Finally, Austin bar owners got their turn to speak on a possible exotic dancing ban.

Wednesday, August 09, 2000

Finally, Austin bar owners got their turn to speak on a possible exotic dancing ban.

"I’ve been in Austin more than 30 years," Brown Derby co-owner Marv Peters told City Council members at Tuesday’s ordinance committee meeting. "Now all of a sudden something that’s been here 40 years is causing Austin’s crime problems. Prostitution has been here since before I got here; it’s not going to go away.

"We need more policemen and more firemen. The money we spend on those flowers could pay for a couple more officers right now."

Peters wasn’t the only one at the meeting in favor of increasing the number of Austin’s finest. Council members got an earful from bar owners, teachers, managers and residents. They wanted more law enforcement – not a topless or nude dancing ban.

"The answer is getting more policemen, not to bring certain businesses or activities to an end," Austin resident Jill Vollmer said. "I don’t go to strip bars, but I don’t think we have the right to take that choice away. If you pass an ordinance saying Austin can’t have strippers, what’s next?"

Ordinance committee member Jeanne Poppe stressed that the objective of Tuesday’s meeting was to gather information, not to outlaw exotic dancing. Committee chairman Dick Lang said the same, as he again and again tried to draw suggestions from the audience for tackling Austin’s admitted prostitution problem rather than getting into a confrontation.

"We want to preserve everyone’s rights and everyone’s safety," Lang said toward the end of the highly charged meeting that saw one bar manager almost in tears. "We’re here to work for everyone and to be fair. … What I’m hearing from you is that it’s an enforcement issue."

Maryanne Law, director of the Parenting Resource Center, asked that the council aim for a balance between both sides with its regulations, and also that they try to provide a safety net because no matter what the law, it’s human nature to push the rules a little.

Police Chief Paul Philipp, who has been the driving force behind the recent push for a ban or at least stronger regulation, wants a comprehensive adult entertainment ordinance because he sees a direct link between the women who come to Austin to dance and prostitution.

"You have dancers who come to Austin who are willing to hook on the side," the police chief said at the beginning of the meeting. "Then you have friends who come with them to hook and the women who came to dance but didn’t get hired so they stay in town anyway. Then there are the boyfriends, who come with the dancers, who sell drugs or prostitutes. And, we have a ready client base here. … It’s my opinion that adult entertainment needs to be regulated by elected officials. I don’t expect the problems to magically go away, but a comprehensive ordinance will give us more power."

Peters, Vollmer, former council member Dick Pacholl and resident Dan Flaherty all want more power for the Austin Police Department, too – more manpower.

Once 36 strong, the department is operating now with 24 members because of two vacancies and two on sick leave. At most now, an officer will walk the bars once or twice an evening. Philipp said even if every position currently approved by the council were filled, which would put the department at 28 police officers plus three community service officers, it still wouldn’t be enough to do more patrolling downtown.

Pacholl hearkened back to the days when patrolling the downtown area was an officer’s entire beat and merchants felt safer than they do today. So did the police chief, who started his career walking the downtown beat.

Ordinance committee member Neil Fedson asked the chief how many more officers it would take to allow the department to increase its law enforcement activities downtown.

"I’ve asked for two more officers in this budget cycle," Philipp said. "If that request is successful, I plan to create a special team … one of the team’s duties would include a special patrol of the bars and the downtown area."

When Lang denied the Austin Beverage Association’s request that the meeting be postponed until its attorney could be present, an organization representative presented several other requests, including one that the city show proof that topless dancing has been directly connected to prostitution in Austin, as well as proof how gang activity, drugs and any other illegal activity has been directly involved with the downtown bars in Austin.

No decisions were made by city officials at the meeting, only to continue the discussion and examination of adult entertainment in Austin.

After the meeting Lang, a bar owner himself, said he thought the discussion probably had opened a few eyes on the council.

"I think what they (the audience) said was they want us to be fair but it’s an enforcement issue. The bar owners aren’t breaking the law, the traffickers are. Put the blame where it belongs."

Fedson said he was surprised because he hadn’t thought of the severe consequences a dancing ban might have on the business owners; bar owner Marv Peters stated that he would likely go out of business without the draw of dancers.

"The main point this meeting brought out was our need to hire more police officers, something we’ve been discussing the past six months," Fedson said. "I hope people will be understanding and if their taxes are raised they will understand why. I think they will. Everyone I’ve talked to has said they’d be willing to pay a little more to have more police on duty."