Mardi Gras task force sessions opened

City's panels must conduct all meetings in public, obey state's sunshine laws, judge rules

A King County judge yesterday ordered the four city task forces looking into the Mardi Gras riots and racial profiling to meet in public, saying they have been violating the state's sunshine laws.

Victoria Schoenburg, spokeswoman for Mayor Paul Schell, said task force members would have to decide whether to continue meeting. Some had said they'd quit if forced to publicly discuss sensitive issues.

Bif Brigman, president of Pioneer Square's community council, said he'd continue serving on the Pioneer Square task force but would still prefer that the meetings be closed.

Brigman said Mardi Gras violence opened wounds between the neighborhood's residents and shop owners and the bars they blame for the trouble that culminated when a young man was fatally beaten during Fat Tuesday celebrations.

"It was very painful for a lot of us. We don't want it to be a spectator sport and have people get their jollies out of watching us," he said.

The city may appeal Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer's decision to a state appeals court.

The panel examining future Mardi Gras celebrations in Pioneer Square was supposed to meet last night, but that meeting was canceled because the city had not advertised it, as it must for all public meetings.

The ruling involves the three task forces Schell created after the Fat Tuesday violence to come up with solutions to conduct future events safely, as well as another panel examining racial profiling.

The Pioneer Square task force, made up mostly of neighborhood residents and business owners, set off the controversy when it closed its meetings, its members saying they could not speak candidly in public.

Another task force, looking at the broader issue of youth violence, initially closed its meetings but in response to the controversy decided to open them -- except when members wanted to have a private discussion.

A third Schell task force, looking at how the city should handle other major events such as Bumbershoot, also decided to meet publicly.

A task force created by the City Council to examine how the city should conduct a study on racial profiling reserved the right to close its meetings at times, also saying that meeting in public would hinder candid discussions.

The ruling requires that the four panels always meet in public.

Chris Clifford, who sued the city, argued the meetings shouldn't be closed just because a discussion is sensitive.

"In fact, the nature of the conversation is why it has to be done in public," argued Clifford, who owns Jersey's All-American Sports Bar, which is not in Pioneer Square.

Gary Keese, an attorney representing the city, argued the groups are not subject to the law because they are only advisory and do not set policy.

But Shaffer said the firepower on the groups -- including a majority of City Council members -- meant the panels would not simply discuss policy. Their recommendations likely would be adopted.

In that light, she quoted from the state's Open Meetings Act: "The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know."