Congratulations to Geov Parrish for writing on the foolish nightclub ordinance before the Seattle City Council ("The mayor's obsession," Aug. 1).
I have been speaking and discussing on this issue throughout my campaign. What people of this city don't see is that the mayor and the city council are pitting the residences against the nightclub owners, and thus doing their dirty work for them. The mayor and his posse think that nightclubs and residences don't mix. That's bunk.
The truth is the property is too valuable and the clubs have got to go. But in the big cities, nightclubs and residences do mix, and if Seattle wants to be a big city like New York, Chicago, Boston and San Fran-cisco, we need this diversity in our down-town neighborhoods. Tourists come to Seattle for the music and the nightclub scene; not to sit and sip lattes and look at overpriced condos.
The solution? Police walking the beat in the neighborhoods where we have the clubs: Belltown, Pioneer Square, Fremont and Capitol Hill, where I have my own restaurant and bar (Rosebud). In Boston, they put police walking the streets in the club areas and crime dropped 14 percent. It can work, and everyone can live peacefully together. I have been working on getting the residents of the club areas and the club owners together with police to work out their differences without involving the city government. I am confi-dent it will work to settle this conflict.
So thank you, Mr. Parrish, for your well-written editorial.
Robert Sondheim
Candidate for Seattle
City Council Pos.
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