdictions on Monday. The proposal was originally proposed by Mayor Mike McGinn as part of his new Seattle Nightlife Initiative, which aims to maintain public safety and improve support for local businesses by providing greater flexibility to adapt to market demands from business district to business district.

“A vibrant, safe nightlife is good for business and good for public safety,” Mayor Mike McGinn said in a press release Monday. “The City Council’s approval of this resolution follows a broad public outreach over the past year about how extended liquor service hours should work in Seattle… I’m confident that by working together with the Washington State Liquor Control Board, we can achieve our goals of a more safe and vibrant city.”

The resolution launches a two-step process to extend service hours:

• The resolution asks the LCB to build a regulatory framework to consider and approve petitions from cities to allow extended liquor service.
• If these proposed rule changes are adopted, Mayor McGinn, the City Council, and the City Attorney can then work with the public to craft a specific proposal for extended hours service in Seattle.

A number of other local leaders have come out in support of the initiative, including City Council president Richard Conlin, Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, and City Attorney Pete Holmes.

“We believe that this initiative will strengthen public safety as well as promote a vibrant nightlife. We fully support this effort,“ Diaz said in a statement. Given that police resources are often challenged at Seattle’s blanket 2 a.m. closing time, many in law enforcement say this, along with other components of the Initiative, will help them maintain public safety and allow them to deploy officers more effectively. Last August the city passed another initiative aimed at helping combat difficult closing times allowing officers to dish out $100 tickets for fighting, threatening others, or making excessive or “unreasonable noise” in public areas between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.

“The City Attorney’s Office will work with the Mayor, SPD and the City Council to ensure that the proposed rule changes provide comprehensive safeguards that will ensure public safety,” Holmes said. “The extended hours program will succeed if we anticipate and plan for problems that may arise.”

According to the city, the rule change application will be submitted to the Liquor Control Board in the next few weeks, at which point the LCB will have 60 days to decide whether or not it will initiate the rule making process. Mayor McGinn says he is hopeful that the extended service hours proposal will be approved and ready for implementation in Seattle in 2012.

Mayor Mike McGinn announced his selection of current interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz to take on the permanent post Thursday, June 24. Seattle Channel recorded the mayor’s announcement, which you can watch below.

Diaz stepped in as interim chief when former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske left to take up a new position as the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. The mayor had narrowed the selection pool down the three finalists last month, including Diaz, Sacramento police chief Rick Braziel and East Palo Alto, California police chief Ron Davis, when Braziel withdrew from the race. For more information on Diaz and what’s in store for the Seattle Police Department, read this piece by our news partner, The Seattle Times.

In case you missed the public forum last Wednesday and Seattle Channel’s “City Inside/Out” on Friday, you can catch up on what the final three police chief candidates have to say here.

Seattle Channel has posted the video online from the “City Inside/Out” series featuring the three contenders: Current interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz (.pdf); Rick Braziel (.pdf), the current chief of police in Sacramento; and Ron Davis (.pdf), the chief of police in East Palo Alto, California. Unlike the forum format, on the show all three candidates participated in a dialogue together rather than speaking and answering questions independently.

Mayor Mike McGinn is expected to make a final decision sometime this month, which will then be subject to City Council approval. Read up on the candidates here.

Mayor Mike McGinn is hosting a community forum on Wednesday, June 2, where the three Seattle Police Chief finalists will discuss their experience and answer questions from the public.

Mayor McGinn began looking for a new police chief back in January, after former Chief Gil Kerlikowske left his post to take a presidentially appointed position as the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. Narrowing down the list provided by the 26-member Police Chief Search Committee, McGinn has settled on the final three: Rick Braziel (.pdf), the current chief of police in Sacramento; Ron Davis (.pdf), the chief of police in East Palo Alto, California; and Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz (.pdf).

The forum will begin at 6 p.m. in Seattle Center’s Rainier Room. It will be moderated by Search Committee Co-Chairman Charles Rolland and will have opening remarks by Mayor McGinn. Each candidate will give a five-minute presentation, followed by a half-hour of discussion, in which audience members are encouraged to submit questions. Various community representatives will also be present with prepared questions for the candidates, and translators will be available to help anyone who needs assistance.

If you can’t make it to the meeting, the event will be streamed live online at both the Seattle Channel and Mayor McGinn’s blog.

Mayor McGinn is expected to make a final decision sometime in June, subject to the Seattle City Council’s confirmation of his police chief appointment.