The Scottsdale City Council on Tuesday night did not decide whether to transfer a liquor license to Babe's Cabaret, a topless strip club partly owned by Jenna Jameson, because the city asked for an extension to further examine its side of the issue. An attorney representing the ownership group agreed to the extension.
“The council will now make that controversial decision on November 15,” Pat Dodds, public affairs officer for the City of Scottsdale, told AVN.com. .
Some Scottsdale residents fear that the cabaret will be a nuisance to the community. Jameson says she wants to turn the cabaret into a classy nightspot and call it Club Jenna.
A recent change in Arizona law gives the council a new way to voice opposition. The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control now allows municipalities to review license transfers. Previously, cities could protest only applications for new licenses.
According to The Arizona Republic, Jameson has three partners in the cabaret – Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment and William Asher, Vivid’s president, both with a 25-percent stake. The Republic reported the fourth partner is Frank Kay, owner of the New Jersey-based IVD, who shared Babe’s with co-owner Ann Rothstein before Jameson’s partnership bought Rothstein out earlier this year. The information surfaced in paperwork filed in September with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, the Republic reported.
If the city council finds the new owners unreliable or incapable of holding the license, Scottsdale officials can file a protest with the state liquor board.
According to city officials, because the liquor license already has been granted and the partnership is simply requesting an ownership change, council members have few grounds for legal protest.
