King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick ruled a few minutes ago that a Déjà Vu strip club is allowed to open a half-block south of Safeco Field. The prudish Mariners and the authority that runs Safeco Field had filed the lawsuit that attempted to reverse an earlier decision by the city to allow the strip club. Erlick dismissed the crux of the argument, writing that the Mariners failed to prove that Safeco Field or the surrounding areas qualified as "public park and open space use," which, under a 2007 city law, would require an 800-foot buffer zone from strip clubs.

Attorneys for the Mariners had argued that a 60-foot-wide sidewalk south of Safeco Field with a few benches constituted such a "park and open space use."

“Most significantly, here, Safeco Plaza operates as an overflow parking area, essentially auxiliary to the adjacent parking garage," Erlick wrote in his decision. "Such a use for parking and traffic is inconsistent with park uses for recreational and esthetic proposes."

Of course, the Mariners wern't driven by a passion for open space. The team is attempting to claim moral high ground over stripping. In its petition filed in December, the Mariners said Déjà Vu strip clubs have “adverse impacts repugnant to a family entertainment environment.”

The city’s Department of Planning and Development decided in December that the club could open near Safeco Field. The Mariners appealed the decision to the city’s hearing examiner later that month, but promptly lost the case. The Mariners and Safeco Field filed the lawsuit in King County Court on December 23.

“I suggest they stick to baseball where they have a lot better chance of bringing some credit to their organization,” says the attorney for Déjà vu, Peter Buck. He expects the Mariners to appeal this decision but believes he will win any further court cases. “We have conducted video surveillance of that area during every Mariner game starting May 15, 2009. The photographs show that it is indeed a huge parking lot—not a public park. We have a photo display. The days of misrepresentations by the Mariners are over.”

Illustration by Robert Ullman