The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) is a coalition of music, night club, and bar interests formed to educate elected officials, civic and community leaders, and the media on the serious issues facing the music and nightlife industry in Seattle.

• Provide our customers a safe and vibrant nightlife.
• Protect music venue, bar, and club owner's rights.
• Respond to proposals which impact our industry.
• Support our local communities.
• Promote responsible music venue, bar, and club management.

The Mayor's office Thursday released the latest version of their proposal
for establishing new rules and regulations on nightclubs, bars and taverns.

We have posted the draft on the website and encourage you to review the
proposal as it may or may not affect you.

SeattleNMA has not reviewed or studied the proposal in detail and therefore are not prepared to offer detailed comments at this time. A summary sheet prepared by the mayor's office accompanies the ordinance and is also posted.

Over the next several days will we will review the proposal, seek your
feedback, ask questions, and offer comments to the mayor and city council of the proposal.

Please share your thoughts on this latest proposal with SeattleNMA by emailing rachel@seattlenma.org.

Download NightlifePremisesORD102606.rtf (228k)

Download NightlifeDraft102506.rtf (24k)


permalink  |  related link  |   Seattle City Council is holding a hearing on Wednesday, October 11th to take public comment on the City’s 2007 Budget.

SeattleNMA has been a strong advocate for more police officers, particularly to patrol in neighborhoods with active nightlife to better ensure our patrons and local residents are safe, and people out on the street obey the laws. This year, City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck is pushing for 250 more police officers to be included into the City’s 2007 Budget (see link below). This public hearing is the perfect time for our voice to be heard and support public safety!

What: Seattle City Council Budget hearing
When: Wednesday, October 11 – sign-up begins at 4:30PM and the hearing starts at 5:30 PM
Where: Seattle City Council Chambers – 600 Fourth Avenue, 2nd Floor Council Chambers

If you are unable to attend – please email members of the City Council, let them know you represent the nightlife community and you support more police officers.

Nick Licata nick.licata@seattle.gov 684-8803
Peter Steinbrueck peter.steinbrueck@seattle.gov 684-8804
Richard Conlin richard.conlin@seattle.gov 684-8805
Sally Clark sally.clark@seattle.gov 684-8802
Jan Drago jan.drago@seattle.gov 684-8801
David Della david.della@seattle.gov 684-8806
Richard McIver richard.mciver@seattle.gov 684-8800
Jean Godden jean.godden@seattle.gov 684-8807
Tom Rasmussen` tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov 684-8808

Steinbrueck calls for 250 more police officers, Seattle P-I, October 5, 2006.

permalink  |  related link  |   In a meeting with high ranking city officials yesterday, SeattleNMA was provided a glimpse of the revisions to the Mayor’s draft nightclub
ordinance.

While some of the revisions appear to respond to issues SeattleNMA has raised – it is still unclear as to the overall impact this new draft could have on the nightlife industry in Seattle.

If you are interested in learning about these revisions and discuss their
impacts, please attend today’s meeting:


Seattle Nightlife and Music Association Membership Committee Meeting

Thursday, October 05, 3 PM
Havana Social Club
1010 East Pike Street

permalink  |  related link  |   Over 80 people representing nightclubs, bars, restaurants, musicians and promoters attended the September 14 General Membership meeting of
SeattleNMA. If you were unable to attend, we are forwarding the minutes from the meeting for your review. Please feel free to send them on to anyone you feel might be interested in these issues. Click here to find the PowerPoint presentation which was used at the meeting. This presentation and website provides a good overview of the organization, outlines issues of concern to our industry, and other essential information. We will keep the site updated regularly to keep you informed of emerging issues.

Membership Recruitment
Included in this update email a SeattleNMA membership form. While we are still a young organization, we have already have a very active group of restaurant, bar and club owners. In order for us to be effective at the local and state level we need to demonstrate to elected officials that we have a robust and diverse membership representing all aspects of Seattle’s vibrant nightlife. If you have not already become a member, please do so and complete the form and mail it to SeattleNMA. Also please forward this email to anyone who you think might be interested in hearing about us and becoming involved.

Update on the Issues:
Mayor's Nightclub Ordinance.
As of the time of the writing of this email, we are still waiting for an updated version of the ordinance. As you may recall, SeattleNMA provided detailed comments -- we have posted our edited version of the ordinance here (pdf).

Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD)
We have had a number of complaints from restaurants owners on DPD's efforts to categorize them as “drinking establishments” thereby making them subject to additional regulatory burdens and the threat of making them sign Good Neighbor Agreements. SeattleNMA is interested in working with affected businesses to address this issue with the city.

Sprinkler Requirements
As many of you know, the State passed legislation in 2005 to require all Nightclubs – defined as any establishment with live music or DJ, has as it’s primary source of revenue as either the sales of beverages of any kind for consumption on the premises, or cover charges, or both; and has an occupancy load of 100 or more – to install an automatic sprinkler system by December 1, 2007. This applies to all existing and new clubs.

This law will have an enormous impact on our industry and will likely drive several establishments out of business. At our September 14 meeting, this was one of the most often brought up concerns with club owners.

As a result, we are forming a SeattleNMA Sprinkler Sub-committee to develop a legislative and legal strategy to try to address this issue. We are interested in hearing from all nightclubs affected by this law. If you will be impacted by this requirement, please respond to this email and indicate if you would like to participate and/or be kept informed of our efforts on this critical issue.

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