Link asks for a motion. Whidden moves to recommend the ordinance to the council for approval.

The vote: Unanimous.

Game over as far as the LPA goes. But I’m quite sure the council hearing will be … lively.

I’ll post a story as soonas I’m back at the office.

“It seems to me like the endgame is to keep the establishment from happening … Destin doesn’t need it. We’re a small town.”

And that appears to be it for public comment.

Link: Is it possible to put a moratorium on any SOBs until this ordinance passes?

Shirley: Doesn’t recommend it.

Link: Could Kisela enforce the ordinance as it stands today? Could they issue a citation if that was occurring before the new ordinance passes?

Shirley: If the Oasis violated existing ordinances, yes.

Whidden of the LPA: Where does Stephenson live? Wiggins: Has homes in Destin and in Atlanta. Whidden: “Does he feel this establishment will enhance the image of Destin?” Wiggins: “Yes he does?”
Whidden asks if Stephenson has kids. Wiggins: Yes. Several ages.
Wiggins: “There’s this general notion or feeling that a gentleman’s club or a novelty store” is inherently disgusting. The argument that people won’t report crimes because they don’t want to promote that they’re “sexual deviants” assumes that going to a nudie bar is sexually deviant and people like that. “It would be well run, high security.” As for neighbors, “other clubs that have been studied empirically have been proven to be less of a problem than non-adult clubs because the standard of security is so high … bouncers, floor managers, everyone’s trained … all those kinds of things you won’t find at your typical honky-tonk bar.”
Whidden: “A lot of people own property here but they don’t raise their children here.”
Wiggins (who says he’s from Niceville): Understands the concern and discomfort. But he argues that given the strict licensing rules in the ordinance (regarding revocation if you screw up), the pressure on the club to fly straight and keep everything above board is overridingly strong. So if alcohol is sold there, everything would still be kept clean and orderly.
Link: “Did your client ever explain to you why he wants to inject this type of business into a family oriented city?”
Wiggins: You don’t stock bookstores only with children’s literature, you offer entertainment for all ages too: “There has to be adult entertainment too.”
And by keeping alcohol in the club “it gives the government more regulatory control … it acts as a carrot and a stick… it works. The licensing system works. If you have a bad or a rogue operator, yank their license. That’s how you control the clubs. But Mr. Stephenson doesn’t view the proposed business as a blight.”

“What level of nudity are we talking about?” Would nipples be OK?
Garganese: “No, does not allow the exposure of the female nipple.” (not a phrase I usually get to use on the job).
Burns also suggests keeping the club closed until noon, rather than 9am.
Garganese: There is some leeway–that would be acceptable.
Betty Kenyon next: Her last assignment before retirement was Las Vegas. “it was Sin City–that was not the environment I wanted.” We want “healthy, wholesome activities here” and Oasis is way too close to Destin Community Center w/all the kids playing there. “It’s not the image the city of Destin needs… let’s not change the image of the city, which right now, I think, is pretty good.”