According to the Tampa/St. Pete newspapers, it's lap business inside as usual at Joe Redner's Mons Venus men's club while outdoors, Redner posts a sign reading: "Greco/You Coward/Enforce Your Ordinance."
Three signs outside the 2001 Odyssey declare that nude lap dancing continues. Three other clubs "pretty much adopted a dancer-optional rule," said Luke Lirot, who represents the owners of Mons Venus, Ybor Strip and Deja Vu Showgirls. "You can't tell them to break the law, you can't tell them they can't break the law."
No arrests have been made since the ordinance was passed early Friday after a 12-hour City Council meeting. City officials say they're giving the clubs an unspecified grace period to comply. But undercover officers are watching inside the clubs and are talking regularly with city attorneys, said Lt. Jane Castor, chief of the police department's criminal intelligence bureau.
"Some are trying seriously to comply and, from what I gather, some are not," said City Attorney James Palermo. Officials haven't decided when to start enforcing the ordinance, he said, but they won't let Redner prod them into action.
"He's not going to tell us when to do something or not do something," Palermo said. "When we're ready, we'll do it -- not because Joe Redner put something on a sign."
Greco warned yesterday that clubs flouting the new ordinance are putting unwitting customers at risk of arrest. Violators, whether dancers or customers, face a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. "Somewhere down the line . . . patrons who partake in the dance are also going to jail," Greco said. "It doesn't have to happen too many times before the word (to customers) gets out: You've got a problem."
Eight clubs owned by Galardi South Enterprises are trying to obey the ordinance so customers won't be arrested, said attorney Scott Boardman, who represents the clubs. Boardman and Lirot are drafting a lawsuit to challenge the law and possibly block enforcement by the city.
City officials who argued for the ban claim lap dancing transmits disease and leads to prostitution. Boardman and Lirot plan to challenge whether the City Council heard sufficient evidence about disease and prostitution claims.
Business is reportedly off 60 percent to 80 percent at clubs where dancers stay 6 feet from customers or give lap dances wearing swimsuits or other clothing, they said. "It's killing us," said Boardman.
Business is off 10 percent at the Mons Venus, Redner said. But it was standing-room-only Monday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played the Minnesota Vikings just a few blocks north at Raymond James Stadium, he said.
Dancer Rebecca Reed said she made $750 during her 2-8:30 p.m. shift, about double the take of a normal day. Other days, there have been fewer customers, but they spend more to get what may be the last nude lap dances in Tampa, said a woman who identified herself as Mercedes.
Redner has pledged to bail out any of his dancers who get arrested and to pay their legal fees. But he predicted Wednesday there won't be any raids.
"Greco can't enforce his . . . ordinance and he knows it," Redner said. "If he could, he would."
