Exotic dance bill
still in Council’s lap

The bill would hold the currently
unregulated lap-dancing clubs to
the same scrutiny as strip clubs

By Veronica Fajardo
Star-Bulletin

Debate over restriction of lap dancing is back in the lap of the City Council.

Employees from strip bars urged the Council to pass laws that would regulate lap-dancing clubs. But employees from those clubs said regulation would put many of them out of business.

During a hearing yesterday, strip bar employees said if the Council fails to regulate the lap-dancing clubs, strip bars might be forced to enter the lap-dancing business. Under liquor license laws, strip bars cannot offer lap dancing.

"We don't want to, but it's a matter of economic survival," said Travis Flemming, an employee at Club Femme Nu.

"Every club is waiting to see if this thing is a go. Clubs will switch over; it will be a matter of survival at that point."

A bill being considered would make it illegal for anyone under age 21 to enter a lap-dancing club; ban the clubs from operating within 500 feet of any residential area, school yard or city park; and prohibit clubs from opening next to licensed strip bars.

If approved, the bill would hold the currently unregulated lap-dancing clubs to the same scrutiny strip clubs now undergo for licensing.

It passed a second reading in Council yesterday and heads for a third.

Jerry Adamany of Fantasy Island/Showgirls, a joint lap-dancing and strip bar, said his club is operating within the parameters of the First Amendment and that if the Council approves the bill, it will put him out of business.

Because lap dancing in Hawaii is unlicensed, some clubs are knocking down walls and opening lap-dancing clubs next to their strip bars.

Adamany said that while he recognizes the need for some regulatory measures, if the bill passes in its present form, he would be forced to either relocate his club or shut down his lap-dancing operation.

"You're taking a business that was granted approval to operate in the state and now taking it away from us," he said. "If you pass this bill you are singling us out and knocking us out of business."

In Texas, where lap dancing originated, Flemming said, no physical contact is allowed and the clubs there are regulated. Performers are required to stay at least six inches away from the customer and police monitor the clubs and arrest performers for prostitution if they enter the six-inch "safety zone."

"Lap dancing is nothing more then a simulation of sexual acts between two individuals," he said.

Joe Jenkins, a waiter from Club Femme Nu, said Council members need to set rules to protect customers who throw away large amounts of money in the lap-dancing clubs when the girls perform. He said the more the dancer will do, the higher the tip will be.

"When you have intoxicated men coming into contact with near-nude women grinding themselves against their body, they will succumb," he said.

Nicole Krotzer danced at a San Diego lap-dancing club and in a string of strip clubs over the past six years. Since lap dancing became popular, she said, she has noticed a change for the worse in the "exotic dancing" industry.

"The progression has gone from entertainment and performance to how dirty you can get. Lap dancing is making it worse," she said.