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Proposed Albuquerque Strip Club ordinance gets rolling again

Harderlap

New Mexico

The proposed new strip club ordinance in Albuquerque got rolling again this week. After previously putting the ordinance on hold, the City Council revised it this week. The new ordinance now allows touching, but does away with VIP rooms or private booths. All dances must be held in the open.

This is being done under the guise of reducing human trafficking, but there is little if any evidence that is a significant problem in Albuquerque strip clubs. As a result, one part of the ordinance requires clubs to put up posters alerting patrons and dancers to the dangers of human trafficking and how to deal with it. One club, TD's North already has put up these posters at the entrance, the hostess stand, and the men's room. A preemptive strike I suppose.

Another provision is that the employees, including dancers, must provide the club with all their personal information and that this information must be made available when asked for by law enforcement. It is this clause that has the ACLU fighting the proposed ordinance under privacy concerns and unreasonable search.

The strip clubs are fighting it as well, but do not appear to be too effective. This all is a bit surprising as the clubs are big donors to local campaigners of both parties.

I hope this all gets too problematic for the City Council and they give it up.