A local property owner's plan to open a topless bar on Detroit's 8 Mile Boulevard has sparked opposition from community advocates.
According to the Detroit Free Press, local agencies striving to gentrify 8 Mile are calling for a moratorium on adult businesses, asking city officials to close loopholes that allow developers to open new clubs. With nine such establishments already operating along 8 Mile, activists say they've had enough.
"There's tons of investment occurring along the 8 Mile corridor, so it's disappointing to see a use like this," said Tami Salisbury, executive director of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association. "This perpetuates the perception in people's mind that 8 Mile is nothing but strip clubs, which is not the case."
"We're trying to build new homes in the community, senior housing, build up the business districts and bring the neighborhoods back," said Mike Fisher, executive director of the Detroit Community Initiative. "Why are we still fighting this issue?"
Fisher, who has been lobbying against new topless bars in the city for 12 years, told the Free Press that he and other advocates plan to make their concerns known at a Jan. 31 hearing before the city's Department of Buildings and Safety Engineering.
Mike Dabish, the property's owner, told the Free Press that he tried for five years to lease or sell the property, with no success.
Dabish said that in 2006, the city turned down his proposal to build a gas station that would sell ethanol fuel because of the citywide moratorium on new stations.
"I don't have anything else to put there," Dabish told the Free Press. "If anybody objects to the business that's going there, they can ... buy the property."
Dabish said the land is an ideal location for a strip club because there is no residential neighborhood nearby. Formerly the site of a go-kart track, the 6-acre property has been vacant for over three years.
According to the report, the property in question is zoned for industrial use. Under the city's regulations, new topless bars cannot open on land zoned for commercial use, but they can open on land zoned for industrial use.
