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Somewhere, there's a law that bans lap dances

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published February 25, 2005

Let's be clear: By no means am I inviting someone to go out and break the law.

However, it's interesting that the controversial and once well-publicized 6-foot nude dancing ordinance is now on the back shelf.

The law, designed to bring an end to lap dances in the city's adult establishments, went into effect in December 1999 and resulted in more than 200 arrests during the first 13 months.

These days, it's a different story. No one has been arrested for violating the rule for at least a year and a half, said Tampa police Capt. Paul Driscoll. But I'm telling you now, that doesn't mean your bachelor party won't end at Orient Road Jail. And the Times is not legally obligated to bail you out.

I'm just making an observation.

Driscoll was quick to add that the ordinance is still a tool police can use to regulate the industry. However, the focus has been more on the business owners and managers, not the dancers, he said. If police discover a dancer offering prostitution services, they can pursue racketeering charges against the managers and owners.

A lap dance violation, which carries a maximum $1,000 fine and six-month jail sentence, targets individual dancers and patrons, not the management.

Still, Driscoll said if his department receives complaints about lap dancing, they will investigate and could use the ban as part of its arsenal.

But it's clear there has been a philosophical shift in the rule's enforcement. It's not surprising when you consider Mayor Pam Iorio declined to back a proposed countywide ban on adult establishments in 2003, saying there were more important issues.

Bob Buckhorn, a former City Council member who strongly supported the ban, said he believes in pursuing law-breaking owners and managers but also wants the dancers and patrons to be held accountable.

"A lot of people, a lot of police officers and staff put a lot of time and effort into that ordinance," said Buckhorn, who lost to Iorio in his bid to become mayor. "It's frustrating to know a law is on the books and not being enforced.

"I'm sure a lot of neighborhood people and pastors who fought for that ordinance feel the same sense of frustration."

But Joe Redner, owner of Mons Venus, offered that police have taken the right approach in using the prostitution and racketeering charges. Redner said that at other clubs - not his, of course - the lap dance ban simply caused prostitution offers to move into back rooms and hidden locations.

"But we told them that's what was going to happen," Redner said. "We told them the lap dance ban wasn't getting rid of prostitution, it was simply sending it out.

"Pursuing prostitution with the (racketeering) statute did the job and now everything is fine."

What all this ultimately means for the city's image remains to be seen, but I know what it meant in 2001.

In the days leading up to the Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, I had to go into the locker room of the Baltimore Ravens and ask coaches how they were preparing for the Tanga and Mons Venus, rather than the New York Giants.

Dallas Stars hockey players Ted Donato and Tyler Bouck had just been arrested during a Mons Venus raid, and the National Football League sent letters warning both teams to guard against a public relations nightmare. The story made national headlines, and turned the spotlight on a part of Tampa we didn't need to showcase on an international stage.

Now that the ban's enforcement is not as intense, I would argue the city's image is better with our adult establishments existing quietly - and legally, I hope - while we trumpet cultural arts, an improving downtown and the promise of revitalizing east Tampa.

Who knows? Maybe if the NFL isn't worried about its star players ending up in jail, our chances of getting another Super Bowl are better.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 25, 2005, 00:51:16]