HELP SAVE DANCING IN SEATTLE

[Parteekyd]

Probably all of you have heard of the new teen dance ordinance going into effect or currentaly in effect in the city of seattle. granted i don't know all the quwirks of the law but i hope to soon.i suggest keeping your eyes and ears open for any info about this law. yes this law SUCKS it is one of the stupidest things i have heard ever. but If we want to beet this thing and come out ontop as a culture we are going to have to keep smiling and showing people that we CAN get along and that we are not a culture that can get along. Be smar find out when the next meetings are and please post them on this board so we all know when to show up. maybe dig some nice clothes out of the back of your closet, i know ill have to dig deep haha. but show up to the meeting and politly address the issues that some of the board members are slaughtering so badly and have misunderstood as a whole. The culture of ravers needs to band together and fight this in a mature way. yes we will probably end up dealing with this bullshyt for a while but it won't take long before people relize that we CAN be respected. This is a time our culture of dancers and musik is under a very critical eye. so please remember why you started partying in the first place. because its a loving positive enviornment to spend time in. yes sometimes chemical use is a part of it and if you choose to be safe cause to be blunt being dead sucks....well sorry for the length please post all info and opinions you have *plus*
Dave
Alpikyd@hotmail.com <email me with any ideas or if your down to go to a meeting

[thagoodvibetribe]

if this does any good, they passed a similar law in dallas. the scene in dallas was out of control. this was about four years ago, in the city's heyday. the whole rave thing was so new, so virgin....lots of energy, enthusism, excitement and innovation. several events went out of control, with lots of police and medical intervention. i lived in austin, which is about a 3 hour drive. we ran a production company...after the laws were passed there was a massive influx of djs from dallas attempting to establish residencies and production companies.
in dallas, it was several fold. the curfew law, which was at the time relatively new to texas, at least, combind with a dancing ordinance within the city's limits FOR EVERYONE, not just minors after 4 in the morning, and a cap on the amount of money a production company could make within a year. it wasn't titled as an earnings cap, but it was one, a shabbily disguised one, at that. after a certian amount of profit, the earnings were taxed at 60 percent. the city worked it to exclude clubs and concert promoters. i could dig up the specifics....there is a production company call ZEDAN that's based in dallas. find 'em online, they used to have links to protest-style sights. i know that dallas is just now beginning to get back on her feet, the scene is slowly recollecting herself. i think that this was a little outrageous.
as to what i've read, isn't this only going to effect those under the age of 18? i mean, no, the government on any level should not be doing this (whether local, state, or federal), and yes, the rave culture/experience is something that everyone is welcomed and encouraged to participate in, yes, i did start going to parties when i was a minor, but in retrospect, the potential for losing one's path is much higher when exposed to these things at a younger age. there are some descisions which should not be made lightly or irresponsibly at parties, but which often are, and this is many time attributed to youth. i do not think that a rave is the proper setting for drug experimentation. i do, however, think that a rave is an excellent time to dance, share energy, and experience the transcendental effects of sharing movement and meditation. i'm a bit sappy on cheap red wine, so i'll stop, but email me if you need help!! <wink> skittlestyle@hotmail.com

[groovinkim]

the teen dance ordinance is not new
and affects both underagers and overagers.

for more information on it, visit

http://www.pulpfiction.com/rave/groovinkim/act.html

kim

[mokey]

I'm there to protest, partykid, all the way. just give me an e-mail

[groovinkim]

the noise ordinance which is going to be
voted on monday is actually more of a
direct threat...

there is going to be a protest outside
city hall too...

[Vincubus]

Ok, I warn, this is going to be a long post. But as far as how I feel about the teen youth ordinance, I just wrote the lady, Sheila, about it. This is what I said:

Sheila,

Hello. My name is Jade. I am a 20 year old raver, originally from the
East Coast. Maryland to be exact.

I moved here to Seattle about two or three months ago, and I discovered
this Ordninace not allowing people under the age of 21 into most
nightclubs, and also preventing a majority of youth music venues.

In the past few months, I have watched in horror as the teen scene here
slowly disintegrated and was destroyed by this ordinance. I watched the
city crack down on certain places and make it miserable for them to
operate, leaving them no choice but to shut down.

I received your email from a web page and I wanted to let you know that
this city should have more faith in its youth. I feel that this
ordninance is highly unfair.

If you must have an ordinance, make it for the 18 years and up. In this
country, when you turn 18 you are considered an offical and legal adult.
You can vote. You can buy tobacco. Why cant you also party?

I hope you understand that this ordninance is NOT helping. It is just
forcing a once vibrant and strong party genre to go deeper underground,
away from the public view and access. Is that what they want? I feel the
more you suppress us, the more danger there is. You tell people they
cannot do something, you can rest assured they will do it. why not have
it allowed, where you can regulate it, instead of cutting off our free
right to have an American good time?

I clubbed for a year and a half in the capital of this country,
Washington D.C. If they dont have an ordinance so restricting as this
there, why should we have one here? Shouldnt we follow the image of our
capital?

To conclude, I find this ordinance extremely tyrannical, unjust, and
revolting. I think that people are afraid of what they dont know, and
they want to make sure they can turn their backs and not have to deal
with it.

Well, I can assure you, if they keep turning their backs and trying to
walk all over us, we are not just going to 'go away.' We will only hound
them more.

We will keep the vibe going until we are free again.

Sincerely,

Vincent "Jade" Hatcher

[orion]

If you can even mobilize a half-ass
resistance to an assault as direct as this
one, then you might prove that rave culture
is worth defending.

[orion]

I didn't mean to be a dick, I just read
this article that was complaining about
inability to get anything done about this
and I guess I was just repeating what I
read. So, anyway, I hope you all do okay
on this.

[phoenix]

Maybe a lame idea, maybe not, but how about a petition that could be presented at one of these meetings that could say well this many ppl disagree so you need to reconsider....
just a thought..

[groovinkim]

ralph and i did booths with petitions at
them at several techno-events. the lack
of response was disheartening. very few
dancers seemed to care, even though this
law directly affects us.

i was particularly sad after funktology,
when one person yelled at me for about
ten minutes about how fucked up it was
that we were trying to get the law changed.
he then proceeded to tell other people
not to sign the petition. when they asked
what is was, he gave them an incorrect
explanation and it was obvious he didn't
understand what he was talking about.

tons of people said "i would sign
except that i am too high to write."
i thought that was amusing at first,
but after i heard it a hundred times,
it got old.

another group of people just sat at the
table and put their backpacks right on
top of the petitions. i sort of stared
at them in disbelief. i couldn't figure
out what they were doing or if they were
trying to be that way on purpose. they
looked back blankly with glazed expressions.
i explained that we were sitting at the
booth with a bunch of pieces of paper in
front of us for a reason, and could they
please put their backpacks on the ground?
they rolled their eyes and gave a sigh
as if it was a terrible amount of effort.

then i watched the ambulance come and go
and come and go... that always is a sure
vibe-raiser, eh? :P

i was pretty upset after leaving that
event and wasn't very motivated to do
more booths at events. it seemed like no
one gave a shit - about the culture,
about the music, or about each other.

(luckily i don't feel that way any longer,
but i still haven't been able to do a
tdo booth recently.)

i attended meetings about it as well, but
i only heard two people out of all the
people who were there speak up about
the electronic music scene.

i tried to pass out flyers that listed
meeting dates, etc. but i couldn't make
it to most of the meetings due to work
and i am so broke that i can't even afford
to xerox flyers half the time. (pathetic, isn't it? but it's true.)

[groovinkim]

oh, one more thing.. ralph presented the
petitions.. i think there were a few thousand
signatures, i can't remember exactly.

he got completely blown off...

then he basically gave up... because
he felt that ravers didn't give a shit.

he posted over and over to northwest raves
about trying to organize a resistance,
about upcoming meetings, etc... very
rarely did even one person show up or
express interest. he also passed out
flyers about the tdo at numerous events..
both raves and other all-ages music events,
and tried to get people who aren't online
involved, with very little success.

i also posted something about it to a list
i have on my site which normally only
lists upcoming events.. there are about
600 people on it and of those, two responded.