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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Five Everett bikini baristas charged with prostitution 9/24/09 • Five risque Everett Grab-N-Go baristas charged with prostitution 9/23/09 • County tackles bikini barista rules 11/9/09 • Two Snohomish County councilmen differ on restricting bikini barista stands 10/20/09 • Crowd voices outrage over bikini barista, but some come out in support 10/7/09 • Bikini baristas are now on one county councilman's radar 10/5/09 • 5 baristas’ trials set for December 10/3/09 • Everett tightens laws for baristas 10/2/09 » More GRAB-N-GO stories >   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Everett's rules would target bikini baristas' scant attire If the city's proposal passes, coffee hut servers could be subject to a lewd conduct law. By Debra Smith Herald Writer EVERETT — In the cut-throat coffee business, Chris Blackford has found a way to boost sales. His baristas at RockStar Espresso serve coffee wearing bikini tops at a pink-painted hut off Evergreen Way next to the Wienerschnitzel hot dog stand. He draws the line at anything skimpier than swimsuits but he said some of his competition doesn’t. “Bikinis are fine — you can see those if you go the beach,” he said. “The whole pasties and lingerie is a little too much. I’d never go that route.” Some in the city don’t want him too, either. Everett leaders are considering a change in the city’s lewd conduct ordinance that could make it more difficult for bikini-hut baristas to bare too much. The proposed changes wouldn’t ban the stands, but it would define them as public places where lewd conduct, including baring breasts, shouldn’t take place. The City Council is scheduled to take its first look at tonight’s 6:30 meeting. The council won’t likely engage in much discussion or make a decision about the ordinance until the third reading, scheduled for Sept. 30. The city has received a slew of complaints from people upset about coffee stands with bikini-clad baristas, said Councilman Drew Nielsen. People complained some of the baristas were coming out of the stands and behaving in a provocative manner to draw business. “The impression you get from some of the complaints is that they are out there pole dancing,” he said. The city has to negotiate the delicate line between allowing free expression and responding to legitimate concerns from the public, Nielsen said. The city can’t ban people from wearing bikinis. In a free society, “sometimes we have to suffer some conduct from our fellow citizens we’d rather not,” he said. Lewd acts already are a misdemeanor in Everett. The proposed ordinance adds some specific language that defines specifically what is a lewd act and where it shouldn’t happen. For the first time, it also includes indecent exposure in the ordinance, which was already part of state law. The proposed changes defines a lewd act as an exposure or display of one’s most personal parts; or touching, caressing or fondling of those parts; or masturbation; or sexual conduct in public. Breast feeding and forms of artistic expression, such as plays, are not against the law. The city had planned to update its 25-year-old lewd conduct ordinance before the bikini espresso hut calls started coming in, city spokeswoman Kate Reardon said. The update gave the city the chance to better define the line between lewd conduct and legal expression. “We’ve worked to eliminate gray areas,” she said. “We try to reflect current times. Drive-up coffee stands didn’t exist 20 years ago and now they’re on every street corner.” She added that anyone, not just coffee-stand employees, would have to follow the ordinance. The city has received about 50 calls from people complaining about the stands in the last six months. Part of the ordinance does appear to target coffee stands. The new ordinance includes this description as part of what constitutes public space: “Businesses contained in structures which can serve customers who remain in their vehicles, by means of a drive- up window.” Blackford, the coffee stand owner, said he doesn’t mind the city’s proposed ordinance. He’d like to see bikini huts restricted from areas around schools and libraries. And, he said, it won’t affect his business. Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out city council meeting about bikini baristas some interesting local coverage of the Everett city council meeting about bikini baristas can be found here: http://everettwablog.com/?p=931 Larry Raymonde | Sep 17, 2009 8:13 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal it's all about Nature, & preventing it... When i was a kid, back when there weren't any real "leash laws", dogs would roam the alley's of the City. A common site was to see 7 male dogs following a female in "heat". They would all try to jump upon her, sometimes jumping on each other in anticipation. Other times they would get into vicious fights. It was all about "survival of the fittest" & the female dog eventually would give birth to puppies from multiple fathers. My Nanny had the grueling task of explaining that to me. i was 5. NOW-A-DAY'S... we have the bikini barista, whose tiny little stand is surrounded by 2-7 men at any given time. Read what i wrote above, & you will see little has changed. Personally, i think the human race has survived because we aim to control our "nature". Some of us, however, male or female, prefer to be dogs. Simply said... act like a dog & your species will become a dog. cme everett | Sep 16, 2009 1:19 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) Just keep the sluts in the cheezy huts and everyone will forget about it. Judy Benson | Sep 18, 2009 7:39 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Gender? I just wondered if the new ordinance will identify specifically the baring of female breasts as lewd conduct, and the breathtakingly obvious gender-discrimination-can-o'-worms that opens. Could make for a fascinating legal odyssey for this city. Talk about your national headlines! Jules Anslow | Sep 18, 2009 2:11 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Simple Solution: a male mocha stand with bare chested hot men serving us women of ALL sizes mochas and granitas. Thank you. Shelley | Sep 17, 2009 11:50 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Fundies It's real simple. If you object to this practice, you have one of two choices: don't get your coffee there, or don't work there. This is the work of right wing religious fundies trying to dictate their beliefs on everyone else. I'm so tired of the minority ruling. Whiners. R N | Sep 16, 2009 7:06 am | 3 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal What about the safety of the girls working there??? Ok, does no one else see the danger in steaming liquids to 180 degrees 6 inches from bare skin? Or like the stand (that we legally and quickly shut down!) in Smokey Point that was infront of a housing complex with 7 level 3 sex offenders living in it. How long before one of them "re-offends" because he sees a very young girl in lingerie everyday. The stand and land owners should put it right in their leases that these types of stands are not permitted to operate in or on their property. Yes this is legal, again the Smokey Point stand that was served a judge signed court order and evicted for not complying with his lease! And to the girls that work in these stands, go strip! You wear the "uniform" that you already do...but make WAY more money! And to Joe...I am a size 4,D cup implants, perfect teeth, long thick blonde hair....and I am in law enforcement! So see pretty girls are for more than just making your coffee and giving you material for your spank tank. outraged citizen | Sep 16, 2009 7:22 am | 2 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Bikini baristas only a micro-fraction of Everett's problems Bikini baristas? Just one more example of the low-class, skanky behavior that has been allowed to permeate Everett the last couple of years. Frankly what baffles me more than the idiots who need a lap dance with their latte, is that OSHA does not prohibit anyone from working around hot steam and boiling beverages without proper safety attire! If the city is concerned about its declining image, it would get swifter results by actually enforcing its noise ordinances and giving hefty tickets to vehicles that disturb the peace on downtown streets and in neighborhoods. I have closed my downtown shop because I couldn't stand the perpetual noise of altered/unmuffled vehicles, sleaze-bag motorcycles, and car stereos booming profanity-riddled "music". A great article came out today linking street noise to health issues: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32877028/ns/health-heart_health/ Everett has far bigger problems than bikini baristas - at least they are easily avoided. Christina Robertson | Sep 16, 2009 12:14 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) So ow the government is going to tell us what we can wear and where we can wear it. If that ain't communism in action I don't know what is ! As long as they are not nude it should not matter, crap look at what ourchildren are wearing in school, it's really not far from it. M. Metzger | Sep 16, 2009 12:30 am | 3 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) I a really dont care either way i dont go to the stands,what i do have a problem with is the customers going to them stands,ya know the ones driving by and making a quick turn in and your right behind them and almost rear end them,it is dangerous,and then you have this day and age of mentally ill people,to be honest this is something i would have done in the 70's.Today you have more rapes,murders,you just have a lot more crime.Sex/drugs= crime and no matter how you put it some of these girls are using sex to make a sale,not all of them just some,sadly when you have 1 doing the crime everyone pays including the innocent ones. Denise None | Sep 17, 2009 12:45 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Give us a break Anthony I live near a pasties/thong or short short coffee stand. There are also lots of prostitutes in the area lately. I am a 40 year old woman who cannot walk to my corner store for drinks, snacks, cigarettes, gum etc anymore or to my local supermarket without getting yelled at by passing cars or I've even had men stop to ask me if I'm "working". I can't allow my husband's 13 year old daughter and her friends to walk to the store either which they don't understand. I think if we don't get involved in bettering our community it will only get worse. Your attitude allows this behaviour because you see nothing wrong with it and do nothing to help find a solution. It's a sad day in America when a woman can't walk alone to the store. I am not a Fundamentalist, in fact I have no religion so there goes that idea. I don't mind seeing girls in bikinis but I don't agree with lingerie and pasties. I agree with whoever said there should be some rules. All societies have rules. Alison Freemantle | Sep 16, 2009 9:30 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Wasting time With a sour economy, unemployment on the rise, a need for healthcare reform, street crime, and other issues, local governments are worrying about this? Everett should be worrying about other things like encouraging new business, creating more green spaces, preventing violent crimes and drug abuse, reducing homelessness, or at least making its downtown less dead. Besides, what real harm do bikini baristas do? I support protecting these girls from being used for money, but how much of that is really going on? Society is so overly prudent that they still like to control what young women can and cannot wear in public. Guns and violence are much more harmful to your kids than naked bodies. Come on, Everett, it's the 21st century and you're much better than this. Johnny Doey | Sep 16, 2009 7:02 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Apathy So it's ok that Everett is one step above a trailer park? Do nothing about it? Ho hum I can't do anything to change things, things are as they are, that's just the way it is. I wasn't talking about other parts of Amsterdam, the rest is quite lovely. I was talking about one specific area, just as here we are talking about one specific area, there are no bikini baristas in other parts of towm. So let's just let Everett get worse and worse, we just live here right? All they are talking about is setting some rules. What the hell is wrong with that? You can still see your **** with your coffee, just doesn't need to be on the sidewalks. Mary Jane | Sep 16, 2009 4:43 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Give me a break Mary Jane! Yes Mary Jane, A lot of us have been to Amsterdam...I've been several times...Love it! If you get on the train and travel 30 minutes west to the coast you would see towns like Haarlem and Zandvoort, totally different character...Amsterdams' permissive attitudes has not changed the characteristics of those towns...Your argument falls flat Mary Jane...Everett is and always has been one step above a trailer park. We only live here because it's cheap. *********** proliferate our neighborhoods, from Marine View Drive to Casino Road...It's only inevitable that Everett would evolve in this way... Anthony Vicari | Sep 16, 2009 4:38 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Amsterdam compares You people are unbelievable if you don't see what a lax attitude towards sex, drugs etc can do to a community. Ever been to Amsterdam's red light district? I have. It's dirty, crime ridden and has prostitutes behind glass windows, shaking their stuff, bending over and beckoning to passersby (which I've seen the girls at the stand near me all doing out on the sidewalk). The only locals that live there are all on government aid and don't seem to care about their surroundings. I've seen junkies shooting up on benches at the canal in the red light district. So what's the big deal? Girls in bikinis? Girls in pasties and thongs? Flashing nipples, flashing cootchie, ********* in cars? What is ok and what isn't? How far is it allowed to go? I have no problem with bikinis and coffee but it's going much further than that. The rules being considered would at least draw the line between what is ok and what isn't. Mary Jane | Sep 16, 2009 3:48 pm | 2 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Pot Calling the Kettle Black(ford) Isn't it ironic that Mr. Blackford, the owner of one of the "decent" bikini espresso is advocating for more regulations, especially located next to schools and libraries. What a hypocritcal, short-sighted statement. I'm sure he would whistle another tune if the City council became swayed by the zealots and wrote the rules to include "next to restaurants," since his business is next to Wienerschnitzel - a fast food hot dog establishment patronized by all ages. Consider that Everett has roughly 100,000 citizens and that the City has been "flooded" by 50 complaint calls. Doing the math, that averages annually to about one call per week, and represents only 0.05% of the people. Suppose regulations do get passed by the City. Which City agency is going to patrol the bikini stands to ensure compliance? Does our police department have the time for this and, if so, what is the overall benefit to society in general? Oh, did anyone stop and ponder that this - or any new law for that matter - is going to cost money (YOUR tax dollars being squandered) during a time when budgets are stretched thin? Folks, this is much ado about nothing and is a product of the politically correct "left" and the holier than thou Bible thumping "right." Douglas Stevens | Sep 16, 2009 4:00 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Lewd? PUHLEZE There is NOTHING lewd about the human breast, period. No one in the history of human kind has been hurt by seeing one (or even two!) including nipples. Why, literally BILLIONS of babies (babies! Save the children!) have not only seen but TOUCHED - even SUCKED on them! (Babies!) If more women worked shirtless, the titillation for most of us would simply dry up. When we're in large groups of naked people, after a very short time, it's just skin. Regulate bankers, not pasties. Chris Bingham | Sep 16, 2009 3:21 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Thanks, but no Thanks. As a 39 year old male I have learned one thing real well. If I dont like it and it offends me, avoid it. I dont like seafood, the smell offends me, if I took it apon my self to get Anthonys to quit selling seafood or spray the air with a pleasant smell you people would be laughing at me. I would be the biggest laughing stock in Snohomish County. On the flip side, some of these people get so offened that they have to go out of their way to be offended. The conservatives dont want "Big Government" in their business, unless it offends them. Well pick as side wack-a-doodles stop being a whiner and let the adults be adults. Mike Flavin | Sep 16, 2009 3:32 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Guessing So you "guess" for twenty bucks you can get a crotch shot of a "girl"? I guess I wonder what your news source for this is. Guess I really, really wonder how much it is for a crotch shot of a "girl"? david coulter | Sep 16, 2009 1:55 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Correction First "girl", should have been "gorl", as was originally posted. david coulter | Sep 16, 2009 1:56 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Good Move City Counsel A modern society must set limits of decency that when tested the society must then set rules/limits. If not, the moral compass of the society is that of the minority not the majority as the society struggles for decency searching for leadership and core values to base their society on. Phillip Day | Sep 16, 2009 1:55 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Who Knew.... I guess for twenty bucks you can get crotch shots! This is rediculous! Why isn't the Everett Police giving out lewd conduct citations for this...If that is not lewd I dont know what is. Don't these gorls have any self respect? It is truly sad. Sammie Messer | Sep 16, 2009 1:03 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Slippery Slippery slope indeed. If this permissiveness continues, pretty soon they'll be legalizing "Mary Jane". david coulter | Sep 16, 2009 10:57 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal My opinion As an ex-stripper I know how soul destroying the sex industry can be to young girls. If you don't think that men drive up masturbating, that they are not subjected to lewd/rude comments then you need to wake up. Yes they have a choice to work elsewhere but the money is too tempting for some. I have no problem when they stay in their booths and sell coffee, but when they come outside the booths and dance around outside to draw more business, when they do sex acts as "the special" and flash their nipples etc then this is beyond a coffee stand and has become exactly like a strip club only cheaper for the men and more dangerous for the girls. At least at the strip club their are bouncers. For all you saying that you see just as much at the beach...first of all everyone at the beach is wearing bathing suits and I don't believe that I've seen too much masturbation and sexual dance moves at the beach, have you? I personally think that all the prostitues that are showing up in Everett lately are indirectly around because of our permissive attitudes. Do you really want Everett to becomre like Federal Way or Tacoma? When the decent people move away and the home prices go down, the gang bangers and more crimial element will be all that will want to live here. It's a slippery slope folks. Mary Jane | Sep 16, 2009 10:48 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) I tend to agree with some of the postings. So, does that mean that the city one day will ban bikinis at the local beaches? I seriously think our cities need to really target their energy to the crime in Everett. Did you know if your car is broke into, all that happens is they ask if you would like a report mailed to you? Police don't want to be bothered with having to come out and make a report or do finger printing!I think the city needs to get their priorities in check. As to these people who like to complain, as already said, don't look and go somewhere else D. N. | Sep 16, 2009 10:43 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal bikinis Hey Joe, So, does that mean the only customers that WANT to go there are fat, ugly men because that's their only contact with women? Sheesh, give me a break! My male co-worker doesn't like the ones with pasties because he has a young daughter. My 18 year old niece thinks those places are disgusting and has witnessed prostitution at one stand. I personally don't want a naked person serving me any food, period. I don't have a problem with bikinis, but if you're wearing pasties, you're selling a whole lot more than coffee; be it physical or mental. Ender Wiggin | Sep 16, 2009 10:40 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) What these girls don't realize is they are disrespecting their body's and themselves by letting some of these men disrespec them. Stand up and be a real women wityh some class. There are other ways to make money. Nursing pays well try 50 bucks an hour! chris johnson | Sep 16, 2009 8:31 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal ok joe get a life ok for one people are out there to make money like every one else who cares what they have on i got to those stands and buy my drinks they make better drinks then starbucks and they are not over price like starbucks is my family go's there and gets coffe you can go to the lake and see naked people there and the rivers and the bay and for one dude its alot of guys and girls are bitching about it and alot of skin people ***** about them and for one are u one of those guys who has to go there becouse he cant get a girlfriend i take my boyfriend and my boys there i got to all differnt ones i really dont care what they have on even its a big guy in short skin tight shorts i still go there and buy coffe so Mr. Joe Snow lets fix are word on here its not fat Women they are fluffy get it right heather amos | Sep 16, 2009 6:58 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Where are the male bikini barristas? As a gay male living in Everett, I've seen these bikini coffee stands proliferate over the last year...which is fine...I just want to see male bikini barristas, say, a thong or speedo on buff guys...What's taking so long? Anthony Vicari | Sep 16, 2009 9:59 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal How much is too much? Interesting to me that in this same paper we have two articles about females showing skin. Skip over to the Rockettes at the Navy base and look at the pictures. I highly doubt the publicity of these gals would be as much should they be wearing burkas! The legislating morality arguement has been around forever and will never be fully settled. Not as long as there are those who would have the rest of us keep our birth clothing and our sexuality tucked neatly away in some little box. I would simply ask those people to keep their nose out of my business and my own personal responsibility. If I choose to look at naked bodies, so what? As long as I'm not tearing your clothes off, what's the big deal? If I do tear your clothes off, throw me in jail and toss away the key. If I choose to work inches from scalding water, so what? I regularly work that close to voltages which pose a much higher risk. Quit trying to protect me from myself. You DO NOT know better than me, as I do not presume to tell you how to protect you from yourself. Tho I do have a few thoughts on that. david coulter | Sep 16, 2009 8:33 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Barista "Brew-haha" What an utter waste of the City's time, resources, and money to start regulating the attire worn or not worn by the employees of these private businesses! Trying to regulate and dictate morality is a slippery slope as history has proven. Do I hear the stampede of lawyers eager to take these proposed regulations to a higher court? It never ceases to amaze how this country, in general, is becoming more and more regulated. If these coffee stands were in violation of health codes, selling alcoholic drinks, or a front for money laundering and organized crime, well then we'd have some serious issues. But, they are not. In a time when the economy is barely coming out of a death spiral, these stands are flourishing, and are a great example of creating a niche enterprise that seems to have a steady stream of paying customers. As long as these stands have a valid City issued business license, leave them alone and instead concentrate on cleaning up and clearing out the true criminal element in Everett. By the way, my girlfriend loves to treat me to a double tall espresso every weekend by driving to the local Grab N Go...she actually enjoys joking with the baristas while I get my first jolt of caffeine. Suggestion to the City bureaucrats: drop the idea of rules and regulations and be happy for the revenue these businesses bring. To the uptight Joe and Jane Citizen who are frothing over the steamy scene: it's 2009...not 1909. Get a life and drive on over to a Starbucks or Tully's if you want a standardized, structured, predictable environment. Douglas Stevens | Sep 16, 2009 7:46 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) Dont we have more important things to worry about besides bikinis and baristas? How about gangs, griffiti or drugs just to name a few. I say if you dont like seeing girls dressed in bikinis then DONT LOOK AT THEM! If I dont like whats on TV I change the channal,its a no brainer. As a society we are WHEY to uptight. Its skin people just skin, walk around naked who cares! "oh my god what if the kids see" again who cares its just skin. Get over it and worry about the important stuff. ken peterson | Sep 16, 2009 6:46 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal The real problem is being danced around All these proposed ordinance changes will not affect business, as the young ladies have been within the letter, if not the spirit, of the indecent exposure body of law that already exists. We must see the obvious, that coffee is a gateway drug to lewd conduct, and that any who drink it are supporting or in fact are doing such things. I am absolutely and divinely assured that the banning of coffee will firm up the moral tone of our county. Until that great crusade is accomplished, it is recommended that all and sundry apply to work at these caffeine reeking dens, and sue under the employment laws if turned away. It might mean sacrificing some chest hair to don bikinis or less, it might mean living only on tips, it will be enough to shock addicts into seeing the degrading effects of coffee. I am asking forgiveness for those who have failed to lead their flocks away from this moral tragedy, and for us not to judge how caffeine has corrupted them, only to vilify and demand their resignations publicly. jon coulter | Sep 16, 2009 6:41 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) Hey Joe Snow! I am a fat envious woman and see NOTHING wrong with the baristas! The way I see it is if you don't want to witness your barista in a sexy outfit or bikini them then go to a different stand. There are plenty to choose from! cynthia worthen | Sep 16, 2009 6:11 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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