Mariners on new strip club: Not in our front yard
SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners say naked dancers are a bad fit next to their ballpark. Now the team is trying to stop a strip club from moving into the neighborhood.
Five strip clubs call the city home. And now that a city moratorium on strip clubs has been lifted Roger Forbes, who owns Deja Vu, wants to open a sixth in a building in the Sodo district.
Forbes' attorney, Peter Buck, says Buck already has an adult entertainment license to operate in the Sodo building and city planners have approved the presence of strip clubs in the area.
"They also meet absolutely the letter of the law, and the city council full-well knew that this location was allowed," Buck said.
But Forbes' trouble is not with the law; it's with the neighbors. The site is just a few hundred feet from Safeco Field, a place families with children frequent.
"We're saying we don't think there should be strip clubs. We're simply saying we should be included in the buffer zone," said Mariners spokesperson Rebecca Hale.
City codes prohibit nude dance establishments within 800 feet of schools, parks and childcare centers. The Mariners want the city to expand the buffer zone to include the ballpark as well.
"People going to the games or coming here will have to pass by it," said Hale. "We're not saying, 'not in my backyard.' We're saying, 'not in my front yard."
Buck says if the Mariners want to make it a moral issue, the team should rethink some of its own practices.
"If they want to worry about moral issues in their neighborhood, they should get the mariners to serve less beer, to not let people come out on the street inebriated," he said.
City planners will be taking another look at the buffer zone ordinance and whether Safeco Field qualifies. A decision is due in about a month.
Five strip clubs call the city home. And now that a city moratorium on strip clubs has been lifted Roger Forbes, who owns Deja Vu, wants to open a sixth in a building in the Sodo district.
Forbes' attorney, Peter Buck, says Buck already has an adult entertainment license to operate in the Sodo building and city planners have approved the presence of strip clubs in the area.
"They also meet absolutely the letter of the law, and the city council full-well knew that this location was allowed," Buck said.
But Forbes' trouble is not with the law; it's with the neighbors. The site is just a few hundred feet from Safeco Field, a place families with children frequent.
"We're saying we don't think there should be strip clubs. We're simply saying we should be included in the buffer zone," said Mariners spokesperson Rebecca Hale.
City codes prohibit nude dance establishments within 800 feet of schools, parks and childcare centers. The Mariners want the city to expand the buffer zone to include the ballpark as well.
"People going to the games or coming here will have to pass by it," said Hale. "We're not saying, 'not in my backyard.' We're saying, 'not in my front yard."
Buck says if the Mariners want to make it a moral issue, the team should rethink some of its own practices.
"If they want to worry about moral issues in their neighborhood, they should get the mariners to serve less beer, to not let people come out on the street inebriated," he said.
City planners will be taking another look at the buffer zone ordinance and whether Safeco Field qualifies. A decision is due in about a month.