Bait & Switch # 1: The strip club Temptations is promising to remove the sign “Totally Nude” if allowed to expand and sell liquor.
Fact: This is not being the “good neighbor,” this is extortion. Rewarding their bad behavior and the negative effects sex shops bring to an area will not change with a different sign. Just wait for the billboard, TV and radio ad campaigns to begin if Temptations is allowed to expand.
Bait & Switch # 2: Temptations will be renamed “Penthouse” and their semi nude “pasties” will transform their behavior and appeal to more “upscale” patrons.
Fact: Be it “totally nude” or “semi-nude” no evidence supports any positive change in the way a sex club negatively effects a neighborhood. Ask Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta,Georgia. Atlanta hosted the Olympics and bought into that same “upscale adult entertainment” marketing scheme. Atlanta is blighted and now known as the sex trafficking capital of the U.S.
Bait & Switch # 3: The introduction of alcohol will allow for more oversight and raise the age of admittance to 21.
Fact: No evidence supports that the introduction of alcohol improves behavior. Ten years ago during the introduction of current KCMO SOB ordinance, the prohibition of alcohol mixed with sex clubs was because of correlating bad behavior. Be it 18 or 21, sexually transmitted disease, crime and blight have no age boundaries. Policing the additional toxic fallout will only tax an already stretched city budget and its office of regulated industries. Enforcement costs money.
Bait & Switch # 4: No other strip club will exploit the proposed SOB ordinance changes or demand their own deal. This is only about one sex shop.
Fact: Even the city planning department used such shaky words as “unlikely.” No promises. What hope are they trusting to? The reputation of the sex industry? Once this hole is cut in the fence, there is no repairing it for a long time or control over the unintended consequences.
Bait & Switch # 5: The Temptations deal is allegedly supported by a fully informed 200 member Crossroad area business association.
Fact: The fully informed participation by these 200 members is doubtful. The impression is that the association was never fairly presented with the overwhelming statistical evidence of the sex industry’s negative impact on a community. The proponents and lobbyists were the sex club attorneys and immediate revenue interests. To get the “Totally Nude” sign removed at any price seems to be the core motivation. One could call it arm twisting or gunboat diplomacy.
Bait & Switch # 6:Take the “Temptations/Penthouse” deal. It is as good an option as you can hope for.
Fact: Effective and constitutionally tested SOB regulation options are many. For example, KCMO could constitutionally ban totally nude dancing right now. Such banning has been upheld by the US Supreme Court twice. KCMO can require licensing of all employees of a strip club. Anyone with a criminal record cannot work within a sex entertainment business. The list of lawful regulations is long and powerful to protect.
Fact: We have presented 1,500 pages of court documented evidence of the negative effects of sexually oriented businesses on communities to the KCMO city council. We have presented twenty-two court cases supporting the right of communities to strictly regulate the SOB industry. We have produced KCMO’s own negative impact study commissioned and paid for ten years ago which brought about the current SOB zoning ordinance for KCMO. We have made the case and now they are on the brink of undoing those restraints. The KCMO city council needs to awaken to the facts and deny this expansion for short term financial promises of prosperity. They need to take the long view and make the right and sensible decision.
