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City vows to crack down on hookah lounges as opponents call the move xenophobic

(Image: King's Hookah Lounge)

(Image: King’s Hookah Lounge)

Screen Shot 2015-08-14 at 5.53.24 PM

The murder of International District community leader Donnie Chin has City Hall targeting Seattle’s hookah lounges. Monday afternoon, the City Council’s chambers were again filled with community members speaking for and against the proposed ban that would close 11 lounges around Seattle.

According to Seattle Police, hours before the murder two suspects were inside King’s Hookah Lounge at 8th Ave and S Lane, near where Chin was gunned down.

The incident has put a spotlight on the lounges where customers go to smoke flavored tobacco through Middle Eastern water pipes. According to Mayor Ed Murray, more than 100 fights and disturbances have been connected to the lounges since 2012.

Murray announced he would be directing the city’s health and law departments to ramp up enforcement of the lounges. The state currently bans smoking in places of employment, as does a provision in Seattle’s business licensing code that goes into effect this week. “These establishments are unlawful businesses that continue to thumb their noses at the law,” Murray said in a statement.

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said his office would be targeting the lounges to step up enforcement of indoor smoking bans. “Hookah lounges are a public safety risk not just for the damage the smoking causes to the patrons and employees, but also as a magnet for public safety threats,” Holmes said in a statement.

Hookah lounge supporters and activists who see the initiative as a racial or cultural issue biased against East Africans have packed into the City Council chambers for two weeks in a row to push back on the mayor’s effort. Many held signs with the messages “Stop blaming hookah lounges!” and “criminalizing hookah lounges is racist and xenophobic.”

Meanwhile, representatives and community members from the International District as well as Somali and East African speakers who said the lounges should be closed have also voiced their support for the mayor’s initiative during the recent rounds of public comment preceding the council’s meetings.

There is currently no legislation involving the hookah lounge initiative in front of the council.

The City hasn’t said how hookah lounges are directly contributing to violent crimes, including how King’s was involved in Chin’s murder.

There are currently 11 hookah lounges in the city, but none on Capitol Hill. Aladdin Hookah Lounge and Da Spot Hookah Lounge are located just across I-5 off Denny Way, and Cloud 9 Hookah Lounge is at 26th and E Cherry.

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Roberto
Roberto
8 years ago

Nothing like a good moral panic to avoid actually addressing the real problems: Piss poor policing, piss poor parenting, piss poor economic opportunities, and guns are easier to get than chewing gum. But sure, let’s blame the hookahs!

WER
WER
8 years ago

There’s also a hookah lounge near 20th and Jackson. I walk by it all the time and I have only seen nice older Ethiopian men hanging out there. I had been meaning to stop in myself, so maybe I’ll stop by before the city shuts down business. Stop blaming hookah for the gun problems!

Optimum
Optimum
8 years ago

Classic cause or effect argument. But I suspect at the root is the significant local political influence of parts of the International District. They want the lounges gone so we will see who comes out on top in this. I would need to know a lot more to form an opinion.

Roberto
Roberto
8 years ago
Reply to  Optimum

BINGO. 10 bucks and dozen doughnuts say the REAL reason behind this nonsense is that some developer and other “interested parties” want to snatch up these locations. What better target than disenfranchised minority business owners who can’t defend themselves against City Hall?

OMARI TAHIR-GARRETT
OMARI TAHIR-GARRETT
8 years ago

FYI
CLOSE ONE “HOOKAH BAR” AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ORGANIZED CRIME “UNCLE IKE’S” RICO-RACKETEERING “OPEN STORE DOPE BAZZAR” AT 23RD AND UNION IN THE HEART OF AFRICATOWN / CENTRAL DISTRICT”??? THERE ARE NO “RECREATION DOPE STORES RUN BY GERMAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” WANNABE GANGSTERS???

AFRICATOWN / CENTRAL DISTRICT AND CHINATOWN / INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL BE STRATEGIC ALLIES!!! AT THIS VERY MOMENT CHINA IS INVESTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO BUILD ROADS, DAMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE ALL OVER AFRICA???

EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” TERRORIST HAVE FOR 500 YEARS ROBBED AND RAPED THEIR WAY ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT WHILE ESTABLISHING APARTHEID / BLACK “CHRISTIAN” SLAVE REGIMES IN THE AMERICAS, AUSTRALIA, AFRICA AND NOW IN PALESTINE.

LONG LIVE THE HEROIC CHINESE PEOPLE!!! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES, Omari Tahir-Garrett, VIETNAM VETERAN, WORLD TRAVELER, HISTORY TEACHER AND CANDIDATE FOR SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL

WEBSITE: OMARIFORCITYCOUNCIL
WEBSITE: AFRICATOWN / CHINATOWN NEWS DIGEST