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.

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?

On Monday the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will allow Seattle police officers to give out $100 citations for fighting, threatening others, or making excessive or “unreasonable noise” in public areas between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. The legislation, which was sponsored by Councilmember Nick Licata and included in Mayor McGinn’s Seattle Nightlife Initiative, aims to promote “the co-existence of residents and nightlife establishments” in Seattle’s nightlife districts.

“This bill passed because groups on all sides of this issue were willing to make compromises. The new law should address most of the behavioral problems police encounter when crowds leave the bars. It provides them with a preventive alternative to address unruly bar patrons on the sidewalks,” Licata said in the public statement.

The new ordinance will affect business districts throughout Seattle, especially those with large concentrations of bars, such as downtown, Belltown and Lower Queen Anne. It will go into effect after a legally required State Department of Ecology Review is completed, a process that may take up to 90 days. As part of the ordinance, the Chief of Police and the City Attorney will also be required to report on the action’s success in reducing nighttime disturbances in 2011.

“Undesirable behavior by patrons after they leave nightlife establishments is an ongoing concern. We now have legislation that will hold disrespectful club goers accountable, which is another proactive approach of the City’s comprehensive nightlife initiative,” Mayor McGinn said in a statement.

Given that noisy crowds can often be heard roaming around Uptown and parts of Queen Anne after closing time, it’s safe to say this ordinance will likely directly impact bar goers—and nearby residents—in the neighborhood. What do you think, Queen Anne? Do you agree with the new ordinance, or disagree, and why?

Mayor Mike McGinn last night revealed a “Seattle Nightlife Initiative” that includes 8 major points:

1. Code compliance enforcement
2. Flexible liquor service hours
3. Noise ordinance enforcement
4. Security training requirements
5. Precinct community outreach
6. Professional development
7. Late-night transportation alternatives
8. Targeting public nuisances

The Streamline, located on Mercer Street in Lower Queen Anne.

Of these priorities, the “flexible hours” may be the most dramatic, with bars being able to stay open later than 2 a.m., with the argument that the present system “which by unintended consequence encourages overindulgence while simultaneously pushing thousands of patrons on the streets with limited resources to effectively manage the activity.” In other words, too many inebriated people at one time overwhelm law enforcement, alternative and public transportation, drive home drunk causing accidents, etc.

You can read more about it in the Seattle Times, and you can comment directly on a survey the city has put out seeking feedback about it. Or, please comment here!