Seattle – from www.seattlepi.com – Jiggles, a troubled University District strip club that officials say opened without a proper permit, took out a half-page ad in the Stranger this week, claiming the city “apparently hates people who create jobs.”

The ad states the city is trying to “shut us down and put our 40 employees out of work.” It also asked people to come support the club, showing support for the First Amendment.

In addition to opening without a proper permit, city officials say the club is in violation of city zoning laws.

The strip club, Jiggles, opened at the site of a former comedy club, Giggles.

On Jan. 27, the City Attorney’s Office asked the King County Superior Court to shut down the club, run by Robert D. Davis, who leases the property at 5220 Roosevelt Way N.E. The club has operated since Dec. 16.

Staff at the club hung up on reporters calling for comment, and Davis’ attorney did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

The argument that targeting strip clubs attacks the First Amendment is often used.

But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cities and states can ban nude dancing and regulate adult-oriented businesses, but can’t prohibit them from operating. Federal courts generally protect such businesses unless communities can prove “harmful secondary effects” — increased crime, blight or diminished property values, USA Today reported.

The Jiggles ad, which also includes a photo of scantily clad “Serenity, doesn’t address the accusations that the club opened without a proper permit and violates city law. Click here to read about the city code that regulates strip club.

The city’s action against Jiggles is another hurdle for Davis, who has tried — and most often failed — to open strip clubs in Seattle.

Davis tried for years to open a strip club on Aurora Avenue North at the site of Cindy’s House of Pancakes. In 2009, he filed a federal lawsuit accusing city officials of dragging their feet in permitting the club at 10507 Aurora Ave. N. — an establishment some neighbors had opposed.

The sale of the building fell through, the restaurant reopened and representatives from the Downtown Emergency Service Center hope to eventually build a six-story building with 80 to 90 studio units with support services in the building for tenants, including many who were previously homeless.

Last year, Davis applied for an adult entertainment license and business license for the former site of Rick’s strip club in Lake City. But city officials noted that didn’t mean a strip club would open there.

Davis doesn’t own the Rick’s building and an auction date hasn’t been set.

Rick’s, associated with the late Frank Colacurcio Sr., closed in early May as part of a plea deal in a federal probe. Federal authorities are expected to auction the site.

Federal prosecutors alleged that strip club and three others were used as fronts for prostitution and garnered Colacurcio Sr. and associates millions.

In November, a message on the phone for Giggles Comedy Club — which changed management May 1, according to its website — said the club that opened in 1985 closed permanently at the location because of increased competition. The message said the site would become a “dance and music” club, with the last week of October as an approximate opening date.

The state license record for Jiggles, which also has Giggles Comedy Night Club LLC, as a registered trade name, indicates it was issued a license for spirits beer and wine service on May 11.