DETROIT — The City Council won’t reconsider its rejection of a license transfer that would have paved the way for a Larry Flynt Hustler strip club in downtown Detroit.
President Pro Tem Monica Conyers [pictured] told a packed council auditorium Wednesday she decided against changing her “no” vote. Conyers had said in November before the council went on holiday break that she wanted to reconsider her vote.
Several prominent pastors attended Wednesday’s meeting and lobbied against the reconsideration, including the Rev. Marvin Winans of Perfecting Church and the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit
“She listened to all the sides and made a decision,” said Sam Riddle, a consultant to Conyers. “She basically decided the interest of the citizens of Detroit prevailed in her decision-making process.”
The council voted 5-3 against the transfer on Nov. 15.
The club’s owners, HDV-Greektown LLC, want to open the strip club at 415 E. Congress, the current site of the Zoo Bar, and have a federal lawsuit pending against Detroit in an effort to force the city to approve transfer of the entertainment and topless activity license.
“This doesn’t change a thing,” the club’s attorney, Frank Palazzolo said, referring to Conyers’ decision. “The litigation is the litigation.”
The owners first asked for the transfer in June 2003, but the council has refused to act on the request. If the council approves the transfer, the state would need to approve it as well.
Council banned new strip bars from opening downtown in the late 1990s, but that didn’t affect the bar on Congress, which had been operating since 1986.
Richard Mack Jr., an attorney and member of Perfecting Church, said that Detroit should follow the lead of many of the surrounding suburbs, which have kept out strip clubs.
“I challenge anyone in the state to name a city that would allow a three-story strip club to open,” Mack said.
In the November vote, those rejecting the license transfer were council members Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta, Martha Reeves, JoAnn Watson and Conyers. Voting for the license transfer were council members Sheila Cockrel, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi and Ken Cockrel Jr. Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins was absent.