The City of Seattle and the organizers of the annual cannabis festival and reform rally Hempfest have reached a resolution regarding a dispute over permitting for the 2011 festival.

In February Hempfest organizers filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Seattle, Mayor Mike McGinn, the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, the director of Seattle Center, and the chairperson of the Seattle Special Events Committee, claiming that the city was unlawfully delaying the permitting process and scheduling a conflicting construction project that would prevent the festival from taking place at its usual site at Myrtle Edwards Park, or the proposed alternative location, the Seattle Center.

Festival goers gather at the booth-lined Myrtle Edwards Park at Hempfest 2009.

In a statement released today city officials announced that the two parties have reached a collegial agreement, which will bring Hempfast, which draws some 100,000 people to the waterfront festival annually, back to Myrtle Edwards Park for its 20th anniversary this summer. From the press release:

Under the March 18 agreement, the City will issue a permit for Hempfest 2011 to occur at the waterfront park on Aug.  19, 20 and 21, subject to the conditions placed on the permit by the City’s Special Events Committee. In turn, Seattle Events, which puts on the festival, will dismiss the pending lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

Planned construction of the Thomas Street Overpass project in Myrtle Edwards Park this summer created a potential conflict with the festival, prompting Hempfest to file a lawsuit. The City and Hempfest quickly reached a compromise where Hempfest agreed to postpone its request for immediate relief from the Court and the City agreed to solicit alternative bids for the project that would allow Hempfest to be held in the park. When the bids were announced on March 16, it was clear that the construction timetable would not interfere with the festival. The City and Hempfest then entered into a memorandum of understanding that will allow the festival to proceed at Myrtle Edwards Park in August 2011.

City Attorney Pete Holmes noted his appreciation that Hempfest organizers agreed to put the litigation on hold while the City worked on a solution for the scheduling conflict.

For more information on the lawsuit, see our past coverage here.  For more information on the West Thomas Overpass Project, click here.

Seattle’s annual cannabis festival and reform rally, Hempfest, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, Mayor Mike McGinn, the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, the director of Seattle Center, and the chairperson of the Seattle Special Events Committee over permitting issues for the 2011 festival, the group announced in a press release this week.

Festival goers gather at the booth-lined Myrtle Edwards Park at Hempfest 2009.

The suit, filed in United States District Court Thursday, “seeks relief under the U.S. Constitution and the Washington Constitution, and was filed in an effort to obtain a 2011 permit to produce the annual free speech rally to reform America’s laws prohibiting cannabis,” the group wrote.

The festival, which has been an annual event in Seattle since 1991, has been held on the waterfront at Myrtle Edwards Park since 1995. Last year the Seattle Special Events Committee requested that the group seek out alternative locations for the festival in 2011–it’s 20th anniversary year. From Hempfest:

Upon the suggestion of the Special Events Committee, Hempfest contacted the Seattle Center in October 2010 to see if that venue would be suitable for 2011. After a few months Seattle Center representatives decided the center could not adequately host Hempfest until 2013 because of pre-existing reservations on some facilities as well as planned Seattle Center construction.

When the group filed a permit to host the festival at its usual spot at Myrtle Edwards Park, they were told that a conflicting construction project (the West Thomas Overpass Project, a pedestrian overpass that will link Lower Queen Anne with the waterfront, and was given the green light back in August) may interfere with the group’s plans to hold the festival in late August, its usual time.

Artists rendering of the West Thomas Overpass project, which would run from Thomas Street on Queen Anne all the way across to Myrtle Edwards Park.

From Hempfest:

The suit asks the city to issue an appropriate permit for Seattle Hempfest in August 2011 and, if necessary, to enjoin Seattle from implementing the “West Thomas Overpass project” in such fashion as to interfere with the use of Myrtle Edwards Park in August 2011. Planned summer construction of the sky-bridge in Myrtle Edwards Park, the location of Hempfest since 1995, has displaced the mammoth event which routinely draws more than 100,000 attendees annually.

Well aware of the slow-moving nature of the Seattle Special Events permit process, Hempfest submitted its special event application earlier than ever, in early November 2010, hoping for a decision within the 60-day period set forth by law. However, after months of negotiations Hempfest organizers find themselves with neither a date or a venue for the annual summer “protestival,” which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

“It is with heavy hearts that we take this action against the city that we love,” Hempfest executive director Vivian McPeak said in the release. “We thoroughly wanted to spend the months leading up to Hempfest’s 20th anniversary working on the best event ever. Without a date or a venue that is almost impossible.”

“We are very excited about the prospect of a new foot bridge into Myrtle Edwards Park, but after initially being told by the city that the project would not impact our event, we were suddenly informed we needed to hold the event in June or take Hempfest somewhere else. We’ve been, and we still are looking for alternatives to Myrtle Edwards Park. However, there are few venues that are adequate and after many months of meetings we are simply running out of time. We hope we can work with the city to find a workable resolution soon and get back to producing our event,” McPeak added.

Hempfest organizers are holding a members party tonight, Friday, February 11 to discuss the lawsuit and other organizational news. The event will take place at Studio 7 in SoDo, at 110 S. Horton St., starting at 7 p.m. More information about this event can be found here.

A man who claimed that he was injured by police outside the Lower Queen Anne Dick’s Drive In in 2007 has filed both state and federal lawsuits this week, alleging “a pattern of excessive force and police misconduct” in the Seattle Police Department, according to our news partner, The Seattle Times. From the Times:

The lawsuits say Dewoyne Lowe suffered a concussion and severe face cuts from police who knocked him to the ground outside the Queen Anne Dick’s Drive-In after Lowe and a companion argued with a security guard about whether the restaurant was open.

Lowe’s attorney, John Kannin, said one of the officers accused of punching his client is Officer Camilo DePina. Kannin says DePina is among the officers seen standing by in a videotape of a recent racially charged incident in which a Latino man was beaten by another police officer. That incident is under investigation by the FBI.

According to the Times, Lowe’s lawsuits allege two incidents involving DePina. In the first Lowe claims DePina knocked him down face first in the Dick’s parking lot. In the second he states that DePina slammed his head into a counter at a Seattle police station later. The lawsuits also names a second officer, Christopher Christman, who Lowe claims assisted in the attacks against him. Kannin stated that Lowe’s injuries were so severe that he required treatment at Harborview Medical Center. One noted injury was a cut through his eyebrow that required 12 stitches. From the Times:

Renee Witt, Seattle police spokeswoman, said the department would not comment on an active investigation or pending lawsuit.

Getting to Golden Gardens on the Burke Gilman Trail takes you through the dangerous, unfinished stretch which runs through Ballard — called the “missing link” — which has long been a hot-button issue with bicyclists, drivers and businesses in the area.

King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers is expected to issue his opinion Friday on a lawsuit filed against the city by a coalition of Ballard industrial businesses, associations and the Ballard Chamber of Commerce. The lawsuit alleges that an environmental review conducted by the city to determine the impact of a completed trail did not take businesses into account.

With the ruling right around the corner, we’ve posted an in-depth look at the missing link, from an interactive tour to one bicyclist’s account of an accident there. The multimedia story is the product of an innovative partnership with the nonprofit Common Language Project and students of University of Washington’s Entrepreneurial Journalism class.

Click here to read “A look at the missing link.”

A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit between Peso’s on lower Queen Anne and Matador. The lawsuit claimed that the owner of Matador, who is a former bartender at Peso’s, stole the restaurant concept and profited.

The settlement requires a change in the menu and an overhaul in the decor. Daniel Woo, the attorney for Peso’s, tells the Ballard News Tribune that the sconces must come down as well as the ceiling tiles at the Market St. location. The votive candles need to go and any “Day of the Dead” decor is banned. There is also a monetary settlement that Woo says could be more than $100,000.