CITY OF 1000 DANCES?

The notorious Teen Dance Ordinance faces execution.

LATER THIS MONTH, a truce may finally be called in the 15-year war between
the city of Seattle and its music-loving teenagers.

An August 21 City Council vote is expected on a new version of the city's
notorious Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO), a blunt instrument created in 1985 to
protect teenagers from vice and exploitation--but which has ended up
separating them from musical entertainment.

The genesis of the TDO is always traced back to the Monastery, a dance club
on the edge of downtown which police charged was the site of drug sales,
illegal drinking, and sex between adults and teens. The city filed a
nuisance abatement lawsuit to close the club, and the information contained
in court affidavits spurred a minor furor in the media and in the corridors
of City Hall.

The resulting ordinance--supposedly an effort to clean up the club scene for
easily exploited kids--ended up regulating the city's teen clubs out of
existence. With tough requirements for insurance and security, plus a
requirement that kids be at least 16 to get in, the city's all-ages dance
clubs disappeared. Worse yet, the language of the ordinance allowed the
authorities to lump rock concerts in with dance clubs. The promoters of an
International District all-ages punk venue, the Gorilla Gardens, became the
first (and to date, only) persons charged with violating the ordinance and a
once-thriving all-ages rock scene crumbled.

But, through the work of a 20-member task force set up by City Council
member Richard Conlin, a substitute ordinance has been created that
specifically legalizes live all-ages musical performances and (its drafters
hope) gives teen dances a fighting chance of actually being held within city
limits.

"I don't think all-ages shows are inherently more dangerous than anything
else," says task force member Stephanie Pure. She stresses that the proposed
legislation, dubbed the All-Ages Dance Ordinance, isn't a ploy to throw out
the rules, but an effort to allow safe, positive entertainment events that
young people can participate in.

The new ordinance drops specific insurance requirements, modifies a former
requirement that uniformed police officers provide security, and scraps the
age limits for participants. Task force member Dave Meinert, a music
promoter, notes that the old law contained tons of loopholes, exempting
city-sponsored shows, dances on city property, and events held under the
auspices of schools, nonprofit groups, and religious organizations. "When
you think about who isn't exempt, [the Teen Dance Ordinance] pretty much
targeted small entrepreneurs," he says.

Over the years, people have skirted the law through other means, often by
simply ignoring it. As the popular all-night dance parties known as raves
have become ingrained in youth culture, many organizers just break the law
and hope the cops don't show up. Successful all-ages concerts at venues such
as RKCNDY have operated on the edge of the law--the police probably could
use the TDO to turn off the music, but concert promoters have convinced them
that the shows are well-run and safe.

Not surprisingly, music promoters aren't eager to continue relying on the
goodwill (or inaction) of the local constabulary. Meinert says the goal was
to create a licensing procedure and accompanying regulations that apply to
any all-ages dance event. Although the task force originally wanted to drop
all exemptions, council member Conlin has removed schools from the new
ordinance's coverage.

THE PROPOSED ALL-AGES Dance Ordinance has also drawn some criticism from
dance music fans who wonder why their events would face tough regulations,
while live music concerts would be unregulated. Meinert says he's
sympathetic to their concerns, but feels the proposed legislation is an
acceptable compromise. "I don't think we need this ordinance," he admits.
"However, we're going from all-ages dances being illegal to a place where
these dances are legal, but less regulated."

The drafters have been able to learn from some of the criticism as well.
When Tim Crowley of Free Speech Seattle (a group that unsuccessfully tried
to mount an initiative repealing the city's poster ban) posted a
several-page critique on the Internet, a surprising thing happened--most of
his suggested changes were incorporated into the draft ordinance. Meinert
agrees that the provisions cited by Crowley were unworkable and
ill-conceived, such as a requirement that an all-ages dance license be
linked to a venue, not a promoter. This would have made it impossible for
promoters to hold dances at different venues, as is commonly done.

Also added at Crowley's suggestion were strong statements that young people
have a free-expression right to participate in music and dance events, plus
provisions that guarantee DJs and dance promoters will be represented on the
12-member Music and Youth Commission set up under the ordinance. As
envisioned in the task force report, this commission would disseminate
information on how to run legal dances and would aid in the review of
license suspensions or revocations. A three-member panel comprised of two
commission members and a city hearing examiner would sit in judgment of
dance promoters charged with allowing drugs or alcohol at their events or
violating other city laws.

Task force members were less impressed by claims that the criminal
background checks required for license-holders would constitute racial bias
since minorities are over-represented in the prison system, a complaint
voiced by observer Ralph Warren.

A more predictable source of opposition has been the Seattle Police
Department. Captain Jim Pugel, the SPD representative on the task force,
voted against the group's final recommendations and Lt. Neil Low of the
department's sexual assault unit testified against the ordinance at a recent
committee hearing. Low says that mixing teenagers with adults at events
could attract child molesters or rapists. "I don't think there's going to be
mentoring or role models there, there's going to be exploitation," he told
the council.

Sage Burns-Radtke, a 17-year-old Seattle resident, notes that his circle of
friends includes people who are both younger and older than he is. Wherever
you set an age limit, someone would be excluded, he says. "I don't see why
I'm not mature enough to be in the same venue as 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds."

Others point out that, with any age limits, touring dance DJs would face the
same problem that has kept many bands from adding Seattle to their schedule
in recent years-- it's hard to draw a sufficient audience when any potential
customer is excluded.

Pure says the big surprise for her is that the parents who have attended
task force meetings have been supportive and enthusiastic about the group's
work."I was expecting to battle parents and there were none to battle," she
notes.

She argues that another important aspect of the All-Ages Dance Ordinance is
that it expresses faith in young people. "The reason why this current
legislation is so lousy is because of the message it sends to teenagers,"
she says. "What we're telling them right now is that they're dangerous when
they're gathering and that listening to music is dangerous."

And Meinert, for one, has a sense of history: "If they would have had this
[law] when the Monastery happened," he says, "they could have shut it down
right away."