Tempe Town Lake

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Tempe strip club faces city-imposed restrictions

Garin Groff, Tribune

Tempe’s first strip club won’t be allowed to advertise it’s actually located in the city. Elite Cabaret also can’t post signs with words like “nude” or “girls.” [the First Amendment is NULL and void in Tempe]

And it has to give $50,000 a year to the north Tempe neighborhood it’s moving into, or to the city.

Those restrictions were included in an unusual settlement between the strip club owner and the city.

Elite Cabaret had sued the city in federal court, claiming the city illegally tried to stop the club from opening. The two sides settled last week.

The club agreed to give money “as part of its policy of being a good neighbor and good corporate citizen,” according to the settlement. The amount is supposed to increase $6,000 every year until the club gives Tempe $120,000 annually. [The City of Tempe sounds like a mobster demanding protection fees not to break the knees of the owner of a business]

It’s up to the city to decide if the money goes straight to neighborhood groups or if Tempe officials will administer the funds as it sees fit.

The north Tempe neighborhood that would get the money doesn’t want it. The money could make the neighborhood or the city feel obligated to the club, said Darlene Justus, president of the North Tempe Neighborhood Association.

“People will be very upset to know that the city is taking money from them,” Justus said.

She met with a representative from the club previously and was told the business would fund neighborhood improvements like new roofs. Justus scoffed at the idea, saying adult businesses bring crime, prostitution and a “skid row” image.

“Don’t go putting roofs on our houses when you’re undermining our neighborhoods,” Justus said.

The club hurts the neighborhood’s years-long fight to prevent decay, Justus said, because residents have fought to keep tattoo parlors, pawn shops and adult businesses from clustering in north Tempe and south Scottsdale. She fears those businesses discourage more family-friendly shops from opening.

Other parts of the settlement aim to prevent the sometimes-racy image strip clubs promote in their signs or names.

The club isn’t allowed to depict the human body in any way on the exterior. Signs can’t say “nude,” “topless,” “girls” or things like that. The sign can only have the bar’s name and terms like “cabaret” or “gentleman’s club” — but not “language descriptive of adult entertainment.” [the First Amendment is NULL and void in Tempe]

And the club can’t advertise that it’s in Tempe. That could prove confusing to the public, as it would be the only topless bar in the city. [the First Amendment is NULL and void in Tempe]

Several strip clubs just outside Tempe’s limits advertise that they are in Tempe. None are, though some are literally across the street from Tempe. Christie’s Cabaret on Baseline Road is in the northernmost part of Guadalupe. Dream Palace on Scottsdale Road is technically on county land.

Scottsdale has two clubs near Tempe, Babe’s Cabaret and Skin Cabaret.

Other parts of the deal require the club to provide security at night and to keep the property clean.

Elite Cabaret’s owner could not be reached Monday. The business has not set an opening date and has not started remodeling the building it owns on McClintock Drive, north of the Loop 202 Freeway.

Elite Cabaret has been trying to open since November 2005, but Tempe said the club was within its 1,000-foot distance from a park and could not open. So, the club tried to break the lot in half to get outside the limit.

Meanwhile, the state Legislature passed a bill that required adult businesses to be 1,320 feet from a park. Elite sued, saying Tempe violated its own rules in processing the club’s application. It also said the state law was unconstitutional.

Had the club won a court battle, it could have forced the city to pay millions of dollars in lost revenue for the delay in opening.

Negotiations between the club and the city made it increasingly clear Tempe was likely to lose if the matter went to court, Mayor Hugh Hallman said.

But Hallman suggested the city may find a new way to block the club.

Days after the settlement was reached last week, a federal judge issued a ruling on the matter. Hallman said it doesn’t appear the judge had the authority to rule at that point. But if the judge did have jurisdiction, some of the judge’s arguments could give the city an opportunity to keep the club from opening.

The City Council discussed the issue in a closed-door session Monday, but officials said they didn’t have anything to say yet in public.

A settlement between Tempe and Elite Cabaret has set numerous requirements for the business once it opens. The provisions include:

- prompt clean-up of trash, graffiti

- regularly meet with the neighborhood watch group

- set up a 24-hour complaint hotline

- security in the parking lot after dark

- patrons must leave the parking lot within 30 minutes of closing

source

County attorney steps into strip club entanglement Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Aug. 29, 2007 07:55 PM

Tempe's move to allow Elite Cabaret to open is illegal, according to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' office.

The city recently settled a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed by the company that wants to open what could become Tempe's only strip club. The settlement agrees to let the club open.

However, the judge last week refused to give the settlement his blessing. "If the City of Tempe elects to ignore state and local zoning laws, it will do so at its own peril, without the sanction of this court," Judge Frederick Martone wrote.

Wednesday's letter from Thomas's office complicates the already tangled matter: The county attorney's office agreed with the judge's objection to the settlement and threatened both Tempe and the people opening the strip club.

The letter, written by Timothy La Sota, states that "locating an adult-oriented business in a prohibited area is a class one misdemeanor for each day that the violation occurs."

La Sota wrote that he intends to put the city and the strip club backers "on notice."

"It is the hope of this office that the parties will take appropriate steps to come into compliance with state law," La Sota wrote.

Tempe has been fighting Idaho Business Holdings LLC since 2005. The company wants to open Elite Cabaret on McClintock Drive just north of Loop 202.

The site has been controversial because it's near several "sensitive uses." City and state rules say adult businesses can't be within a quarter mile - or 1,320 feet - of churches, schools, parks and the like.

But Idaho Business Holdings has questioned timing of when those laws were put into place. The settlement agreement conceded that Tempe likely could have lost that argument at taxpayer expense and that Tempe should allow the cabaret to operate because the 1,320 feet rule wasn't in place when the club applied for a permit.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said he welcomes the county attorney's involvement.

"Tempe is never going to do anything that intentionally violates state law," Hallman said. "I'm delighted to know the county attorney is wiling to step in and litigate the constitutionality of the state statute."

The City Council will discuss what to do next during a closed-door executive session, said Andrew Ching, Tempe's city attorney.

John Weston, one of the attorneys representing Elite Cabaret, and Jeff Minor, who is the behind the attempts to open the club, declined to comment until they had time to discuss and digest the document.