Not unlike the stripper bending over at center stage, the Seattle Mariners’ expanded legal argument to stop a nudie dance club across from Safeco Field is quite a stretch. In newly filed court papers, the M’s and the state agency that operates Safeco say the club would be too close not only to the ball “park” but three other parks in SoDo, where children congregate. Well, who knew? But it’s so, say the M’s in their battle with Roger Forbes, the strip club-chain operator who wants to open a new Deja Vu club across First Ave. S. He is backed by an embarrassed City Hall, which granted Forbes legal permission to open the club under land-use codes, and now has been forced to join him and defend its codes.Besides Safeco – which the Mariners contend is a public park, and that the strip club would be built too close to it – the three other parks, in the M’s view, are: the open area west of the stadium parking garage known as Safeco Plaza, the Mountains to Sound Greenway that runs nearby, and Edgar Martinez Plaza – which will be nearby, too, once they build it (it’s on the drawing boards). These are more open spaces than traditional parks, but, argue the M’s, “The City Council’s explicit intent [in creating the land-use law] was that new adult cabarets be 800 feet away from places where children congregate, specifically ‘any public park or open space use.'” The new Deja Vu would be about half that distance away, and we have to think of the kids, say the M’s, even though the adults-only club would operate alcohol-free and indoors – the opposite of Safeco. A King County judge is expected to issue a written ruling this summer.
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