Residents living around a proposed strip club are pressuring city officials to keep the business from opening in their neighborhood.
Carrying petitions and jamming City Council meetings in recent weeks, opponents to a proposed strip club say they hope the council stops the project in its tracks even as the club owner’s attorney plans legal action against the city, the Pasadena Star News reported.
At issue is a now vacant building along Foothill Boulevard that had housed a Shakey’s Pizza restaurant that could soon become a strip club if its backers have their way.
Santa Monica-based attorney Roger Diamond, who is known for successfully battling cities trying to keep his clients strip clubs from setting up shop in their communities, said he plans to file the first of what could be a series of lawsuits against Pasadena in response to its decision to stop licensing adult businesses last week.
The moratorium was meant to give the city time to reexamine its zoning law, which has not been updated since 1997, officials said.
But Diamond claims the measure was aimed at illegally stalling his client’s plans to open the club. But he cautioned that the city could be in legal trouble if it bars the use of the former restaurant location as a strip club.
In 2003, Pasadena nearly lost a court challenge by another adult business by telling the 9th District Court of Appeals that it had other areas open for use by adult businesses.
But to prove that it had not violated the First Amendment by zoning adult businesses out of the area, the city listed several available locations, including the former Shakey’s location at 2180 E. Foothill Blvd.
Although its unclear if the city is ready for a long and possibly costly court fight, Diamond says his client is ready. Diamond himself could well be eager for a fight, having notched several court wins in similar cases against a number of area cities, like Anaheim, Westminster, La Habra and Pico Rivera, all located just miles from Pasadena.
