Salem Residents, Businesses, and City Leaders to Proposed Strip Club Owner; Thanks But No Thanks

City leaders, south Salem residents and business owners are fighting every which way they can to keep Salem from gaining an eighth strip club

(SALEM) - A proposed strip club in south Salem has neighbors and business owners seeing red, and they say they will fight the club’s owner from opening his doors in their family friendly neighborhood, even if they have to take their case all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court.

The Salem City Council on Monday, voted to take the issue to a public hearing next Monday night.

A liquor license application board, chaired by city councilor Brad Nanke, found the following reasons why the city should deny the club’s liquor license application.

"The club will be located within 500 feet in a urban or suburban areas or within 1,500 feet in a rural area of the boundary (measured property line to property line) of a licensed child care facility or elementary or secondary school; a church; a hospital; nursing care facility or convalescent care facility; a park or children-oriented recreational facility; and alcohol and other drug treatment or rehabilitation facility and will adversely impact the facility."

Nanke also claims that according to ORS 471.313, the applicant "is not of good repute and moral character. The Board felt the presence of a park and possibly other facilities set out in OAR 845-005-0326(2)(a) within the 500-foot boundary of property line was grounds for denial of the license, and that the applicant’s moral character should be reviewed in light of the plans to open an adult entertainment facility in a residential area."

Frank Boussad, who owns Big Shots Bar & Broiler in North Salem, is planning on opening Presley's Playhouse Cabaret in the former Mike's steakhouse, 3803 Commercial St. SE.

Faye Wright Neighborhood Association Chairperson Julia Allison is leading the charge of individuals and businesses opposed to the club.

Allison says resistance to having an eighth strip club open it’s doors is Salem is very high. “Pretty much everyone in south Salem is opposed to this, not just because of it’s location, but the kind of message a club like that sends to our children, and using young girls to strip and dance around naked is degrading to all women." Allison said.

One of the major concerns opponents have is the number parks and businesses in the area that attract kids of all ages.

There are 4 Salem City Parks near the establishment; Hillview Park is just two blocks away, Woodmansee Park is about one mile away. Two child-care centers are also nearby, and homes, with children, begin less than 500 feet from the business on Ewald Ave SE.

Northern Lights Theatre and Pub is nearby and offers kids movies, Baskin-Robbins is just across the street.

There is a Cherriots and Salem-Keizer school bus stop located just in front of the proposed club.

Midge Houck owns the property just north of the proposed club that includes the South Salem Immediate Care Clinic and Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. She says her plans include opening pre and after school care for the employees of her real estate business.

Houck said that parking is a huge issue at the former restaurant, and if the club opens she plans to have neighbors armed with cell phones walking her property looking for club patron's vehicles and having them towed

“He just doesn’t understand yet just how bad we all don’t want it, and we are going to fight and keep fighting to keep the club out of south Salem. If it opens will are going to make things really tough on him,” Houck said.

Houck said that Boussad's realtor, Tina Wiltsey, called her and said that if she paid Boussad one million dollars, he would move the club to another part of town.

According to the Oregon State Police, there are 3 predatory sex offenders living within a one mile radius of the proposed club, two males and one female.

Last week, the OLCC held a liquor license hearing on the club’s liquor license application.

City Councilors, T.J. Sullivan, Brent DeHart, Brad Nanke, and Rick Stuckey all attended the meeting.

Salem Police Chief Gerry Moore, and Salem City Attorney Randall Tosh also attended.

Up next for the club’s liquor license application, will be a motion Monday by the city council to send it to a public hearing on August 28th at 6:30 PM.

"Everyone opposed to this type of activity in the Faye Wright neighborhood should try to be there”. We are trying to make a point that nude strip clubs do NOT belong in neighborhoods where children, parks, daycares, and schools, are prevalent." Allison said.

Then after reviewing all of the evidence and public letters, either in favor or against, OLCC acting director Steve Pharo will have the final say.

Sullivan said that if the club opened, he would have to go with his kids to such places as Northern Lights.

They all said that they are not pro-business, only looking at the club's existence as a question of morality.

Chief Moore said that these types of clubs that are currently open in the Salem-area do a great job of policing themselves from problems.

The last thing they want is police cars outside their business drawing attention, "It’s bad, really bad, for those types of business," he said.

In regard to future parking issues, Sullivan and the Salem Public Works Department are finalizing a plan to place Ewald Ave SE, Harvey Street SE, and other neighborhood streets that surround the club in a residential parking district meaning those parking on the street would have to have a permit to park, if not, they will be towed.

During a neighborhood association meeting last month, one resident living near the proposed club said he may move if it opens because his daughter was raped by a man when she was eight.

“If this is the kind of riff-raff that is going to be coming into our neighborhoods, no thanks! How can proponents of this club think that mixing alcohol and aroused men is not going to lead to problems?” Allson said.

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Blackhill August 27, 2006 6:02 pm (Pacific time)

The issue isn't nudity. If the same building were to be used for life drawing art classes, no one would bat an eye. The issue is one of quality of life for the neighborhood because of the kind of customers who will be attracted to the business. And talk about kitsch! "Presley's Playhouse Cabaret?" You've got to be kidding me! It screams low life.

Albert Marnell August 25, 2006 3:37 pm (Pacific time)

Dear HUMAN, Why did you put in a repeat performance? Think of something new!

---- August 25, 2006 1:56 pm (Pacific time)

Matt's fault shouldn't have approved I thought I was having deja vu

Albert Marnell August 25, 2006 1:26 pm (Pacific time)

Dear Hue Mann, Moral Turpitude is in the eye of the victim. When I was in my early twenties I accepted a job that had nothing to do with sex. A group of men, who are probably in their seventies now were looking for a young man to help them with their dry-cleaning, car rental and liquor store businesses. The three establishments were next to each other. I worked for minimum wage and quit in a week. I never worked so hard, and felt so exploited and disrepected in my life. They ran me ragged and then told me with a demented smile that I could get about four pair of pants dry cleaned for free each week. That my friend is Moral Turpitude and it had nothing to do with sex. They thought that I was hard up for money and that I could be treated like a slave. I walked. And if I had no other alternatives I would have joined the ranks of Rachel Lea Soto and said F.U. to the whole system. A system which uses monetary policy to create a balance between inflation and employment. A system that can not function at full employment because it is claimed that the implications of full real employment create run-away- inflation. You are an excellent writer but get your mind out of the gutter in a figurative sense. Many, many jobs exploit and degrade people that are far more humiliating than stripping. Many people like myself have experienced this with our clothes on and our pants pressed and dry-cleaned.

Hue Mann August 25, 2006 10:32 am (Pacific time)

When viewed in a realistic light, strip clubs are the soft/acceptable end of the slave trade in North America. Women agree to parade their naked bodies before men satisfying base sexual urges in return for money. Drugs, always in abundance in these places, are used to numb the dancers humiliation of suffering ritual sexual degradation. As well as providing a profitable sideline for aging dancers with fading appeal. Alcohol, the catalyst for these places existence, provides ample opportunity for moral mistakes to be made by both dancer and patron. The owners of these places have honed their abilities manipulate through coercion. Praying on girls not knowledgeable of what they risk. Praying on the patrons through salacious offering of nudity and the illusion of 'possibility'. There is no clear definition of Moral Turpitude, but I know when I see it. Open the doors of these establishments and you invite a den of iniquity into your community. Go Google that and see what you find.

Jovan' August 24, 2006 10:00 am (Pacific time)

I have to say that being a mother of five beautiful girls who are all 7 and under, i to would not like to see another strip joint.. don't get me wron.. i have been to a few myself.. but i do think that they should not be in the center of town where we walk everyday with our children.It is about respecting others!

Anya August 23, 2006 10:45 pm (Pacific time)

Presumably the parents so concerned about their children will raise children that would such a place so against their own individual family's morals. Speaking from experience - having danced at strip clubs for over five years, though it is several years in my past - I assure you that stripping is FAR more empowering to the dancers than, say, the average waitressing job (several of which I also held at a younger age.) The POLICE CHIEF as much as says in this story that these places cause LESS trouble than average. That should indicate that safety is not an issue any more than it would be for any other type of business. I find that a lot of people who are so opposed to having a strip club in their neighborhood have never even been in a strip club. The other group I find to be generally opposed to strip clubs are married women who are afraid their husbands will look at other women. To this group, I'd like to point out that, your insecurity aside, it is much safer for your husband to visit a strip club than to visit a bar. In the bar, women may wish to take your husband home with them. The dancers at the club have no such desire. If you are ashamed of the human body, don't go in, but don't condemn anyone else who isn't ashamed. Paying women to be naked IS okay, so long as the woman is a consenting adult with the mental capacity to make the decision to be naked. Live your own life - don't go trying to live life for every other citizen of Salem. If the club is truly unwanted by the citizens of Salem, then it won't make enough money to survive because no one will frequent it.

Albert Marnell August 23, 2006 9:43 pm (Pacific time)

Respectfully to Julia and Blackhill, I have to admit from the feedback this one is a tough call. Maybe, I say maybe, the thing that rubs me wrong is when people in power play unethical games like manufacturing reasons to stop something. Using legal loopholes or outright fabrication to give the perceived majority what it wants does not set well with me. What if this were a gay bar, would you think that it should not be near children? Or should it not be near your neighborhood? It is really a bad comparison because gay establishments can be quite classy. It is also a bad comparison because most gay clubs are just a place for people to meet and get away from the day to day pressures of life in addition to the daily phobias spoken and unspoken that most gay people are exposed to. What if the place was a club that catered to a mostly black clientele? Would people feel the same but be silent because of political correctness and fear of legal retaliation? If a neigborhood was getting that bad, I would just move. Unfortunately in my life I have had to move a number of times because a neighborhood deteriorated or the people had such middle class Disneyland values that I could not stand to be exposed to that fantasy stuff either. Living a sanitized "Leave It To Beaver" life is like being forced to sit through a bad movie. This situation will change day to day and is kind of interesting. Also I wish people would be more concerned with what goes on inside the home with the children than spending so much energy on what is going on outside the home. The best way to protect children is to love them to death and teach them about the outside world. Hiding the realities of existence only makes them weak and neurotic. I am still recovering from my upbringing. My parents were total control freaks and to a degree whenever I had the chance to get to the dirty part of town it was like a breath of fresh air. You can die from boredom living in a prison with curtains and waxed furniture. There is no easy answer here. Keep the comments coming.

Julia Allison August 23, 2006 8:40 pm (Pacific time)

Mr. Marnell. The children are our future by allowing this activity we are saying that looking and paying women to get nude is ok. A large number of fathers are against this club. Many of us agree with you about Walmart and their business pratices. We are trying to say we don't want these clubs placed in family neighborhoods. they should be put somewhere away from schools and parks like STARS.

Albert Marnell August 23, 2006 7:20 pm (Pacific time)

I was tired, so I didn't put the r in frightened, what do you want?....my blood? Call me a subliterate with a double digit I.Q. So sue me. Where the hell is everyone...August vacation? Is that a picture of Frank Boussad? While I am at it, I hate it when politicians cave-in to middle class morality. Like I said, multinationals are so immoral and evil but people are hung up about sex, sex, sex. The military is immoral, the police, the government, the religious right etc. but everyone is hung up over two people bumping uglies. Liquor is classy and good when it is served at an evil White House function. But serve it at a strip joint and it is decadent. Last comment: You don't have to go to Abu Ghraib to witness prison abuse. It is right here in every prison in the good ole U.S.A. and the people being abused are American citizens.

Blackhill August 23, 2006 7:07 pm (Pacific time)

Walmart is better than a strip joint. (Sorry I couldn't resist.) Point taken on the sweatshops. But that's not the issue here. The residence of south Salem don't want a strip joint for a broad range of reasons.

Albert Marnell August 23, 2006 1:40 pm (Pacific time)

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the argument of "THE CHILDREN! THE CHILDREN! really gets old. If there is a legitimate reason to be against something, state that reason but knock it off with "THE CHILDREN," already. Don't tell me that Walmart is any better than a strip joint. The people that contract with the sweatshops in Bangladesh are not of good repute and moral character. People are just fightened of sex, especially women. Don't think your kids never play doctor.

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