Our Mission
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.Action Agenda
- 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.
News
Today Mayor Nickels held a press conference announcing the transmittal of the nightclub ordinance to the City Council. Copies of the Mayor's press release, fact sheet and final ordinance can be found here by clicking on the links.SeattleNMA has not yet reviewed the final proposed ordinance but once we do, we will share with you our analysis of the legislation.
With the mayor's transmittal of the ordinance the City Council now takes over. The City Council needs to hear from you regarding the proposed legislation. Please contact the city council today. Neighborhood activists will certainly be vocal on their thoughts on the legislation - club owners must do the same! Email and call the members of the council, and share this information with other club owners and nightlife fans and encourage them to also contact the council. Contact information for the city council can be found at: http://seattle.gov/html/feedback.htm.
Your involvement is key to the final outcome of this legislation. Please contact rachel@seattlenma.org for more information about what you can do to work on behalf of the nightlife industry in Seattle.
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Below is SeattleNMA's 2007 legislative agenda. We hope you will share this with your elected leaders at the state and city level. Remember, direct contact from you as a constituent and business owner is the best way to communicate with your representatives.
To find your legislators, visit http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx. Contacts for the City Council can be found at http://seattle.gov/html/feedback.htm. Please contact these individuals and let them know what you think about these critical issues.
SeattleNMA 2007 Washington State Legislative Agenda
Limited number of certified contractors who can install the systems.
Significant time constraints on the ability to hire architects, design the systems, receive bids and obtain necessary permits within the short time frame. Many clubs in the state were just recently notified of the new requirement.
The costs to install these systems range from $25,000 to $100,000 or more. Some clubs will not be able to afford to pay for these systems and will no longer offer live music.
Some type of tax break or financing assistance may help some of these music venues survive.
Provide extended hours of service on weekends. This would reduce the impact to neighborhoods at closing time when all the bars, taverns and nightclubs patrons are leaving at once.
Allow pitcher and bottle table service. This service is available in most other states. Increased funding for the Washington State Liquor Control Board for enhanced customer services and oversight.
SeattleNMA 2007 City of Seattle Legislative Agenda
Download SeattleNMA's Legislative Agenda
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SeattleNMA Legislative Reception
Tuesday, November 14
5:00-7:00 p.m.
Amber
2214 - 1st Ave
in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
If you haven't already done so, please RSVP to rachel@seattlenma.org
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The draft ordinance creates a “Nightlife Premises Advisory Board” consisting of business owners and residents and requires “Nightlife Premises” to obtain licenses, receive approval of their operating plans, and adhere to strict operating requirements. Violations of these standards can result in the business being shut down. A “Nightlife Premises” is defined as any establishment which serves alcohol after 10 PM, is larger than 500 square feet, and has an occupancy load of one person per seven feet of space. So, if you have 1000 square feet of space, and you have an occupancy capacity of 143 or more, (1000 divided by 7), you would be required to obtain a license. To apply for the license, you would be required to fill out a complicated questionnaire outlining your operational plan which then must be approved by the city. The city could deny you a license. Once you obtain a license ($350 per year), you must abide by a set of strict operational standards. Violations of these standards can result in revocation of your license.
We have a number of concerns regarding this proposal including – lack of authority for the Advisory Board, no increase in public safety officers, and lack of approaching nightlife issues in a wholistic and comprehensive fashion. The city even indicated that they will continue to use good neighbor agreements to control bars and taverns.
Despite these repeated concerns it appears the Mayor’s office is intent on forwarding this ordinance to the city council. The city council is expected to begin consideration of this issue early next year.
We need your help. We encourage you to read the ordinance. We need you to attend our November 14 legislative reception at Amber. And we need you to make sure you have paid your SeattleNMA membership dues – www.SeattleNMA.org -- so we can continue to work on this and other issues facing nightclubs, bars and taverns.
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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)
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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.
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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
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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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