DETROIT – from www.detnews.com – City Council President Charles Pugh [pictured left] sparred with a prominent pastor, likened outlawing strip clubs to the civil-rights struggle and floated the idea of a red-light district Tuesday as debate about the city’s topless clubs heat up.
Pugh called out the Rev. Marvin L. Winans [pictured right] for living in the suburbs during the council’s debate about a proposal that would allow the city’s 33 clubs to continue to serve alcohol but require their workers to get special licenses from the city.
The remark came after Winans accused unnamed newly elected council members of betraying residents by backing away from ordinances proposed last year that would ban booze and require dancers to wear opaque pasties.
Winans criticized strip club owners for living outside the city, but Pugh reminded the gospel singer and movie star that he does, too.
“I am a part of the city,” said Winans who lives in Bloomfield Hills but grew up in Detroit and whose church is on the east side. “You can’t play that game.”
The council introduced regulations Tuesday that would ban VIP rooms, add license requirements and relegate dancers to an 18-inch tall stage, which would essentially ban lap dancing.
A public hearing is scheduled at 3 p.m. Feb. 22.
Later Tuesday, Pugh likened passing ordinances designed to shut down the clubs to laws that segregated blacks during an interview on the religious radio station WLQV-AM (1500). Pugh twice referred to the civil-rights movement to make his point.
“You’re making a judgment about what’s being sold. Some people made a judgment against African-Americans having the audacity of walking in the front door,” Pugh said. “I’m talking about discrimination. I’m talking about targeting laws against law-abiding businesses.”
Pugh said his staff is also researching the possibility of creating a red-light district to encourage established clubs from moving out of neighborhoods into a yet-to-be-determined area zoned for them.
It would be the latest proposal to pop from a broad crackdown that the council has considered for more than a year since a judge ruled Detroit’s current rules unconstitutional.