City Council to review bill
regulating BYOB strip clubs

By Alisa LaVelle
Star-Bulletin

Bring-your-own-booze nightclubs with nude dancing would fall under the same strict regulations of liquor-serving strip clubs under a bill authored by City Councilman Andy Mirikitani.

An attorney for a nonalcoholic strip club called the bill unnecessary, unconstitutional and an issue of forced morality.

"We will appeal this bill if it passes," said Richard Gronna, who represents Warren Colazzo, owner of Babes in Paradise.

Bill 54, meant to regulate teen and nude nightclubs, goes before City Council for a public hearing June 30. The bill was heard before the Planning and Public Safety Committee, chaired by Mirikitani.

The bill would help control strip bars that are avoiding licensing and regulations required of alcohol-serving clubs, Mirikitani said.

The bill would prohibit anyone under 21 from dancing nude or being admitted in the BYOB nightclubs. It would also require dancers to perform on stages and avoid contact with customers.

Babes in Paradise, which does not admit anyone under 21, hires 18-year-olds to dance.

Mirikitani's other bill, Bill 55, also goes before the City Council on June 30.

Bill 55 would force businesses with three prostitution-related convictions over a five-year period to shut down for up to a year.