INITIALLY HAILED, CITY DANCE LAW DOESN'T MEAN MUCH THESE DAYS

Seattle officials boasted four years ago they had found a way to
protect youth from sexual predators, alcohol and drugs at dance
parties. The All-Ages Dance Ordinance would require anyone who holds a
dance admitting kids younger than 18 to apply for a city permit,
undergo a criminal background check and hire a certain number of
security guards. "Let's dance!" Mayor Greg Nickels proclaimed,
channeling David Bowie after the City Council approved the law, adding
it "ensures that there are adequate safety provisions in place."

Police report no major problems with all-ages events since then, but
the law that officials said would protect teenagers is now irrelevant
- -- largely ignored and rarely enforced.

Over the past two years, only one event promoter has received a permit
and undergone the background check the law requires. Only eight people
have applied for and received permits in the law's history. The
all-ages law also doesn't apply to raves, which attract some of the
largest crowds of teenagers. No one has suggested that the recent
killings on Capitol Hill were connected to the rave that the victims
and the killer attended the night before. But because two of Kyle
Huff's six victims were 14 and 15 years old, and because the nighttime
electronic-music events can attract hundreds of teenagers and drugs
such as Ecstasy, many are wondering how the city protects teen nightlife.

Laws of the Dance

In 1985, the City Council approves the Teen Dance Ordinance after
revelations of sexual abuse and drug trafficking at a dance venue
called The Monastery. In 2002, the council repeals the Teen Dance
Ordinance, which was considered too restrictive. The All-Ages Dance
Ordinance replaces it. The new law requires criminal background checks
for organizers of dances, but not concerts and raves.

Only eight people have applied for and received a permit under the
All-Ages Dance Ordinance, and just one holds a permit now.

The law that many assumed was regulating teen dances has not been
applied to a single party this year.

Councilman Richard Conlin said the important thing to focus on is that
there haven't been any complaints from the police or citizens. Conlin,
who co-sponsored the law, said he assumes if teen party promoters
don't have a permit, "they're either operating in a place that they
feel they don't need a permit, or they have, for whatever reason, not
applied for one and there haven't been any problems."

Mark Johnson, from Bremerton, is Seattle's only licensed event
organizer, and says there are all-ages dance events every weekend that
aren't being regulated. "The fact that other people seem to get away
with doing these events without having the right permits is
disappointing to me," said Johnson. The law has proved confusing.

Johnson thought he needed a permit for the raves he is planning this
year, and wasn't told otherwise. Another rave organizer said the city
told him he didn't need the annual permit even when he tried to apply.
And the city-funded Vera Project, which holds all-ages dances, but not
raves, has never applied for a permit.

To be sure, just because party promoters are not getting the permits
does not mean the events are unsafe. All-ages dances, like any special
event, still require fire-safety permits and liquor licenses. Good
citizenship and smart business practices mean many organizers hire
private security and emergency medical technicians.

Neither the police nor the Fire Department monitors whether all-ages
dances have permits. The licensing department said it only goes after
unlicensed organizers based on complaints -- and did so only once, in
2003. Raves discussed Protecting kids from criminals was the original
intent of the all-ages law. In 1985, the city passed the Teen Dance
Ordinance after revelations of sexual abuse and drug trafficking at a
dance venue called The Monastery. Critics complained the Teen Dance
Ordinance smothered the city's music scene like a big wet blanket.
After years of debate, a veto by Mayor Paul Schell and lobbying by the
music industry, that law was replaced by the All-Ages Dance Ordinance
in 2002.

Almost immediately, the subject of raves came up. A Music and Youth
Commission spent several meetings debating whether raves -- which
feature disc jockeys and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people
dancing -- fell under the law: Are they "dances," which are covered, or
"concerts," which are not? Concerts, said the law's co-sponsor and
council President Nick Licata, would have been impractical to monitor
because there are so many. Regina LaBelle, the mayor's legal counsel,
said the commission determined that raves were concerts, not dances.
That's not reflected in the commission's first report, which said the
group "has not been able to come to a consensus regarding what a rave
is ... "

Although the all-ages law required the commission to submit two more
annual reports, it stopped meeting after that first one in 2004.
Travis Webb, a rave promoter in Seattle, said, "It's been a big,
confusing mess." Fewer crowds at raves Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske
said he is concerned about the combination of Ecstasy use and
teenagers at raves, but less than he used to be. The department paid
more attention and made several arrests in 2001, when the events drew
as many as 10,000 people.

They are not as "high on the radar," he said, because they now draw
only a couple hundred.

Webb said the rave scene has become much more professional since 2001,
even though underground parties still go on. He signs contracts with
venue owners, hires a large number of security guards and EMTs,
obtains insurance and pays business taxes. While police have routinely
checked on his events, he said he has never been shut down.

Webb said he would welcome help from the city and law enforcement to
reduce drug use. He used to hire off-duty police officers, but the
Police Department banned it.

A University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute survey
found that in 2003, 17 percent of people at local raves had done
Ecstasy in the 12 hours prior to going to a rave.

"That's probably more than the general population but less than what
people would expect," Caleb Banta-Green said, the UW researcher who
conducted the study. The law is perplexing to organizers of all
events, not just raves. The Vera Project, a city-funded, much-lauded
teen-music venue, holds all-ages dances, but organizers do not think a
permit is necessary. "We are not an all-ages dance club. We are a
skills-building youth music and arts program that also does concerts,"
said Kate Becker, the project's capital campaign chair.

Seattle events producer yvette Soler holds parties that combine
performing arts, spirituality, music and dancing at the old Naval
Reserve Armory at South Lake Union Park and the Pacific Science
Center. She encourages whole families to come to her all-ages events --
and she even sets up a children's area. With all the permits she has
applied for at the Fire Department and the parks department, she said
no one has ever asked her whether she had an all-ages permit.

"I don't see a problem" with undergoing a criminal background check
for a permit, Soler said.

Webb hopes the electronic-music community can work with the city to
come up with a clear set of rules that everyone understands. He would
be happy to comply and alert city officials whenever he has an event.
It's not like they don't already know. Every time he throws a rave, he
said, he gets a business-tax form in the mail.