Residents living near bars in Seattle lament about the late-night antics that surround their lives. Some residents and local officials call for an increased police presence, but others call that a waste of resources.
"A residents-versus-nightclubs war plays out every weekend night in Belltown: the Pomeroy condos, a 2001 development now situated above Twist, a bar the city forced-under pressure from Pomeroy residents-to sign an extremely restrictive "good-neighbor agreement" as a condition of opening late last year."
"The Cooks, who live above the bar, personify the kind of empty-nest Belltown residents we have vilified over the years. They moved to a neighborhood with lots of bars and clubs (fewer then, but still more than other parts of town) and now they hate the noise, they hate the smoke, and they hate the traffic brought into Belltown by hundreds of bar-hopping suburbanites every weekend night. What they aren't, they tell me, is anti-nightlife."
"The clubs let out at around 1:45 a.m., but no one's going anywhere; instead, they congregate on the sidewalks and parking lots, not ready to call it a night. All of which, John Cook acknowledges, is really difficult for the city to do anything about. Standing around isn't illegal-neither is screaming, talking loudly, honking cars horns, or generally being obnoxious."
"More police presence, something the Cooks want to see, might help; Council Member Clark believes the more cops are in an area, the less incentive people have 'to feel like they can act stupid.'"
FULL STORY: Downtown Dilemma
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