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Nude dance club mogul Joe Redner says a sign on Dale Mabry Highway is his venue for sharing the naked truth.
By TOM ZUCCO
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 5, 2001
TAMPA -- As signs go, it's not that big. And it's along a strip of Dale Mabry Highway that looks like the winner of the "How Many Ugly Billboards Can You Cram Into a Mile?" contest.
Then again, the sign is outside the Mons Venus. The infamous gyrating, lap dancing, national headline-making Mons Venus. And about 65,000 cars pass that sign every day.
It's on that sign that Mons Venus owner Joe Redner, the pebble inside Tampa's shoe, speaks his mind.
Redner, who has run unsuccessfully for Tampa City Council three times and been arrested at least 150 times, uses his sign to take pot shots at his antagonists, usually Tampa Mayor Dick Greco and City Council member Bob Buckhorn. It's a classic hate-hate relationship.
No one knows whether the messages sway public opinion, but Wednesday a Hillsborough County judge dismissed all the lap dancing cases in his court -- about 35 in all. Most of the dancers worked at the Mons. The ruling could affect not only the nearly 300 other court cases pending, but also the city ordinance itself.
Redner's sign by day's end Wednesday?
Finally. Some Sanity.
Sitting in a tall leather chair at his Kennedy Boulevard office, Redner is surrounded by the most important tools of his trade: legal reference books. To beat the law, you have to know the law.
He's 61 but looks 10 years younger. Today he's wearing sunglasses, a Mons Venus polo, khaki shorts, Avia sneakers and a gold Rolex.
He says he's going to change the sign again soon. Next it'll give a running total of the cost of the jury trials of his dancers who have been charged with violating the ordinance that says they must stay 6 feet from customers.
If they ever go to trial.
Q: Aren't you just a little worried that antagonizing the police, the mayor and the City Council will backfire? Isn't this like poking a sleeping bear with a stick?
A: No. This is a counterattack. You better speak up for your rights. Nobody else is going to do it.
Q: So no city official or law enforcement person has said anything to you about the sign?
A: No.
Q: Perish the thought, but has anyone ever suggested you tone down your messages?
A: No. But years ago, I put (a certain unprintable phrase) on my sign. And a detective came out and said, "Joe, we know we can't make you take that sign down. But we sure would appreciate if you would." And I said, "No sooner said than done." I took it down.
Q: So theoretically, if a police officer came to you and asked to take down a sign . . .
A: (Shakes his head) During the Vietnam War a guy who was protesting went into court with a shirt that said "F-- the Draft." He was promptly arrested and prosecuted for wearing an obscene shirt. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and they said that statement was as pure a speech as there can be.
Now, I know what I can put on my sign and what I can't. And they know I know.
Q: You had a sign directed at Tampa city attorney Jim Palermo: "Hey Palermo -- it's not just me. They really don't like you." What's the story?
A: I was reading in the paper about Palermo and his pension fund. (Palermo had tried to buy into the city pension fund retroactively, but the state House of Representatives wouldn't let him.) And I saw that Greco blamed adult businesses for organizing a campaign against the city attorney as a form of payback.
Now, I've mounted a campaign or two. But this one here . . . no. I don't like Jim Palermo. But who am I to say whether he gets a pension or not? There were 150 city of Tampa employees who signed a petition against the Palermo bill. That speaks volumes. So I wondered how I could word that. To me, it was just "Hey Palermo -- it's not me. They really don't like you." (Smiles).
Q: It sounds like you're having fun with this.
A: It gives me a tremendous sense of well-being. I know more about constitutional law as far as the relationship between the government and an individual than anybody I know. . . .
Q: Have any of the other adult club owners asked you to cool it with the signs?
A: No, they think I'm a wild man. I'm out of control.
Q: There's a certain irony here. . . . The sign is right in front of the Mons Venus, but do you think many of the customers even know who Jim Palermo is or what you mean by "Finally. Some Sanity"?
A: They don't have any idea. (Laughing) But as long as (politicians and city officials) know, that's what counts.
Q: The running tab of the cost of the trials for lap dance violations . . .
A: Whatever the figure is -- $10,000, $20,000 per trial -- we're going to add it up. This is what it's costing the taxpayers for what? A second-degree misdemeanor.
Q: That will certainly anger some people, but will it change anything?
A: It already has. We haven't been raided but one time in the last nine weeks. That's hardly enforcing this ordinance.
Q: So the sign is your voice. That apparently means you haven't been successful getting your opinion out there by other means: newspapers, radio, TV?
A: I ran three times for City Council. I talked about water issues, development issues . . . and that message never got out.
Q: What about you did (the media) focus on?
A: Adult business owner . . . the T&A stuff that sells newspapers. The consensus of advice I've gotten is to sell the businesses if I want to run for office. But you see, those businesses don't make you honest or dishonest. They don't make you lie, cheat, steal. People need to understand that sex has nothing to do with honesty.
Q: You're thinking about running for mayor, aren't you?
A: I'm definitely considering a run for mayor. I could do a lot of good for the city. I may not expect to win, but I did get 20 percent of the vote last time without any publicity and without any of my issues represented in the newspapers.
As close as we've come (to a candidate with brutal honesty) is Jesse Ventura, the governor of Minnesota. Of course, they quoted him extensively.
Q: Actually, Ventura might disagree. This is the guy who wanted reporters who covered his events to wear badges that said "Official Jackal."
A: Well, that's not right. Newspapers, TV, public access, all these things are the greatest things in the world to protect freedom. You must take what comes with them and protect them.
Q: So you don't feel like you're being muzzled by the media?
A: Well, if my message isn't getting out there, I have to ask myself what I'm doing wrong. If they (the media) are putting an obstacle up, I got to find a way to overcome it.
Q: But you know you don't need to do this (run for office.) You don't need to taunt the powers that be even more than you already have.
A: Oh, no. This is what I need to do. All my life I didn't know what I wanted to do. But when I started doing this, I fit in. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.
It gives me self-esteem, access to beautiful women, a cause . . . everything I need.
Q: No regrets?
A: Oh, yeah. I've got regrets. How I raised my children. I did alcohol and drugs throughout my first 40 years of life, and then I learned there were other things besides sex and drugs.
Q: How many children do you have, and are you still close to them?
A: I have four, and yeah, we're close.
Q: Are you married now?
A: No. I'm a philanderer. Philanderers can't get married. If I was to get married, that would be a lie.
Q: Okay, let's say the ordinance was struck down and the city left you alone. Would that satisfy you?
A: I don't think so. I'd pick a fight. The death penalty. Gay rights. First amendment issues. They're all over the place.
As long as there's oppression, I'll have something to do.
Q: Who said that? Had to be John F. Kennedy. Or Wonder Woman.
A: Me.
Here is a sampling of messages that have appeared on the marquee of the Mons Venus nude dance club, which faces busy Dale Mabry Highway near Interstate 275. Strip club king Joe Redner uses his sign as a pulpit. His subjects have included Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, city attorney Jim Palermo, City Council member Bob Buckhorn, the Tampa Police Department and the enforcement of the ordinance against lap dancing.
Tricky Dicky Greco the New Morality God
Car 54 Where Are You?
Hey Palermo. It's Not Me They Really Don't Like. It's You.
Bob Buckhorn -- A--- of the Month
Hey Mayor Greco. Censor This
America, Home of the Free?
Hey Mayor. Come In and Enforce Your Ordinance
Mayor Greco and His Loony Toon Police Dept. Are a Joke
Bob Buckhorn -- Still A--- of the Month
Finally -- Some Sanity (this week, after a county judge ruled the lap dance ban was unconstitutional)