Hot Topic (9/22): Should strip clubs be regulated more?
Detroit City Council to debate crackdown on strip clubs
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Detroit -- The City Council will debate a possible crackdown on the city's 33 topless bars today, including a ban on lap dances and VIP rooms, that one owner calls "un-American."
The changes could keep topless dancers six feet away from customers, on stages at least 18 inches high and in rooms of at least 600 square feet. That would make tipping dancers difficult and eliminate VIP rooms. Most club employees -- from disc jockeys to dishwashers -- also would have to pass background checks and wouldn't get licenses if they've committed specific crimes, including some drug and sexual offenses.
But that's not all. Some religious groups still are pushing for an alcohol ban and a requirement that dancers wear opaque pasties, despite council members who panned going that drastic earlier this summer.
Strip-club owners are promising to go to court, where the city already is facing about five lawsuits related to its regulation of clubs.
"I feel like I am operating in 1930s Russia," said Rob Katzman, owner of the Toy Chest Bar and Grille. "Why should they dictate what someone else enjoys?"
"We are on a high-speed train headed for millions in litigation."
The crackdown emerged earlier this summer, led by religious and neighborhood groups, who say the clubs bring down the city's property values and increase crime.
"They want to use the city of Detroit as their dumping ground of their bottom-feeding, gutter-living behavior," said Richard Mack, an attorney and member of Perfecting Church. "Then they want to go back to their nice, suburban communities."
"It's a shame that poor people, minority people are always the dumping ground for this."
It's not clear how far the city council -- which is in the midst of an election year -- will go in the crackdown. The meeting is at 2 p.m. in City Council chambers.
"We will hear from both sides and go from there," Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi said Monday.
Mayor Dave Bing didn't have comment on the proposed changes Monday, which he could veto.
The crackdown stems from a court battle in which a federal judge in 2007 struck down Detroit's regulations on where clubs could open and ordered them rewritten. City staffers have recast the laws, but added tougher proposed restrictions elsewhere.
The city has spent $75,000 to get advice from Scott Bergthold, a Tennessee attorney who has worked nationwide to shut clubs down. And it has settled two federal lawsuits involving strip clubs recently for almost $670,000. The clubs say they bring in more than $3 million annually to Detroit in property taxes and fees, and employ nearly 6,700 people.
Larry Kaplan, executive director of ACE of Michigan, the state association of clubs, said they approached the city's law department about a "stipulated injunction," in which the city would hold off on the changes while the clubs challenged their legality in court.
The clubs would agree not to pursue damages. The law department refused, Kaplan said.
Mack said he believes all the proposals are legal. Similar measures were instituted in Grand Rapids, he said.
* * *
What do you think about this proposed "crackdown"?
Do you think strip-clubs need better regulation?
Should strip clubs be allowed to operate without inteference or would you prefer they be forced out of business?
We dont have strip clubs in my home town because they are not allowed, we also do not have pagan businesses, pagan religious affiliations, tattoo shops, and most clubs are forced out of business before a year due to various people. Guess what we have a high crime rate, homeless, and high society prostitution rings, along with the upper class being involved in more domestic violence and theft than most of the larger cities around us. Plus, many more things I won't speak of because after all this is a small town and there are things you just don't talk about. So, it seems to me that perhaps strip clubs are not the issue it is just society in general.
No I don't think so. I am so tired of these religious groups trying to force their beliefs on everyone else. I think that residents in a neighborhood do have the right to object to businesses that are built there and maybe they could vote on whether to allow a business to open up or to allow the business license to be renewed.
Heather
Proud Pagan Momma
"If Evil exists its a pair of train tracks,
And the Devil is a railroad car."
Josh Ritter "Harrisburg"
I think they are way out of line trying to put all these restrictions on strip clubs. In all honesty they are simply trying to make the place into a Hooters. If the religious nuts don't like it then don't go. But not everyone needs to live that life. I think people should be allowed to make the choice and the company should be allowed as well.
Good grief! This is getting ridiculous. I agree with a PP- don't like them, don't go to them. I would much rather have men going to strip clubs than prostitutes. They really aren't THAT bad, depending on where you live I guess. They just made it legal for 18 year olds to get into them down here though. THAT should be interesting......
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. ~Thomas Paine
Its not just about not going to them, the concern is property values, and the beleif that they bring crime. Thats why the community as a whole should be aloud to decide these things. There need to be community meetings where the facts can be laid out and opinions can be expressed.
Heather
Proud Pagan Momma
"If Evil exists its a pair of train tracks,
And the Devil is a railroad car."
Josh Ritter "Harrisburg"
I wouldn't want a strip club in the middle of my residential district, but in a commercial or industrial district, no problem. I don't personally like them, but there are plenty of things I don't like, and I just don't patronize them. And everyone has that choice. How much do we need to regulate what adults do for entertainment?
I don't know what to think about this topic.
Where I am from, it was the "thing to do" to go to bourbon street and walk up and down with a hand grenade watching all the drag queens walk by. They have sex acts bars up and down the street.
I'm from a crazy town on the outskirts of New Orleans... we've seen it all here.
I'm not into strip clubs and neither is dh, in fact neither of us has ever been.
We know what's in there, and we even knew a few strippers, and the thought was always, "eck, I would NOT want to see her half naked or even all naked, eck..."
We used to work with them, and they were coke, and pill heads.
They also prostituted themselves out to their "regular" customers at the clubs.
So just eck..
Not for me.. but one of my good friends is all about it so...
I say whatever...
There is a strip club and porn shop right in front of the Wal-Mart here...
I should get a pic of that! LOL!!
I'm not a fan of strip clubs but I would rather have my fiance go to a strip club than a prostitute. they have placed similar regulations here in OH. porn stores have to close by midnight here. strippers have to be at least 6 ft from the customers. actually...now that I think about it...the regulations they are trying to pass in Detroit have already been instated here. they are the same. damn. I say let the adults decide what they want to do for fun. we DO live in America, right?? as for where I live, the city doesn't allow strip clubs in city limits. we have 1 porn store (and it's pretty lame compared to the 1 that is about 10 mins north of here) and they don't do much business anymore. what's interesting is our porn store is literally walking distance from our high school. hmmmm...anyway...back to the topic at hand...down with regulations!! I mean, what's the point in going to a strip club when the dancers aren't allowed to give you a lap dance?? they already have rules in place that you're not allowed to touch the strippers. besides...what concern is it of the gov't what consenting adults do in their free time?? none!! so let the strip clubs and porn stores be!!
Eight Year Old Girl Given "Catastrophe Award" By Teacher
- Cafe GroupAdmin
on Sep. 22, 2009 at 3:03 AM