News Nightclub Crackdown Story
posted by on September 12 at 12:28 PM
I have a story coming out in today’s paper about the SPD’s disgraceful and defining freakout last Saturday night.
As I slogged yesterday, part of the story will show how the city and the obedient mainstream media inaccurately spun the arrests, pointing to the “fact” that guns made it into Tommy’s.
In fact, the police report from Tommy’s says otherwise. (Still waiting for a clarification from the Seattle Times. Perhaps they don’t feel compelled to set the record straight when it comes to nightclubs.)
For the story, I also interviewed Kauser Pasha, the owner of Belltown club Tabella. He calls bullshit on the gun charges at his club too and on other aspects of the SPD’s sweep.
However, I cut one of his quotes from the story because it wasn’t on topic. But the quote did capture exactly how angry Pasha is about the clampdown.
Referring to the fact that Mayor Nickels failed to persuade the Washington State Liquor Control Board to pull Tabella’s liquor license earlier this summer and to Nickels’s push for a city nightclub license that would allow the mayor to close clubs at his discretion, Pasha said:
“He’s upset that he didn’t get his way with the Liquor Board. So he wants total control. He can’t even control his own son. Why should he have control of nightclubs?”
Nickels’s son, of course, plead guilty in federal court last month to conspiracy in connection with a casino card-cheating scam he helped facilitate when working as a pit boss at the Nooksack River Casino in Whatcom County.
Cheap shot, Josh, and not worth of a quote.
His son is a legal adult who is responsible for himself. To think that Nickels should 'control' him is a bit absurd. What about Al Gore's son and his recent escapades?
@1,
That's why I cut it from the print story.
Love,
Slog
#3: So SLOG reporting is It's 'unofficial'? Or less priority? Or what? I don't see the difference between online and print (do you?) so I don't understand your reasoning here. Written is written.
I have to agree with #2. Pasha's rant is irrelevant to your story, SLOG or no. Nickels' son is over 18 and thus, the content of Pasha's outburst is rather moot.
I completely disagree with Nickels' approach to this issue, but I don't see his son factoring into this story. If Nickels had been calling for leniency for his son, or claimed that his son was innocent or something, that would be different. Instead, Nickels has been largely silent about his son's arrest and has not appeared to condone his behavior.
I think this quote is a red herring.
When the Mayor misuses city resources to bully and harass small business owners and working people, he deserves every lump he gets.
By the way, does Nickels ever field questions from the press or the public? Has anyone had a chance to ask whether he things politically motivated publicity stunts are a good use of tax payer money and police resources?
@4,
The essential difference is that the print story is the one that's on the street for a week informing the conversation and telling the news. It's also the version that will be archived forever on our website as the definitive story.
This Slog post will disappear from the conversation sometime this afternoon. Yes, it will live forever online, but I don't suspect it'll be called up to inform the conversation.
Re: Slog posts in general. They come in all sorts of different stripes. They can be weighty attempts at the definitive story (See ECB's recent long posts on Tim Burgess) or they can be toss offs... in which case we note that. For example, in the very post we're talking about, I flagged its relative insignificance by writing: "I cut one of his quotes from the story because it wasn’t on topic. But the quote did capture exactly how angry Pasha is about the clampdown."
Irrelevant, yes, but like Josh pointed out, it's indicative of the anger he, and I would guess most of these club owners feel about getting dragged through the muck yet again to satiate the anti-nightlife appetite of Team Nickels. Look, we know that shit happens, and hey, in previous comment threads I've complained repeatedly about the clientele at Tommy's, but enough's enough. This is a witch hunt, plain and simple, and there are many better uses for our law enforcement resources.
It's simple. The printed paper is the "real" Newspaper. Words printed on paper carry more authority that words read online.
Most readers know not to trust what they read on their computer monitors. But words printed on paper will last forever and really matter.
A better bitchy quote might've been: "He can't even control his own weight..."
Arrrg! I meant worthy. Damn.
DOUG - Oh because fat jokes are so funny.
@11: They can be. That one wasn't, though.
@11: Uh, it wasn't meant as a joke, just a more germane example of Mayor Nickels' lack of restraint.
at my bar about 6 cops walked in at our busiest time, around 11pm, and began cuffing the 4'10" 90lb female bartender next to me. our security stepped in and asked if they could escort her out of the bar instead of cuffing her BEHIND THE BAR AND DRAGGING HER THROUGH THE CLUB OF 300+ PATRONS.
luckily our head of security was on good terms with the head police officer and allowed him to do that but that doesn't negate them humiliating a tiny asian bartender and instigating what will probably probably turn out to be an illegal arrest.
the sting probably had it's desired effect, however. the following night i checked everyone's ID's. This isn't usually necessary because our security looks at every ID before anyone even makes it into the bar, but now i and the rest of my coworkers have to worry about getting thrown in jail for doing our job.
i have also heard that the SPD has been giving undercover agents fake IDs that they have made to "test our ability" at checking IDs.
do other cities have to worry about this?
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