Tampa Council Votes Against Industry As Entertainers Shine, Council's Concern Is Redner Redner Gets My Vote For Man Of The Year

Mike Roos reports: " I must admit, at times you don't know wether to love him or hate him. In my opinion, no matter which it is, I wished that the Industry would clone him so that we have a dozen of 'him'. Why? Because if we did, he would continually step up to the plate for the industry, and hopefully the industry would face fewer political problems.

"The 'him' I'm referring to is Joe Redner, Tampa's fierce, independent owner of Mons Venus, one of America's best known Cabarets. After arriving in town to play politics, it became apparent that no matter what evidence the Tampa Council heard, they were going to take it out on Mr. Redner, meaning that they wanted to make him pay, and he was fighting their attempts to make him the city's whipping boy.

"Because of that 'fighter instinct', I personally believe that Redner should be named 'Cabaret Owner Of The Year,' if not for the fight he put on, for what he represents to each and every cabaret owner in the nation. Additionally, as industry professionals, we should not only be proud of what he has done, but should learn from it.

"Simply put, Redner's show was complexingly simple, impressive, innovative and expensive. As for effectiveness, it could have been a lot better had the City Council been a bit receptive, had other owners participate and cared like he does/did, and if he and the Council weren't caught up in a high profile debate that seemed to grow and grow as more and more publicity was focused on the ordinance vote.

"What's amazing is what Joe accomplished thanks to help from experts, legal reps (Luke Lirot), a few consumers, entertainers and their families. Before the meeting, I met with Council Members to learn about their concerns, not to mention other cabaret owners, and it soon became clear that this is not an issue of "lap dancing and problems", but rather one of "how to get back at Redner for running against the measure's sponsor, Councilman Buckhorn, who believes that the best way to do so is by banning lap dancing (he also believes it will protect America from any demise). "

"And that's the way Tampa's City Council voted last week in round one of the hearing process - to eliminate Joe's main source of fame and income by outlawing lap dances that spread STD's, especially AIDS.

"After watching the media circus that engulfed the city and forced a vote by city officials, the real issues being discussed between Joe and the Council got lost. Those issues include employment, image, revenue and families who depend on the income generated by the club(s). Besides, the city's arguments are ludicrous, after all, who ever got an STD from a lap dance?

"To show you how much Redner's presence overshadowed the process, he or his club was mentioned in every story, article and action taken by the press, Council or residents. In fact, other clubs were rarely discussed, even in editorials, with Deja Vu being mentioned only in passing a couple of times by consumers.

"And why do they hate Joe? How about the fact that he is a proven commodity, a winner in every sense of the word, and as such, has continually made them look foolish as he walks away with "financial victories" thanks to Tampa's legal mistakes.

"And I must admit, Joe appears to have used income from one or two of those checks to create a show many of us need to learn from as we fight similar ordinances around the country.

"As I said earlier, help from most of the clubs, entertainers, agents and major magazines like Exotic Dancer Magazine didn't materialize, leaving Joe to put on a fantastically professional show. In the end, I believe that he showed officials that Tampa supported Lap dancing, but couldn't convert their support because the issue became too high profile for an official to just walk away from. And forget about the local poll that showed that almost 80% of the community supported Joe, with 20% calling for a ban (I guess that's why only one person supporting the proposed ordinance showed up to testify on the ordinances behalf). I personally believe that because of the strong media focus both sides took, that even with hundreds of supporters milling about, Tampa officials voted to send the ordinance to the next level - a final hearing in two weeks.

"It's obvious that the Council could care less about how many people would be put out of work, let alone the economic harm they will cause everyone from Landlords to vendors if the ordinance is implemented.

"The professionals who testified on Redner's behalf included Dan Linz and Dr. Judith Hannah, both of whom spoke about the communicative nature of dance and it's positive effects on art and the community. Economist Dr. Melish provided a variety of stats, including the fact that Tampa receives over $110,000,000 a year in revenue from the clubs, while Dr. Fischer discussed the transmission of STD's and negated the ability of 'entertainers through lap dancing' to spread on any type of STDs.

"What's sad about this situation is that no matter what you thought about the quality of the presentations, it was obvious that Tampa had it's mind made up before anyone walked into the room.

" 'Everyone one of the speakers has lied to the Council,' Assistant Attorney Fee personally told me. 'They all do illegal acts and have some type of disease. They are disgusting.'

" 'We'll be able to refute their arguments in two weeks,' Fee continued. As you can see, the city's fair hearing process and thus their 'open civic mind', was directed at the expense of Joe and his dancers. But it affects the entire industry, and 25 or more clubs will pay dearly.

" 'We know what the city thinks of our industry,' Joe said at a meeting of dancers two nights before the meeting. 'Let's not cater to their prejudice and act like ladies and gentlemen.' Before the hearing, the NCA met with several of the Council Members and discussed their concerns, the PAP's AM Case, and suggested alternatives to 'banning lap dancing'. We even proposed instituting dancer registration to eliminate the 5% of the entertainers that the city says give the industry a bad name. We hoped to show Tampa that we want to make the ordinance work for both of us.

"Additionally, we met with several Florida Cabaret Association supporters to finalize the concepts and language found in the amendments. Upon reading them, everyone agreed with the direction they were going in was positive, especially since they showed the difference between the various forms of legal dancing and escorts/prostitutes. Additionally, we also redefined the term lap dancing to take care of one of the city's concerns, namely bed dancing.

"We support Joe and his efforts 100%, but felt that we needed to do what all professional lobbies do.... Negotiate a solution/settlement, so that our members can continue to stay in business. Sometimes, that means that we have to do it behind closed doors, silently and that can only be done when the 'dust settles'. As for our amendments, we expect to hear back from the city this week. The next hearing is 12/ 2, 1999."