DETROIT (Tell Us Det) - For over two hours City Council members discussed controversial proposals during a public hearing that would change how strip clubs operate in Detroit.The Monday afternoon hearing at City Hall drew supporters and foes of the changes.
Hundreds of people filled the 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building auditorium to voice there opinion during the public hearing.
The overflow had to remain in the hallway that leads to the room which holds a capacity of 550 persons.
Council was faced to face with ministers, church goers and community activist that want tougher laws regulating the strip clubs.
They are demanding that dancers wear opaque pasties.
Pointing out the hypocrisy in the room, a dancer from the All Stars Strip Club, drew applause when she said she recognized many of her patrons in the anti-strip club crowd.
Efforts to reign in adult entertainment go back to 1982 when zoning and licensing ordinances were imposed on some 95 cabarets, as they were known then.
Since then the numbers of strips clubs has declined to 42 with only 33 actively doing business according to Dennis Mazurek, assistant counsel for the city's Law Department.
The strip club debate will be on the docket of the Detroit City Council Tuesday when a vote is expected on whether to pass both a zoning ordinance and an alcohol licensing restriction.
Council members are considering banning the sale of alcohol and requiring dancers to wear pasties over the nipples.
A federal judge in 2007 struck down Detroit's regulations on where strip clubs could open and ordered them rewritten.Some council members also support banning lap dances and VIP rooms in the 30 or so clubs.
Religious and neighborhood groups say strip clubs reduce property values and increase crime.Strip-club owners have promised a costly legal fight.
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