Evidently, the Seattle Times is going to zoom in on the fact that only 8 AADO licenses have been issued since the AADO went into effect in 2002—and currently there’s only 1 active license. (License are issued on a yearly basis.)

Moreover, unless Annika Anderson, the promoter for the Friday March 24 CHAC zombie dance, works for Mark J. Johnson (currently the only AADO-licensed promoter in town), she didn’t have an AADO license. (The promoter of an all-ages dance, rather than the venue, needs the license.)

I’m guessing the Seattle Times—jonesing to exploit the Capitol Hill murders as a way to stigmatize the AADO—is going to make hay out of both these things: 1) The fact that there’s a bevy of teen concerts in town, yet so few licenses & 2) CHAC’s zombie dance was unlicensed.

Here’s the deal, though: teen concerts don’t need AADO licenses. That’s the whole point of the AADO vs. the TDO.

As for the CHAC event: Rave promoter Anderson may have been confused about the necessity for an AADO license because typically—raves don’t require AADO licenses. Usually, raves—which by definition, take place at “non-conforming” sites—are governed by fire dept. and assembly permit codes. (These are far stricter than the AADO.) In the CHAC instance, however, an AADO license was likely necessary because CHAC isn’t a “non-conforming” space.

If the CHAC event required an AADO license, the people who screwed up should be held accountable.
But, to repeat myself, they should not be held accountable for the deranged actions of Kyle Huff. There’s no cause and effect between the zombie dance at CHAC and the murders at 21st and Republican. Kyle Huff was going to kill people wether or not he went to a dance.

There is no set of public policy—short of stricter gun laws—that can prevent people like Kyle Huff from murdering innocent people with hand-held shot guns.

*I sent an e-mail to Anderson, but I have not heard back yet.