Tampa mayor Dick Greco \nTAMPA - This city's mayor says he's taking up a fight executed "brilliantly" by New York City's mayor. But he's potentially bucking a trend saying the sex industry is good business for Tampa. And a throng is expected at the Tampa Convention Center later today for a City Council move on whether to ban lap dancing at the city's adult nightclubs.
Nude clubs and peep shows disappeared from Times Square and prostitutes went behind bars under New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Tampa mayor Dick Greco is a Giuliani fan. ``I think Giuliani's doing a great job,'' Greco tells the Tampa Tribune. ``All over the country, people are talking about it.''
They'll be talking at the Convention Center, too, in what's expected to be a heated debate with hundreds packing in to assault or defend the city's hope of making nude entertainers keep their distance from patrons - six feet's distance, at minimum. And a lot of the throng will be waiting to see a reported police videotape showing sex acts between dancers and between dancers and customers.
City fathers say the idea behind the lap dance ban is stemming crime and disease transmission. But the issue prompted a throng of adult entertainers at a City Council meeting Nov. 18, testifying for six hours defending their profession. And it also prompted a Tampa minister to set up a phone bank to marshal support for the city position, the Tribune says.
This isn't exactly the first time city fathers have tangled with the adult entertainment business. Tampa sued 10 adult clubs in 1996, claiming they broke city laws because they were on land not zoned for adult businesses. Most of those suits are still in court, but the Tribune says three of the clubs have closed while the city hit three more clubs with zoning suits three weeks ago.
Last year, police increased probes of massage parlors and lingerie modeling studios, with owners of 39 licensed body scrub shops given notices that they'd be reclassified under bathhouse codes, the paper says. That makes workers apply for licenses, take 70-hour courses on bath theory and wear surgical gowns when bathing clients. Owners feared that would cripple business, and the Tribune says that's the least of it - many are now gone.
Tampa also made 566 prostitution arrests in 1996, some involving multiple defendants, with the number of cases jumping to 882 in 1997 and 901 last year, the paper says.
Mons Venus club owner Joseph Redner says his club is believed the number one destination from Tampa International Airport, the Tribune says, and he thinks Greco is trying to take away the civil liberties of customers and dancers without proving the public is actually being harmed by their business. ``We've been doing it [lap dancing] for over 15 years,'' Redner said. ``You demonstrate the harm.''
The adult entertainment industry points to the millions of dollars spent in local clubs, the Tribune says, but city officials say those same nude clubs jeopardize business expansions in Tampa.
