Detroit Pays Strip Club

Corrupt politicians are typical in Detroit. The city would do better to encourage strip clubs and ban its politicians. Last Updated: July 26. 2011 1:47PM Detroit to pay strip club owners $2.95M to end suit Darren A. Nichols/ The Detroit News Detroit —The City Council approved a $2.95 million settlement this morning to a downtown strip club whose owners claim a license transfer was illegally blocked after they were shaken down for a bribe. Council members voted 6-3 to approve the deal, with Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta and JoAnn Watson dissenting. The lawsuit stems from a 2006 measure in which the panel voted 5-4 in 2006 to turn down the Zoo Bar's license transfer. The vote came amid a crackdown on topless bars, but strip club officials testified in federal court that, before the vote, political consultant Sam Riddle wanted them to pay $25,000 for then-Councilwoman Monica Conyers' vote. They refused, she voted against the transfer and Riddle has denied the allegations. The bar's owners planned to sell to a group of investors affiliated with Deja Vu, a Lansing-based national chain, who wanted to open a Hustler strip club. The bar on East Congress is now operating as a nightclub called Kingdom. The Zoo Bar's owners successfully challenged the city's strip club rules in court, prompting another rewrite. Today's settlement ends a pending federal suit that alleges the city took the club's property illegally by denying the license transfer. There was no discussion of the settlement during today's session. From The Detroit News: [view link]