Seattle City Attorney: Murder was final straw ahead of hookah bar crackdown

Seattle is preparing to take down hookah lounges across the city, citing ongoing problems with violent crime stemming from the businesses.

“Far too many smoking lounges attract and sustain illegal, violent activity that has no place in our neighborhoods,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. “These establishments are unlawful businesses that continue to thumb their noses at the law. We will soon have additional authority to help us clamp down on operations that foster an environment that threatens public safety in our neighborhoods.”

A hookah is a water pipe with historic roots in Persia and the Middle East. It is a large pipe that burns flavored tobacco, and is generally used socially, with many people using the same pipe. Lounges are places for social gatherings around the hookah, and are common in Middle Eastern cultures, but have also become popular world-wide, including in the United States. The lounges pose similar issues as cigar rooms when it comes to no-smoking laws.

The city reports that with 11 hookah lounges operating within Seattle, police have responded to more than 100 disturbances, such as fights, since 2012 that are related to the businesses. When community leader Donnie Chin was shot and killed near King’s Hookah Lounge in the International District, city leaders said enough is enough.

“I think that it may have been the final straw, but [the hookah lounge’s relation] is a matter that is being investigated so I can’t say what the connections are,” said City of Seattle Attorney Pete Holmes on KIRO Radio. “The hookah bars have been a concern because of the public safety problems surrounding these premises for several years.”

“We have had high incidents of fights, shootings and a couple homicides all associated with hookah premises that occur in the early morning hours when almost all other establishments are closed,” he said. “It’s after bars are closed and the hookah bars are open. That’s a generalization &#8212 not all have these have problems &#8212 but several of them have been particularly notorious hotspots.”

It’s not just violent crime, Holmes noted. The businesses also run afoul of smoking laws.

“That business is an illegal business model,” he said. “It doesn’t comply with the clean air act.”

The hookah lounges have been receiving fines for violating the no-smoking law, which cost $100 per incident.

After Aug. 16, when new regulations related to marijuana kick in, the city will have the ability to revoke business licenses of lounges that violate the no-smoking laws, and fine them $5,000 a day, or 364 days in jail, for the violations.

“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. “My office will pursue charges and code enforcement for all locations that operate outside the law.”

There has been some concern that the hookah lounges have a cultural element to them, and therefore, the city’s action unfairly targets ethnic groups. But Holmes said that it isn’t enough of an element to outweigh the public concerns.

“I understand that these may be operated by (cultural groups), I don’t know if the patrons are of any one ethnic group,” Holmes said. “We are certainly cognizant of it. But at the end of the day, public safety threats have to be addressed. And again, this is plainly an illegal business model.”

Holmes noted that smoking clubs are allowed by law, but they are tricky to operate. A club must be volunteer run, with no employees, and collect dues from members. And the smoking cannot be in view of the public.

“To pass muster, it would have to be a purely private membership organization, not open to the public that is staffed purely by volunteers; no one receiving compensation,” he said. “In other words, a not-for-profit model.”