News and Media Reports

[JackMehauf]

Was this woman an absentee owner or working in the actual store? She looks familiar, does anyone know who she is?

What the shop owner next door said:

"It's disgusting, it's honestly horrendous. Thankfully, it finally got rooted out, Hopefully, we can get a more upbeat community-forward kind of business in there. ".

What the shop owner next door was thinking:

"Dang! I could have been going there on my breaks! You mean they'd give you a handy for just a tip? Those babes were smokin' hot. I got to find me one of these places in Sandy Springs or Atlanta now. ".

[Tenex]

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/wom...M72FBELUBAYCU/

Was this woman an absentee owner or working in the actual store? She looks familiar, does anyone know who she is?

[LickUmGood]

I've seen these ladies out at Costco on their own. Seems if they were being trafficked they had every chance to escape or call LEO?

I've also met a few of my local favorites shopping in Walmart in the Woodstock / Acworth area. Which means they can go anywhere they want when they're not working.

[BroDiddly]

I am curious what evidence they really have. Like most of you guys, I'm just very skeptical that these BMW driving girls are being trafficked. More likely fighting TRAFFIC on their way to Starbucks.

I've seen these ladies out at Costco on their own. Seems if they were being trafficked they had every chance to escape or call LEO?

[SolidMan34]

I am curious what evidence they really have. Like most of you guys, I'm just very skeptical that these BMW driving girls are being trafficked. More likely fighting TRAFFIC on their way to Starbucks.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/wom...M72FBELUBAYCU/

[HobbyMan51]

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/wom...M72FBELUBAYCU/

Remember when the sleazebag Fani Willis staged her circus a few months ago bragging that 2 dozen women had been rescued from the evils of sex slavery in Fulton County including Roswell? None of that turned out to be true and my bet is that this will be just another fake stunt put on by the Roswell mayor and his Gestapo. Maybe the Mayor of Roswell has his own plans to run for governor one day just like Fat Fani. We'll see.

[Poshir]

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/wom...M72FBELUBAYCU/

[Gayuma]

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/ros...assage-parlors

[Androo75]

I can't imagine girls making enough on * to replace real income. The world is drowning in accounts. That said, it's dry as a bone out there.

For a reason, right?

Victorian sketches, dirty magazines, old Times Square XXX Theaters / Booths, then VHS, PPV and even FREE internet porn, all have their time / bubble then we settle into over saturation, and normalization.

Nothing will ever replace the easy cash grab of 1:1 turnstile service until AI / virtual is indistinguishable from the real thing, and half the cost.

100% spot on that post-pandemic it's just not the same, but hope springs eternal!

Regarding massage licensing in Roswell, can first hand confirm it has slowed ramp up (via a colleague) who expected to grow Q1 by adding services/locations in shared health/wellbeing spaces (along side hair dressers, aestheticians etc.)

They're painting with a broad brush and affecting innocent entrepreneurs.

[RiverRat99]

"Innocent until proven guilty" is a phrase from like 1985. The Constitution offers a due process clause, which really doesn't solve the problem at hand. This is an important concept to consider when we look at what's going on here.

What you're proposing is a valid idea, but requires a lot of gumption and money. It would take years and the discovery process would be very uncomfortable for the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs would very likely appear before an unsympathetic jury if it went to trial. Not sure who'd want to take that case but if it appeared lucrative, even as a long shot, there would be attorneys doing it by now.

When the government wants to shut your business down, they have dozens of ways to do it and litigating a municipality is frighteningly expensive and time consuming. Most small businesses do not have the resources to do this. Ask anyone who's tried to litigate on zoning, inspections, etc. Trust me, it's a nightmare.

But the rabbit hole I went down was (maybe naively or wrongfully so) associated with the ordinary everyday person that simply wanted to start their legal massage business that had nothing to do with the busts. After all, the moratorium impacts all businesses in this category, not just the one's with illicit aims. Either way, I see your point.

[The Wiseacre]

I am hopeful an enterprising attorney has reached out to these business owners and others to mount a legal challenge. This is a blatant violation of constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. The city assumes all of massage business owners are engaging in criminal activity- obviously this is an overreach. I would suspect a good attorney could make millions suing the city.

"Innocent until proven guilty" is a phrase from like 1985. The Constitution offers a due process clause, which really doesn't solve the problem at hand. This is an important concept to consider when we look at what's going on here.

What you're proposing is a valid idea, but requires a lot of gumption and money. It would take years and the discovery process would be very uncomfortable for the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs would very likely appear before an unsympathetic jury if it went to trial. Not sure who'd want to take that case but if it appeared lucrative, even as a long shot, there would be attorneys doing it by now.

When the government wants to shut your business down, they have dozens of ways to do it and litigating a municipality is frighteningly expensive and time consuming. Most small businesses do not have the resources to do this. Ask anyone who's tried to litigate on zoning, inspections, etc. Trust me, it's a nightmare.

[AtlantaFunGuy]

I am hopeful an enterprising attorney has reached out to these business owners and others to mount a legal challenge. This is a blatant violation of constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. The city assumes all of massage business owners are engaging in criminal activity- obviously this is an overreach. I would suspect a good attorney could make millions suing the city.

It's not easy! City and County already had evidence and witnesses along with legal advice from their legal council team before sending the letters to the landlords or business owners. And I bet business owners already seek legal advice from their attorneys.

There are a few different players and circumstances involved in the massage shop raids, arrests and shut-downs:

The Roswell massage shop shutdowns are the result of a combination of the City (Mayor, Police and City Council) plus overly active and obsessive "concerned" citizens. Fulton County has been supportive and was represented by District Attorney Fani Willis at the September 22,2022 Roswell Press Conference. Interestingly, ALL of the arrests and compliance violations were made by Roswell Police Department.

The "Landlord Letters" sent primarily in Cobb County, are all from the State of Georgia Attorney General's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit led by a former Cobb County and DeKalb County Assistant District Attorney, who was appointed to the position of Chief of Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit in June 2019, subsequent to their formation by Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr.

The vast majority of these shops had no arrests and / or any other prior legal issues, but the letters to the Landlords included online reviews and advertisements serving as the "cause". Unfortunately, the Landlords did not challenge the admissibility of the "evidence" they received and instead took immediate action against their massage shop tenants and terminated leases without any due process whatsoever.

[Poshir]

I am hopeful an enterprising attorney has reached out to these business owners and others to mount a legal challenge. This is a blatant violation of constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. The city assumes all of massage business owners are engaging in criminal activity- obviously this is an overreach. I would suspect a good attorney could make millions suing the city.

It's not easy! City and County already had evidence and witnesses along with legal advice from their legal council team before sending the letters to the landlords or business owners. And I bet business owners already seek legal advice from their attorneys.

[AsianMan03]

I am hopeful an enterprising attorney has reached out to these business owners and others to mount a legal challenge. This is a blatant violation of constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. The city assumes all of massage business owners are engaging in criminal activity- obviously this is an overreach. I would suspect a good attorney could make millions suing the city.

Not only that, it appears to be an anti-Asian policy. They are only going after the Chinese Massage studios. I don't see them going after other massage studio run by non-Asians.

[RiverRat99]

This is really a bunch of bullshit. I think the fact that you could get a legit good massage at most of these places. I've got chronic back pain and muscle tightness due to a confirmed medical condition and I can't tell you the number of times these ladies have worked out the knots to at least make me feel a little bit normal. The Chinese pressure point work they do can't really be found at your typical day spa type establishment. For all their talk about free markets and protecting small businesses, this obviously doesn't work for our local overlords if the business is run by Asian women and they don't like community perception of the service provided.

As an aside, I ventured up to a recently mentioned establishment in Cumming last week but the lady I drew told me she couldn't provide any extra services at the instruction of management. She was super nice and apologetic and I completely understood. Whatever places are left are so freaked about getting arrested or whatever they won't allow even a hint of impropriety. I mentioned the 'human trafficking' bs that was being thrown about to her and she confirmed that nothing like that is happening or at least in very rare exceptions. These are just hard working ladies trying make a buck.

I am hopeful an enterprising attorney has reached out to these business owners and others to mount a legal challenge. This is a blatant violation of constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. The city assumes all of massage business owners are engaging in criminal activity- obviously this is an overreach. I would suspect a good attorney could make millions suing the city.