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Crowd expected to attend Detroit strip club hearing today

Monday, February 22, 2010 7:11 AM
Detroit -- Scores of residents are expected to pack the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center today as the Detroit City Council holds a public hearing on proposed strip club regulations. Busloads of church-goers and topless bar employees -- from dancers to cooks -- are expected to jam the 13th floor auditorium to discuss quality of life and economic implications of the restrictions. The biggest issue: Should the council ban liquor in the city's 33 clubs and require that dancers wear opaque pasties? The newly seated council, which took office in January, backed off those provisions, but kept recommendations that dancers perform on 18-inch tall stages, require employees to need a special license and outlaw VIP rooms. Attorney Richard Mack, a member of Perfecting Church, said he wants the council to put back the rest of the recommendations of Scott Bergthhold, a Tennessee attorney hired by the council for $75,000. Bergthhold has worked nationally to shut down strip clubs. "It's important for them to hear from the community who is going to be impacted by these changes, and maybe that will change their line of thinking," Mack said. "Detroiters are just fed up. People are saying this should not be a matter of fact that Detroit is like this." The last time the council discussed the issue, in December, about 200 people protested, including several dancers who took their babies to the hearing. The clubs say they generate $209 million into the city annually. The provisions also would bar people who have sexual or drug-related criminal convictions from getting licenses to work in the clubs; require that clubs be at least 1,000 feet from another facility, house, park, school or church; and force a shutdown of up to a year if a club is deemed a public nuisance."We're going to do our best to live with the additional restrictions," said Larry Kaplan, executive director of ACE of Michigan, the state association of clubs. "What we're hoping for and excited about is this council will hold its own against all of this intense pressure and make a decision on what's best for Detroit." The controversy has brewed since 2007, when a federal judge struck down Detroit ordinances on club locations and ordered them rewritten. From The Detroit News: [view link] If anyone attends, let us know how it goes

20 comments

  • Dudester
    •
    14 years ago
    Now that stripping has gone mainstream, I've noticed a trend in Houston: Dancer quality has gone down raids on clubs are two, or less, per year OTC seems to be more elusive (as compared to 5-6 years ago)
  • Dougster
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    14 years ago
    With all the unemployment in Detroit I guess they have plenty of time to hang around the courtroom.
  • Philip A. Stein
    •
    14 years ago
    I doubt the hearing will be held, 8" of snow and its still coming down.
  • Philip A. Stein
    •
    14 years ago
    I was wrong, I just called the shitty council and the hearing is on for 3
  • SuperDude
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    14 years ago
    The snow is really heavy, but I may try to get in there and report back.
  • samsung1
    •
    14 years ago
    500 jam city hearing on strip clubs [view link] More than 500 people braved the snow and cold to attend a public hearing at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit. Emotions ran high — in an instant, attendees could be heard muttering curse words, quoting Bible scripture, cheering or booing. Most who spoke favored tougher ordinances than what is being proposed by the Detroit City Council. The plan drops a proposed alcohol ban and a requirement that dancers wear opaque pasties. The proposal also would ban VIP rooms (where many club workers say they receive the heftiest tips), require most workers to receive licenses from the city, limit dancers to performing on a stage at least 18 inches high and forbid all touching between dancers and patrons. A vote could come as soon as Tuesday.
  • steve229
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    14 years ago
    "forbid all touching between dancers and patrons." If this passes, we may need to be some of our regular members on suicide watch.
  • SuperDude
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    14 years ago
    I didn't expect a SRO crowd in the middle of an 8" snowstorm. When I heard the place was paced an hour before the meeting, I decided not to go. All sides of the issue are ramped up. Club owners and dancers know that if these reforms pass, clubs will have to cut prices drastically to hold on to the customer base. Even with that the loss of revenue will be serious. If the customers don't like the changes, the clubs will really suffer and go out of business--which is what the community groups and their clergy leaders want. The club owners are like the NRA, stubborn and unwilling to discuss even small changes that could make things liveable for everyone. Toning down exterior signage, strict enforcement of age limitations, private guards patrolling the exterior of the clubs, charitable contributions, etc. What would happen in Detroit, if the clubs had donated one week's gross to Haitian relief through the churches? Maybe the churches could be co-opted.
  • SuperDude
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    14 years ago
    ..packed..
  • samsung1
    •
    14 years ago
    superdude makes a great point. The reason why the politicians are starting to crack down is because the clubs got greedy and quit paying their bribes (aka donations)
  • SuperDude
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    14 years ago
    I have long argued with club owners here in Detroit that everything in local politics turns on money and who gets it. Club owners (White suburbanites) have to face the fact that they must keep the wheels greased in Motown with legal contributions, donations and freebies for Black elected public officials and the charities (churches) they support. And do it before you are asked, quietly and without fanfare. The Detroit Council of Baptist Pastors fought casino gambling for years. When they got dealt in, they switched and supported it. They can never support strip clubs, but enough legal money in the right places will make them go silent--and that's all the clubs need. It's a hard fact of life, but pay to play is THE rule here. There are legal and illegal ways to do it, but it must be done.
  • samsung1
    •
    14 years ago
    Detroit City Council OKs strip club ordinance The Detroit City Council just approved an ordinance governing strip clubs in the city that does not include a ban on alcohol, which was sought by many residents and those who oppose the clubs, including Pastor Marvin Winans. [view link]
  • SuperDude
    •
    14 years ago
    If I read this newspaper story correctly, this new ordinance bans all physical contact, VIP rooms and lap dances. This is the end of mileage in Detroit. Detroit passes new rules on strip clubs Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News Detroit --The City Council approved a crackdown on the city's 31 topless clubs today that bans VIP rooms and lap dancing, but still allows them to serve booze. The vote was 6-3, with Kwame Kenyatta, JoAnn Watson and Brenda Jones dissenting. The council voted unanimously to pass new zoning regulations limiting where new clubs could open. The action comes one day after more than 500 people attended a 3 1/2 hour public hearing on the issue. The majority backed tougher regulations, which included the alcohol prohibition and opaque pasties that the council has abandoned. The watered-down rules infuriated the religious community, but Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said he believes the new regulations are a compromise. "Usually when everybody is unhappy, you have a good deal," Cockrel said earlier in the day. Strip club owners and employees said the crackdown will still cripple their business, but pastors and residents argued it didn't go far enough. Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee told the City Council this morning before the vote that an alcohol ban at topless clubs could drive the behavior underground, creating more blind pigs. He added it would be harder for police to make sure underage girls aren't dancing at the blind pigs. Licensed clubs could lose their liquor license for certain violations. "The liquor license is a heavy, heavy hammer for us," Godbee said. "It is not as simple as taking the alcohol out of the environment to solve the problem." Watson countered that experts have testified to council that banning alcohol would reduce crime and said that Godbee's testimony was only taken this afternoon to give "political coverage for folks who don't want to vote to prohibit alcohol." Watson chided her newly elected colleagues who said they still had unanswered questions about the regulations. She was a member of the council last year that considered more stringent regulations for months but didn't vote on them. Five new members took office in January. "I don't remember anyone running for office .... saying they needed a learning curve," Watson said. Cockrel said he had never seen the council auditorium so packed Monday, but said he wishes residents had the same kind of passion about other challenges facing the city, such as homelessness and joblessness. "Where is that outrage about a young girl being raped on the way to school," Cockrel said. "We have bigger fish to fry. Let's get passionate about that stuff." The new rules would ban VIP rooms, require most employees get licenses from the city and limit dancers to 18-inch tall stages, which essentially bans lap dancing. The rules also ban touching, even when dancers are clothed. The regulations stem from a federal judge's order in 2007 that struck down Detroit's regulations and ordered officials to rewrite them. Other changes include: • Ban the clubs from opening on Eight Mile. Clubs already have a tough time opening there because most of the roadway's zoning doesn't allow for the businesses. The established clubs were "grandfathered in" and generally opened before the city began regulating the bars in the mid-1990s • All employees would have to get licenses and pass background checks except bathroom attendants, valets and repair and delivery workers. The city has yet to determine the cost of the licenses. • Employees couldn't get licenses if they have certain criminal convictions, including sexual or drug related crimes. • New clubs have to be at least 1,000 feet from another club, house, park, school or church. The city's topless clubs employ about 6,800 workers and pay about $3 million a year in property taxes. The city is home to 40 percent of the 77 strip clubs statewide. Mayor Dave Bing has not taken a position on the regulations, according to his staff. [view link] (313) 222-2396 From The Detroit News: [view link] n Detroit.
  • samsung1
    •
    14 years ago
    I think I remember reading somewhere that Tampa has similar rules but they do not get enforced. Maybe the same thing will happen in Detroit. Maybe I should make a road trip up to Detroit to take advantage of the mileage assuming it is still there in the next couple weeks.
  • vincemichaels
    •
    14 years ago
    Yep, samsung1, as I noted before, we went through similar changes in the law here in Detroit back in the 90's.Those were the days when the top clubs had the dancers dressed to the max in certain clubs. As the times changed, the churches certainly raised a stink. It didn't help when the former mayor had an (alleged) wild party at the mayoral mansion, and a few weeks later, a dancer that had allegedly performed there was allegedly killed. That certainly didn't help the situation any. So as before, we will just have to wait and see the effect of the new ordinance. It won't be pretty, the clubs almost died last time a new restrictive ordinance first started being enforced, only as time went on it became less enforced and the clubs picked up again. Watch the stampede of dancers out of Detroit into the surrounding cities in Wayne county. There are NO topless clubs in Oakland County, and one pathetic one in Macomb County. So, stand out of the way of the stampede of gals leaving Detroit.
  • Jmoney007
    •
    14 years ago
    The club owners need to fight back, one of the city council member let it be known yesturday that if a lawsuit came up the city would be in no position to fight it. They should have just renewed the current ordinance and just left well enough alone. I hope that it don't kill the clubs and maybe they can recover and get back to normal, it will be a bumpy road and if the owners don't fight back, then we will just have to live with it but heres the thing, unlike last time, we are now in a recession and without vip rooms and lapdances, the clubs may suffer a big blow that they cant recover from.
  • CTQWERTY
    •
    14 years ago
    Steve, Bogart's (in suburban Inkster) may emerge as the "super mecca". Or, The Pontiac Silver Dome would be another option (suburbs also)... world's biggest strip club?! P.S. I was getting a lot of high mileage on the rail at Brad's Brass last weekend. Almost uniformly the dancers look to gauge your approval afterwards while awaiting the tip. As I tucked my Washington in, I began to say "Thanks for the tour!" I got several laughs.
  • MisterGuy
    •
    14 years ago
    I've only ever been to DTW, so I have to ask if most of the strip clubs in the Detroit area are actually IN Detroit or are they located outside the city limits? Are all the area clubs topless as well right now? "This is the end of mileage in Detroit." Well, these new rules seem similar (not exact) to rules that govern most of MA, and there are still LDs (mostly low mileage, but not always) that occur out in the open...so I dunno if all hope is lost, yet.
  • CTQWERTY
    •
    14 years ago
    Mr. G.: I believe it to be about 50/50 city/suburbs. For awhile I'm sure the suburbs will fill the void. But if the clampdown initiative spreads, only nearby Windsor may last. I don't think MA-style rules will fly with the Detroit clientele.
  • MisterGuy
    •
    14 years ago
    "I don't think MA-style rules will fly with the Detroit clientele." Well sure, some will go somewhere else if then can to get better mileage there, but, over time if the laws stay the same, customers (especially newer ones) will get used to expecting less I guess.
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