Mariners Reach Settlement With Proposed Safeco-Area Strip Club

The Mariners "have agreed to drop their legal fight to block the opening of a strip club near Safeco Field in exchange for the club's pledge to use discreet signs on the business," according to Steve Miletich of the SEATTLE TIMES. Under the settlement, the team "won't pursue its appeal of a judge's ruling that allowed the strip club," which will operate "about 400 feet from the main entrance" to the ballpark. The club operators "agreed to certain limits on the building's outdoor signs and a canopy along First Avenue South and Occidental Avenue South, including the size and degree of lighting." Also, "no pictures of women on a full-color outdoor video display will be shown on days when events aimed at children are taking place at Safeco," as "only messages with text would be permitted on those days." The agreement covers "up to 15 baseball games and up to 12 other events such as graduations." The club also "will not use barkers to attract customers or use amplified sound outside the building." Club attorney Peter Buck yesterday said that the club "will open in about a year." The Mariners in their suit against the city of Seattle "argued the club violated an ordinance that bars adult cabarets within 800 feet of community centers, public parks or open spaces, schools and child-care facilities" (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/22).