The Maple Leaf Community Council at noon today announced it will not attempt a lawsuit against Pandora’s Adult Cabaret.
The strip club opened this month at 8914 Lake City Way N.E., on the line between the Maple Leaf and Wedgwood neighborhoods, and the community councils of both wrote the city to say they believe the club’s permit was improperly issued. The city disagreed.
The issue has generated considerable discussion, with well over 200 comments on the Maple Leaf Life and Wedgwood View neighborhood blogs and their Facebook pages. Meanwhile the club’s doors opened, and the club posted on its Facebook page: “Ladies- We need dayshift Entertainers! We’ve had customers everyday this week waiting for us before the club opens at 1pm, need more girls so we can start opening at 11am! The money’s been fantastic, just need more of you!”
Both the Maple Leaf and Wedgwood councils considered a lawsuit, but in a vote on Tuesday evening the executive committee of the Maple Leaf council said “no” by a 4-3 vote as “Executive Board President Joshua Newman proposed the following motion: ‘I move that MLCC should cease exploring or considering a lawsuit against the City of Seattle over the permitting of Pandora’s Strip Club.’”
In today’s email David Miller, a member of the executive committee, explained that due to timing issues, including a 21-day time limit on lawsuits, success seemed unlikely.
“That 21-day period passed before anyone in our community learned of the issuance of the permit,” Miller wrote, and although courts have made timing exceptions that might apply, “filing a lawsuit after July 25 would almost certainly erase any remaining (slim) possibility legal action against the City’s decision would be heard on the merits.
Since community individuals and businesses have inquired about legal action, we felt it important to quickly communicate the MLCC Executive Board’s vote so individuals and businesses can make their own decisions in the few days remaining before July 25.
We will continue to work with other community councils, Maple Leaf residents, and Maple Leaf businesses concerned about ongoing activity at the location of the adult cabaret.
(In a related matter, the strip club opening up the street at the former Rick’s, 11332 Lake City Way N.E., now has a new name: DreamGirls at Ricks.)
I guess the lesson here is, if a group of folks don’t want a strip club to open up in the neighborhood, they should come up with a better alternative and open it up there instead. Surely there were enough motivated people to fund something they’d rather see at that location. The quotes “be the change you desire” and “put your money where your mouth is” spring to mind.
Perhaps urge the blog to post a separate story and maybe a run down on the ramifications of the proposal.
I am just trying to redirect some of the energy here to a different issue. I am appealing folks to follow the link and form your own opinions. There are multiple issues there, not all of which make me nervous.
Thanks Sue! Will look into it.
So strip clubs in a neighbor’s garage? I am not sure what exactly or which part you have a problem with Sue. Can you fill us in?
@Mer see land use bulletin dated 7/11
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?BID=631&NID=12383
I am debating about appealing. The vending cart business sitting in the front yard of L3 and L4 with decisions non appealable does not sit well with me, nor do some of the other isses listed here. When you get to this site be sure to read all details. Hey Maple Leaf, here is something REAL to be afraid of, and we only have a couple more days.
Sue, can you give a link to this proposed amendments to the Land Use Code (Seattle Municipal Code Title 23)? I’m trying to locate and haven’t had success yet.
thanks
So who is ready to talk about something really important
The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is proposing to amend the Land Use Code (Seattle Municipal Code Title 23). The proposed amendments are summarized as follows:
Encourage Home Occupations
Allow property owners to operate home-based businesses (home occupations) in any structure, as long as impacts are minimized to surrounding properties.
Allow alterations to structures to accommodate home based businesses, as otherwise allowed for structures in the zone.
Allow a home-based business to advertise on the internet, but customer visits must continue to be by appointment only.
Allow up to 2 non-resident employees (currently limited to one), and allow more flexibility for weekday deliveries with limits focused on heavy vehicles.
Expand Options for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and Backyard Cottages
Allow backyard cottages on through lots (lots that front two streets) – Allow more flexibility for the height of detached ADUs on sloping sites.
Clarify that ADUs are allowed in all housing types (including townhouses, rowhouses & in multifamily housing in NC zones).
Concentrate Street-Level Commercial Uses in Pedestrian (P)-Zones
Require street-level commercial use only in Pedestrian (P) designated zones,
Recommendation would apply to approximately 80% of Commercial (C) & Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoned frontages on arterials throughout the city.
Allow Small Commercial Uses in Multifamily Zones
Allow ground-floor commercial uses in Lowrise 2 and 3 zones that are within urban centers or in a light rail station areas (same uses and standards as in Midrise and Highrise multifamily zones).
Expand Mobile Food Vending/Temporary Uses
Allow vending carts in Lowrise 2 and 3 zones in urban centers and light rail station areas, and in Midrise and Highrise multifamily zones.
Expand the allowance for signs associated with temporary businesses in lowrise zones.
Allow farmers markets from 2 days/week to 3 days/week.
Extend temporary use permits to allow 1-year duration.
Change permit decisions for temporary uses from an appealable Type II decision to a non-appealable Type 1 permit decision.
Allow Flexibility in Building Height Measurement
Allow the option to measure building height using the method currently allowed in the South Lake Union area or the average grade level method currently allowed in multifamily & commercial zones.
Mitigate Transportation Impacts of New Development
Authorize DPD to require applicants for certain proposed development to analyze and mitigate potential transportation impacts.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
DPD has determined that the proposals described above are unlikely to have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment, and has issued a Determination of Non-Significance (no Environmental Impact Statement required). This decision was made after review of a completed environmental checklist and other information on file with the lead agency.
HOW TO COMMENT
Comments regarding this DNS may be submitted through July 25, 2011. Comments may be sent to:
City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development
Attn: Bill Mills
700 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
PO Box 34019
Seattle WA 98124-4019
william.mills@seattle.gov
HOW TO APPEAL
Appeals of the decision to issue a Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) must be submitted to the Office of the Hearing Examiner by 5:00 p.m. August 1, 2011. Appeals should be addressed to the Hearing Examiner and must be accompanied by a $50.00 filing fee in a check payable to the City of Seattle. The appeal must be sent to:
City of Seattle
Hearing Examiner
PO Box 94729
Seattle WA 98124-4729
Is that a peer reviewed study? Scientists tend not to use the word “shitheels” in their work, or conflate causation with correlation.
A new report issued by Prostitution Research and Education found that men who pay for sex- including paying prostitutes for sex acts, lap dances at strip clubs, and pornography- tend to commit more crimes and generally act like shitheels at a greater frequency than men who do not buy sex. Researchers found that sex buying men tend to have less empathy for women, among other things.
“Legal businesses do have a right to to operate, but they do not have a right to be profitable, to succeed, or to avoid controversy, and they certainly can have no expectation that they are exempt from legally executed protests.”
That is true!! So, just to be clear you would fully support the right of religious groups to harass woman that enter abortion clinics or homosexuals that choose to go to gay bars on capital hill or Muslims on their way to Friday prayer at the local Mosque? Because the right to legally protest is the right to legally protest regardless of the business or social topics involved…..correct?
Incidentally, the Dutch don’t allow strip joints to operate in residential neighborhoods. They have to operate in designated redlight districts and cannot be anywhere near schools. A location like Pandora’s would never be approved in the Netherlands.
Also, protesting businesses is a time-honored tradition in the United States. Striking union members have done it for ages. Disgruntled customers have done it for ages. Sit-ins and bus boycotts come to mind from the Civil Rights Era, and various organizations publish lists of companies that support or oppose various value systems so that consumers can align their spending with their values.
Legal businesses do have a right to to operate, but they do not have a right to be profitable, to succeed, or to avoid controversy, and they certainly can have no expectation that they are exempt from legally executed protests.
Um, personal opinion here but let’s be a little careful about comparing a joint where women strip naked with a Planned Parenthood Clinic.
Just as the Dutch have found, it’s better to have such businesses, in public, rather than hidden away – better for the women who work there. The abuses that were endemic to Rick’s might still be ongoing, if it had been what’s called “underground.” It’s the same scenario with drugs.
While one might not like what goes on, within the those windowless walls, consider that it was once written, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (the Declaration of Independence)
The idea of harassing those who patronize a business such as Pandora’s, is no different than harassing women who use Planned Parenthood for family planning. It’s protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but shows a certain level of moral superiority that many of us find questionable, even arrogant.
As a wise man once said, “Let he without sin cast the first stone.”
Actually I did not bash the strip club. I just wonder why men get so worked up about a woman exercising her rights to express her opinion. As for Pandora’s, I think it’s a sad place with sad women and sad men and they all need serious help. But that’s just my opinion. Socially dysfunctional people have rights too, I just wish they would go do their nasty business elsewhere.
Boycotting is one thing. Protesting by wanting to harass patrons or claim that the gov’t should shut down for no legal reason, is another. Don’t like it, don’t go. Pretty simple. If I need to explain the difference, then I don’t think there is any hope for this discussion.
Another woman bashing the strip club…….sigh
Why shouldn’t someone boycott a business they don’t like? Happens all the time. Another man defending the strip club. Cute.
@ Sharon c:
You can’t be serious with post number 13! So you support people bashing a legal business just because you don’t support it? It’s one thing if the business is breaking the law, but another if its based on your personal preference/opinion.
You would also support the government (city in this case) shutting down a legal business just because some people say they don’t like it? If so, then I guess you would support a conservative majority in government shutting down all planned parenthood’s because they don’t “like” what they do. Of course you would because you want fair practices void of any hypocrisy based on personal preferences right?
Give me a break!
From jezebel.com: “A new report issued by Prostitution Research and Education found that men who pay for sex- including paying prostitutes for sex acts, lap dances at strip clubs, and pornography- tend to commit more crimes and generally act like shitheels at a greater frequency than men who do not buy sex. Researchers found that sex buying men tend to have less empathy for women, among other things.” I’ve been by the place a few times and honestly I feel sorry for the poor slobs skulking into the place.
I wasn’t planning to go Pandora’s, but the opportunity to pass through a bunch of blue nosed protesters out front trying to “embarrass” me just might change my mind about that.
The city needs to shut the club down or else the families and residents of the area will close it down themselves. If I have to stand outside the club myself and embarrass the people going in, I will.
For those paying attention, our efforts to make all areas of Maple Leaf better have not diminished as a result of responding to community concerns about the strip club. We have a good group of volunteers who are willing to put in extra hours when special situations like this arise.
And anyone who thinks we should just turn a blind eye to things that happen just because they are at their borders (a) is naive, and (b) doesn’t understand what active neighborhood organizations like the Maple Leaf Community Council are required to monitor and address on a day-to-day basis.
Am familiar with meth and yes, it stinks and for anyone who knows the smell it is pretty obvious. I don’t like the loud music from the Shanty on the weekends but at least it goes off at midnight. (I never saw a permit request for live music posted so I wonder if they are even supposed to have live music there.) As for the strip club, I’m glad the neighborhood councils are not suing them — not because I like P’s but because I hope Pandora’s will use the money to make the outside of their dive joint look slightly less ugly. I don’t care if people dismiss the concerns those of us living nearby Pandora’s. Lake City Way may look like a highway to you but it’s a road directly outside our neighborhood and it matters to US. I think the strip club is a bad fit for the neighborhood and I would never have moved to Wedgwood if I had known it was the kind of place where a strip club would be located. The City of Seattle will allow any development anywhere, it seems, as long as the bribes are paid up.
When meth is cooking, it kind of smells like burning plastic, acetone, or amonia (depending on the contaminants that it contains-pure meth has no odor, but no one manufactures pure meth). These are strong odors that can carry for quite a ways with the wind. You would get wafts of smells like this around a house or apartment where a meth lab is in operation. Smoking or freebasing meth will give off similar odors that can be detected in the immediate vicinity (injecting or swallowing normally would not). Cocaine and related substances by contrast will typically smell sickeningly sweet, but different from pot.
@Dan: There you go using common sense and making reasonable claims again. Come on, you are taking away from all the fun of excessive drama 🙂
@Jen: Good points. When I think of Maple Leaf I think of Roosevelt Way more than Lake City Way. Of course places like Hudson, Coopers, All The Best Pet Care, etc… are all Maple Leaf businesses, which I happen to support and really like, I just don’t associate them with the seedy sections of LCW.
You make a very good point in not focusing on the gloomy sections of LCW that run through Maple Leaf, but instead focusing on the great parts like the parks, Roosevelt Way, the “nicer” parts if LCW, etc……
Kathryn- My guess is it’s solely a business decision. Lake City Way is a state highway and gets a lot more traffic. There are a lot of empty business spaces on it right now, so that has to drive the rents down. And areas zoned for these types of businesses and that have traditionally have them (LCW has had strip clubs and adult book and movie stores for decades, probably since the 70s) are easier than opening in a more residential area like 15th or 35th. I’d imagine if one opened on 15th and 35th there would be a lot more public outcry.
To the person making false claims about smelling meth blocks away. That’s probably your next door neighbor, for a reality check, that smell won’t travel 20 feet, much less a few blocks over. I’m all for making real complaints to the police, but making false claims will make them grow weary and reluctant to address real problems later if they arrive. Police will come measure the noise levels in your home to see if it breaks Seattle’s noise level limits and rules, if you honestly think it does, then by all means call them.
Why do these scuzzy businesses locate in neighborhoods that patently DO NOT want them? Why is Lake City Way such a draw when main arterials such as 35th NE or 15th NE don’t get these sexist “clubs”? Blech!
Lake city way does not represent maple leaf, its simply a road that passes by. It’s like 15th in Ballard. Strip clubs yet house values remain high. Moving is not the solution. Maple leaf is represented by Roosevelt, etc. Instead, Let’s work on making that area and new park rich with community and successful, quality businesses.
What does meth smell like and how can you differentiate its aroma from car fumes spewing forth from LCW?
Kind of stuck here. Not easy to move when house values decrease due to less desirable businesses moving in. I can only hope that after the ‘glamour’ wears off, that the ‘patrons’ will roll on to other sites and the place will die a slow death of attrition.
I didn’t realize meth had such a potent smell.
Maple Leaf and Wedgwood need to adjust and realize that this area will be host to most likely more that 2 Strip Clubs. Maybe its time for many of us to think about moving out.
FYI, here is what a neighbor (not on these forums) near the Pandora had to say:
“I just want you all to know that I live within a couple of blocks of this place and since it’s open for business, we have noticed the wonderful smell of meth, been awakened by loud music and yelling at 11:20pm on a Monday night, and more. I filed a noise complaint. I really think this is horrible. I’m committed to filing a complaint for each and every disturbance and hope everyone else will too. Thanks for listening.”
Fortunately, I/we don’t live near the immediate area, but sure feel for the folks that do. Maple Leaf will go down unless the Strip Clubs upgrade the look of their places (don’t think they will though – they don’t really care about the ‘hood’).