North Miami Beach Club Keeps Its 2am-4am License
NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Despite lobbying on the part of the North Miami Beach Vice Mayor to revoke the 2-4a.m. license held by Diamonds Cabaret, the city council opted not to revoke the club’s license at this time.
Vice Mayor John Patrick Julien brought the issue to the council, saying that he needed to do so in order to clear his conscience.
“I want to know that I am not going to lose not one second of sleep 'cause I didn't do every single thing humanly possible to make sure it doesn't occur,” Julien said, referring to the possibility of another patron getting hurt at the club. “I do believe that perhaps there is a problem with either the clientele or the level of security at the club.”
Diamond’s lost its 4-6a.m. license at a council meeting earlier this month, after a shooting and two stabbings took place at the club in January.
For more information, see the Miami Herald's report.
GEORGIA
Decatur Homeowners Want City to Force Adult Theater to Move
DECATUR, Ga. — A group of homeowners is lobbying to get rid of the Belvedere Theater on Decatur’s Columbia Drive, saying that they don’t want an adult theater located so close to their homes.
“It is a triple-X theater. No good thoughts come to your head when you hear that,” said homeowner J.T. Scott, according to Atlanta-based Cox affiliate WSB TV.
Scott said that he doesn’t understand why the theater is allowed to continue to operate in its current location, given Decatur’s zoning laws. Local zoning prohibits adult businesses from being within 1000 feet of a residence.
“I have to guess that it’s within 500 feet of my house. I don’t think it meets that standard,” said Scott.
The reason the theater is allowed to operate in its current location can be summed up in a single word: “grandfathered.” The Belvedere opened in 1989, and DeKalb County’s adult business ordinance wasn’t written until the 1990s.
Making it all the more confusing, according to the Belvedere’s attorney, Tammi Long, is that the club has been cited for violations, and at the same time the county renews the theater’s operating license on an annual basis.
"They're grandfathered, because their existence in this community pre-dates the ordinances under which the county is citing them,” Long said. “It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. My clients aren’t criminals, they’re business owners.”
For more information, see the reporting on WSBTV.com
MASSACHUSETTS
Club Owner Ready to Fight City For License
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Paul Stascavage, one of three men behind a plan to convert the Regatta Restaurant and Club into an adult entertainment business, said that the local licensing board relied on incorrect information when it recently denied him a license for adult entertainment.
Stascavage said the board was wrong in asserting that the building would be used to house three businesses; a strip club, a restaurant and a general nightclub. Stascavage said that plans submitted to the licensing board were merely labeled to indicate the building’s layout, not to indicate that the restaurant would be a separate business.
Stascavage also took exception to the board’s comments that there would not be enough parking and an adult entertainment business would introduce a public safety hazard, and vowed to continue his fight for the license, in court or otherwise.
“Are we going to go forward? Yes we are,” Stascavage said. “Are we going to get this? Yes we are.”
For more information, see the article from the Fall River Herald News
