jenk

Seattle's mayor proposed new regs for nightclubs, including "Nightclubs shall prevent patrons from entering a nightclub premises with any illegal drugs." And: "prevent patrons from entering a nightclub with any weapons." Not post a no-carry rule, not evict patrons using drugs, not use your judgement: prevent anyone from walking in with a joint in a pack of cigs or an illegal tablet in the bottle of midol in their purse. This struck Savage as impractical. So he conducted a small experiment.

If the mayor expects club owners to keep drugs and weapons out of their clubs, it seemed reasonable to expect that he would be able to keep drugs and weapons out of City Hall. Carrying drugs and packing simulated heat, I fully expected to be tackled before I could walk in the door.

Read the article. Not only does he get into city hall, he gets a tour of the mayor's office.

The mayor wasn't around—which is too bad, because I wanted to offer him a pot cookie, too, and ask him this question: If it was as easy to sneak drugs [and a prop gun] into a particular club as it was to sneak them into City Hall, would he shut that club down? Probably. So what's he going to do about City Hall then? Maybe we can discuss it the next time I drop by his office with drugs in my bike bag.

Now, granted, most people aren't authors whose books are appreciated by the mayor's legal counsel. Personally I think the staffers in the mayor's office reacted with good judgement where the drugs were concerned; Savage wasn't causing a disturbance or busting up the place, and Seattle has mandated that pot enforcement is low priority. Which also raises a question about how much room nightclub operators should have to exercise their own judgement.

And I'd still love to see Mayor Nickels' face when he reads the article :)

Bonus: Photos of the bag, cookies, and "gun".

Update: After reading solcita's post, I am wondering again why none of the cops or staffers reacted to the prop gun. It's a prop, meant to look real on stage. It does not look fake. Frankly, when reading that he had it in his waistband while walking into the building, I expected him to say that he'd been stopped by security. Of course it could be the gun wasn't visible under his t-shirt...