Legally Laid? Detroit Council Candidate Pushes For Red Light District

logical idea

I think it would work best as part of a larger entertainment district that includes restaurants, civilian bars, music venues, hotels, and other attractions. Kind of like Bourbon Street. Maybe somewhere in the Lafayette / St. Antoine area.

Having worked in city planning, particularly zoning for over twenty years, I have some background in this subject. See my article: "Strip Clubs in Industrial Areas," posted February 23, 2011:

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In the article, I mentioned that there are three methods used to regulate the location of strip clubs. The most common is to simply limit their locations to industrial zones, the subject of the article. Another is to assign rigid distance requirements, so that strip clubs and other adult businesses are located a minimum distance (often 500 ft. or more) from schools, churches, parks, residential areas, etc. This often forces strip clubs into industrial zones, as no other location would actually meet the distance requirements.

The least used of the three methods, is what this Detroit city council candidate, Atti Pollard, is proposing. Among city planners, his method was known as the "combat zone" theory. This is where all adult businesses are prohibited from a city, except in one, single location. Boston tried this decades ago, maybe in the 1970's. (I haven't looked into this since the 1980's.) I believe it was deemed a dismal failure and was changed after a short period of time.

Pollard would do well to read up on Boston's experience before proceeding with the "combat zone" as his campaign platform. The process would also take many years. Strip clubs aren't just going to get up and move to the new combat zone.

It is a little early for "Election Year" politics concerning the Sex Industry. LOL

Club_Goer is right.

Club_Goer is correct. All of the existing clubs would have grandfather rights.

Something like this would be a good idea and a revenue generator. But it's not going to happen. If they can't get it done in the Vegas city limits, how can it get done anywhere. You have to go an hour outside of the city.

In most communities the zoning laws are written in exactly the opposite direction, to specify minimum distances from any adult oriented business to any other adult oriented businesses but also from any home, any church, and any park. With clever selection of the distances a city can essentially ban adult oriented businesses, at which point they might be sued by a prospective club owner. A less common route would be to have a specific sub-zone on the map for adult entertainment businesses. The article is right that a genuine Amsterdam style red-light district would require an unlikely change in state law, but a New Orleans style Burbon Street would not. Of course the city police could decide to look the other way on establishments that are peaceful and controlled, like SOHO in London, which is crowded with nighttime police presence who somehow don't notice the advertisements for models taped on entry halls.

Sounds like another way to enrich city official pockets. The bribes we pay already are pretty steep.

I was in the combat zone in Boston a week before the woman was raped in that bar and it was a scarey place and I never went back. To much shit happening all at once all around and it would have been very easy to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up arrested or worse.

I loved the Combat Zone! I don't know why it would be considered a failure. It was just the kind of area I'm talking about, mixed in with Chinese restaurants, Vietnamese noodle shops, cheap Hong Kong electronics shops, movie theaters, legit theaters, etc.

LDK, you're closing in, but Gator is still the champ.

Pittsburgh has a huge number of bars in one very small area and that area is a high crime area. From a safety point of view I agree with limiting how many bars can be close to each other. Spread them out and you won't have drunks going from one to the other causing problems.

I would say Atti has some ladies working for him and he is looking for a way to make some extra cash. Really? Running for city council and proposing this, he is probably fronting this for someone else that would look to have a big payday if the proposal were approved.

Now that Detroit will have an "Emergency Financial Manager" .Thanks Gov. Snyder for another bonehead appointee who himself is in financial distress. Let's see how he does and if he is in favor of a Red Light District.