On the heels of the city of Augusta paying $72,360 in legal fees to defend the ordinance banning nude dancing and alcohol in the same building in most areas of the city, the Augusta Commission is discussing rolling back parts of the ordinance.
The commission correctly fought a decades-long battle to clean up the lower Broad Street area only to turn around months later and begin inching the door back open to allow strip clubs.
During the Nov. 28 meeting, some commissioners giggled like adolescent boys when discussing lap dances and “twerking” as if they were all hunkered down over a Playboy magazine, which brings us to our first point as to why the ordinance should not be touched.
Strip clubs objectify and dehumanize women.
Feminists have for decades fought against the objectification and over-sexualization of women, but they have largely been unsuccessful when it comes to establishments that draw in men to be “entertained” by nude women dancing suggestively.
Such “entertainment,” mixed with alcohol, can stir up the base instincts in men, and sometimes, that leads to criminality. As of mid-November, more than 50 rapes have been reported in Richmond County. The number is likely much higher as many rapes are not reported or prosecuted. Columbia County had 10 rapes reported in comparison.
So-called adult entertainment venues are a draw for criminal activity. Almost all strip clubs operate on a cash only basis, and the homeless are very aware of that fact. There is no better place to panhandle than a few feet away from a nude bar. Naturally, drug dealers who service homeless addicts are not far behind, and the scantily clad women on the nearby street corners are not always exotic dancers taking a cigarette break.
Adult entertainment zones contribute nothing to the local economy and actually have a stifling impact.
The near entirety of Downtown Augusta during the 1970s and 1980s offered some form of adult entertainment, and the public largely stayed away from the area once the sun went down.
It was entrepreneurs who opened pizza restaurants, quirky retail stores and art galleries that began what we have seen as a renaissance in that area, and the next step is convincing more people to move into the downtown area.
The whole idea of getting “heads in beds” and attracting a major grocer to the area will never happen if “adult entertainment zones” are allowed back into the mainstream. According to the National Association of Realtors, people would rather live near a nuclear plant or landfill than a district of strip clubs. In fact, the only thing that negatively affects growth more than strip clubs is a bad school district.
The commission has already spent over $72,000 of taxpayers money trying to put this matter to rest. It is best now to move on lest the commission, in all its wisdom, creates another costly loophole and sends taxpayers the bill for their court costs.
