The Scottsdale City Council late last night voted unanimously to toughen the city’s ordinance on sexually oriented businesses despite the pleas from dozens of speakers, according to published reports.
The council agreed to drop a proposed ban on alcohol, but approved many changes to ordinances that nightclub owners said were unacceptable and could put them out of business, according to the Arizona Republic and East Valley Tribune.
The revised ordinance requires strippers to keep four feet between themselves and club patrons and outlawed all-nude dancing at Scottsdale’s two strip clubs, one part-owned by Jenna Jameson, the stories said.
The City Council had considered including a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol. That proposal, club owners argues, would have driven them out of business, the East Valley Tribune reported.
“We’re not here to close down a business,” Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross said, responding to allegations that the ordinance change was designed to eradicate Scottsdale’s two topless bars, according to the Tribune.
She added, “We’re here just to regulate a business….that’s what responsible communities do."
According to the reports, Jameson did not speak at the meeting, but let her lawyers do the talking against the proposal.
For the Republic story, click here. For the Tribune story, click here. (Registration may be required at both sites.)
