Boulder Considering Rules for Nude Clubs
BOULDER Colo. — City Council members released a memo outlining options for regulating sexually oriented businesses this week. A strip club opened in the city late last year .
One City Council member said it makes sense "to get a definition in our land-use regulation and give some thought to where these businesses might be a problem," but, she said, she doesn't think the Nitro Club itself will survive for long.
"Boulder just isn't the sort of town where these places thrive," she said.
Options for the city include using zoning rules to limit where sexually oriented businesses canopen and issuing licenses to strip clubs. The licenses could come with stipulations that could include forbidding customers from mingling with nude entertainers, or requiring customers to stay a prescribed distance from the stage.
The club is also considering contesting zoning officials' decision that is a theater, not a restaurant — which would require a "use review" process before the city planning board.
"We haven't made a decision on how to proceed," the club's lawyer said. "It's possible we'll go before the board of adjustment, but we're still evaluating the whole matter."
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FLORIDA
Proposed Strip Club Surcharge Would Give Money to Elderly
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two Tampa Bay area lawmakers have proposed a $1 tax on strip club admissions to give low-income nursing home residents more spending money.
Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, said he got the idea after an elderly constituent complained that a $35 monthly stipend for Medicaid recipients was not enough to cover personal needs.
"I'm sorry if I've taken a dollar that you would have otherwise stuck in someone's garter," said Kriseman, who is sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon.
The adult entertainment industry says it will fight the bill, which aims to increase the Medicaid allowance to $70 a month.
"Everyone I mention it to has one word for it: stupid," Joe Redner, owner of a Tampa club with a $20 cover charge. "It's a noble cause. Old people should have some money. But they should get it from everybody, not just us."
The 77-year-old St. Petersburg woman whose situation prompted the bill thinks it's a great idea.
"If people can afford to go to these places," she said, "they can afford to pay a little more for us."
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KENTUCKY
Florence to Consider Adult Business Zoning
FLORENCE, Ky. — The City Council will hear the first reading of an amended ordinance on new countywide sexually oriented business zoning regulations on Feb. 12.
The new zoning regulations, which were unanimously approved by the Boone County Planning Commission in December, have to be individually passed by Florence, Walton, Union, and the Boone County Fiscal Court.
Regulations set up by the commission define zones that adult businesses can locate in, and require that they be father than 1,000 feet from any parcel of land or building used or occupied as a residence, government building or community facility, child daycare, church or religious facility, hospital, library, business that serves alcoholic beverages and has a local/state liquor sales license, public and private parks, recreational facility, public or private school, senior center or other adult business.
Only 1.6 percent of acreage in Boone County falls under these guidelines, according to Assistant City Coordinator Rick Lunnemann.
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NEW JERSEY
Adult Bookstore Fined $10,500
RANDOLPH, N.J. — Criminal charges dating back to April 2004 against an adult bookstore in Randolph were resolved this week with a $10,500 fine and guilty pleas to maintaining a nuisance.
Adult Playtime Boutique agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and be enrolled in a pre-trial intervention program. The company's agent pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense of maintaining a nuisance and was fined $500.
Playtime was among businesses that were accused of offering private viewing booths that facilitated sexual activity and violating sign ordinances during raids in April 2004.
The owner of two other adult stores pleaded guilty to violating an ordinance by having excessive signs on the building in April 2004.
The owner and the store's former manager agreed to pay a total of $15,500 in fines for similar charges of violating sign ordinances.
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