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More Departures at City Attorney's Office
[caption id="attachment_21388" align="alignleft" width="294" caption="City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes"]
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Phil Brenneman, the head of outgoing city attorney Tom Carr's civil enforcement division, has left the city attorney's office at the request of City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes, according to an email automatically generated when PubliCola contacted him at his city address. ("I am no longer with the City Attorney's Office," it says).
Ted Inkley, an assistant city attorney under Carr, is also leaving when Holmes takes office, Inkley confirms in an email. In 2002, Inkley argued that dancing was not protected free speech.
Brenneman, a holdover from the Mark Sidran era, was controversial among nightlife advocates and civil-rights activists for his tough stance toward nuisance crimes and his support for laws like the notorious Teen Dance Ordinance, a draconian set of rules that effectively prohibited all-ages venues in Seattle. (Inkley also defended the TDO).
Under Carr, Brenneman defended a proposed noise ordinance that would have given the police new power to crack down on noisy tenants; wrote up legislation declaring Pioneer Square an Alcohol Impact Area (banning certain types of cheap booze preferred by low-income people and chronic public inebriates); supporting the smoking ban in bars; worked on a proposed nightlife license that was opposed by the entire nightlife community; and drafted the controversial added activities ordinance, which required nightclub owners to obtain a separate license for music or dancing. (That last one was later thrown out of court).
"Brenneman, and I think Inkley as well, came from that broken-windows philosophy—arrest crowds of people, keep marginal people out of the city," says David Meinert, a longtime music promoter and co-owner of the Crocodile and Five Point. "I think Pete has different ideas about how to handle those type of situations to put more responsibility on individuals' behavior" instead of business owners, says Meinert, who was once deposed by Inkley for seven hours.
[/caption]Phil Brenneman, the head of outgoing city attorney Tom Carr's civil enforcement division, has left the city attorney's office at the request of City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes, according to an email automatically generated when PubliCola contacted him at his city address. ("I am no longer with the City Attorney's Office," it says).
Ted Inkley, an assistant city attorney under Carr, is also leaving when Holmes takes office, Inkley confirms in an email. In 2002, Inkley argued that dancing was not protected free speech.
Brenneman, a holdover from the Mark Sidran era, was controversial among nightlife advocates and civil-rights activists for his tough stance toward nuisance crimes and his support for laws like the notorious Teen Dance Ordinance, a draconian set of rules that effectively prohibited all-ages venues in Seattle. (Inkley also defended the TDO).
Under Carr, Brenneman defended a proposed noise ordinance that would have given the police new power to crack down on noisy tenants; wrote up legislation declaring Pioneer Square an Alcohol Impact Area (banning certain types of cheap booze preferred by low-income people and chronic public inebriates); supporting the smoking ban in bars; worked on a proposed nightlife license that was opposed by the entire nightlife community; and drafted the controversial added activities ordinance, which required nightclub owners to obtain a separate license for music or dancing. (That last one was later thrown out of court).
"Brenneman, and I think Inkley as well, came from that broken-windows philosophy—arrest crowds of people, keep marginal people out of the city," says David Meinert, a longtime music promoter and co-owner of the Crocodile and Five Point. "I think Pete has different ideas about how to handle those type of situations to put more responsibility on individuals' behavior" instead of business owners, says Meinert, who was once deposed by Inkley for seven hours.
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