Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Lingerie Espresso Stands Could Cause Traffic Safety Issues

While I agree that it's not the City Council's job to define the values of the it's citizens, and it's not exactly a transportation issue, I do kind of see Mike Fagan's "safety issue" point on this one. Fagan is pushing an ordinance that would crack down on coffee stands featuring women wearing bikinis or lingerie. This Spokesman-Review article has the details.

About a month or two ago, I was driving down east Sprague near the stand that I believe is called "Busty's Espresso" or something like that. I was heading east in the far right lane, meaning there were three lanes of traffic and about a 15 foot stretch of parking lot between me and the espresso stand. Traffic was moving fine- then about five feet later came to a screeching halt. I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw a car swerve and come near to rear-ending me. I couldn't see anything blocking the road but I saw a lot of heads turning to the north. I looked to see what everyone was looking at and it was a young woman leaning out the window of the coffee stand wearing nothing but green pasties! Traffic had come to a complete stand still and there were several near-accidents because people were gawking at the nearly naked lady!

So, there's my reasoning for agreeing they cause safety issues. I don't know the answer, but maybe move the stands further from the road or only have the window facing away from the road?


 

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SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

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