Strip clubs have been systematically taken out bt BP for years
[QUOTE=Bubba261]The only way any of that would benefit Blumenthal would be if the Mayor of Bridgeport held a press conference and announced that he raided the clubs because Blumenthal asked him. That's not going to happen.
In fact, the only club raided and shut down permantly in Bridgeport in recent years was Teddie's, and it wasn't for the blowjobs in the back room. It was for drugs, outdoor disturbances in the neighborhood, etc. (others have closed down due to financial problems. The last one before Teddie's was Dangerous Curves roughly 12 years prior. And that was for drugs and gang activity too.
The city and the neighborhood didn't care one bit about what went on inside Teddie's as long as it stayed sexual.[/QUOTE]I have never heard of a strip club shutting down because of their own financial issues in Bridgeport. Because the Cabaret license is too valuable and because of the cost structure to run a club. It does not take much to break even, as the dancer fees cover most if not all of the expenses for the other employees.
The city has been using pressure on landlords and using eminent domain to close down the strip clubs in Bridgeport for years. The last one closed down due to raids was Pancho's a few years ago. After 2 raids they agreed to close and the landlord wanted them out.
Before that it was Uptown Girls, eminent domain to make room for the courthouse, which ended up getting built somewhere else. Are place could not get their lease renewed after the owner was shot and nearly killed in the bar.
The playground was eminent domain for a bakery. Brass guitar had the building condemned. The little place on main street near the car wash on main street was raided and closed for not having a license. Arnold's was taken over by eminent domain.
I'll stop there, the list continues on though, the original Brass, Frankie and Johnnies etc. The point is Bridgeport has gone from a city that had over 20 clubs of varying types at any time to having 3 clean middle to high end clubs (Scruples, Ruby2, Mystique)1 locals club(George's)and 2 slightly sleazier clubs (BC, PM).
The city of Bridgeport obviously cares and has been trying to shut down as many of the strip clubs as they can systematically over the years. Even going as far as enforcing rules in regards to flashing that makes life more difficult for the 2 clean places with liquor licenses. Once they are closed it is almost impossible to get a license for a new bar with the cabaret license, Mystique snuck in by finding a regular bar with the proper licenses.
Strip clubs closing on their own
[QUOTE=Bubba261]I've been in CT for about 22 years now, and I haven't heard of many of those clubs you mentioned. You must be older than I am. The one I was referring to was Keystone something or other, either they had financial problems or the owner just got tired of running the place (or your landlord concept, he might have just gotten fed up)
But you confirmed my basic point, clubs in Bridgeport don't get raided and shut down simply because they're strip clubs or guys are getting blowjobs in the back room. As long as management keeps it clean with respect to drugs and gang activity (or violence) the city government basically leaves them alone.
As far as following the laws, Ruby's II, Hideway, and Harry O's allowed smoking for years after the no-smoking law went into effect. I don't know if they still do (haven't been to any of them since the law, hard to explain the smoky smell to the wife when I get home!!!)[/QUOTE]I can't believe that I typed Are place instead of Rplace.
Arnold's Keystone which is now called Shakers is owned by the same person that owns PMs and Teddies which has just reopened as Allure (a regular dance club). Shakers opens sporadically and is kept in reserve as the place all the dancers will be sent to the next time PM is closed.
All of the clubs that I have mentioned have closed since Dangerous Curves was closed. If owners had gotten tired of running the businesses they would have sold out as in all cases the liquor licenses had value if nothing else.
Of all of the locations that were mentioned, only one is still a bar.
In regard to drugs, unfortunately low priced lap dances and drugs go together like peanut butter and chocolate. In the rare case where they don't the police are not very likely to believe it.***** houses masquerading as strip clubs go to the quality of life crimes that cities started to attack in the 90s.
It might take awhile but eventually all you may be able to get at a club in Bridgeport might be a dance.
CT Post article from 9/7/10
BRIDGEPORT -- For years, city officials have sought to limit the number of strip clubs and adult video outlets and bookstores. Like most nearby municipalities, Bridgeport relies on zoning rules to block adult establishments from residential neighborhoods and restrict the overall growth of those businesses.
Now, a businesswoman who planned to open a strip club on North Avenue is claiming the city's strict regulations on where adult entertainment facilities can be located violate her constitutional rights.
Although Domenique Brazier, principal of 500 North Avenue LLC, never mentioned to the city's zoning boards her intent to have topless or nude dancers at the cafe for which she was requesting a liquor permit, she has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging the city's restriction on the location of adult entertainment facilities violates the First and 14th Amendments.
"Nude dancing is protected speech," said Daniel A. Silver, of Silver and Silver LLP, the attorney representing Brazier.
Brazier's property lies in a mixed-use light industrial zone. Adult entertainment facilities in the city are only allowed in high industrial zones, located exclusively in sections of the South End and East End, with a special permit.
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the liquor permit with a condition prohibiting adult entertainment at the site, a common condition placed by the P&Z upon bars, restaurants and cafes.
The P&Z's other conditions, prohibiting billiard tables and requiring a floor-to-ceiling wall to divide the bar area from the rest of the establishment, are also being challenged in the lawsuit.
Silver said when the city adopted the current zoning regulations, it failed to produce evidence to show that limiting the approved locations of these establishments would reduce any negative "secondary effects."
"You can't zone out these areas," he said. Furthermore, Silver alleges, the proposed use should be allowed as a right, without the need for a special permit.
In cases of free speech, the city has no right to approve applications on a case-by-case basis, Silver said.
Similar cities and towns have similar regulations regarding adult entertainment facilities.
According to Stamford's online zoning regulations, adult entertainment establishments are only allowed in industrial zones within the city and are subject to approval by the city's Zoning Board of Appeals.
Other towns, like Bridgeport's neighbor Stratford, which allows adult entertainment facilities in commercial and industrial zones, set distance limits instead of requiring a special permit.
The establishments cannot be larger than 5,000 square feet and must be located at least "1,000 feet from a residential district, church, park, playground, library, day care establishment, school for the instruction of children under 16 years of age or any place frequented by minors and a minimum of 2,000 feet between any of these uses."
In Fairfield, a town ordinance bans adult entertainment establishments on sites less than 500 feet from residential zones, dwellings that enjoy pre-existing residential rights, schools, places of worship, public libraries and parks. These facilities also cannot be within 1,000 feet of each other.
Derby's city ordinance prohibits such businesses within 250 feet of a residential zone or within 1,500 feet of a school. In Trumbull, such establishments are banned anywhere in town, said Zoning Enforcement Officer Fred Bietsch.
Bridgeport Zoning Official Dennis Buckley said most of the nine strip clubs and six adult book or video stores in the city were established before the zoning regulations became more restrictive, under former Mayor Joseph P. Ganim's administration.
"Prior to 1996, they were allowed in what was known as the Business I zone, which was in many of the main arteries of the city," including Main Street and Boston, Barnum, North and Fairfield avenues, Buckley said.
Years later, the city restricted the establishments to light and heavy industrial sites, with a special permit before narrowing that down further to heavy industrial sites only.
In 2004, the P&Z considered changing the regulations yet again, this time to allow the establishments in more zones but with similar distance restrictions as contained in regulations in some neighboring towns.
The decision, spurred by a lawsuit filed on behalf of the owner of Teddie's Cafe, 2068 East Main St., in U.S. District Court similar to the current suit, angered city residents and the City Council, who cited it as a reason for keeping the current restrictive regulations.
City officials also said the clubs were associated with a host of other problems and violations.
Shaker's Cafe, on Barnum Avenue, for example, was formerly known as Keystone Cafe, until that business was closed in 2004 after several raids in which police rounded up prostitutes at the East Side bar.
In May 2009, Shaker's and Pleasant Moments on William Street were each fined and had their liquor licenses suspended for violating regulations on contact between dancers and patrons.
It wasn't the first violation for the William Street strip club. In 2008, police raids ended with prostitution charges against three dancers and promoting prostitution charges against three others.
Raids in Main Street strip clubs R Place Cafe and Something Different Cafe, now Mystique Gentlemen's Club, and Boston Avenue club Bishop's Cafe in 2002 also resulted in 34 arrests for a variety of narcotics and prostitution charges.
More recently, the state Liquor Control Commission ordered Teddie's liquor license revoked after an undercover police investigation last May charged that prostitution, lap dancing, indecent exposure and touching were taking place on the premises.
Question about the three upscale clubs
Which has the hotter south Americans?
Which has the hotter Europeans / Russians?
Mystique / Ruby2 / Scruples
