Ok, I wanted some peoples opinions on this because this has been a big issue in our neck of the woods. Opinions of all types are welcome, but please be mature and somewhat civil to each other. This will be off topic but interesting nonetheless.
There used to be a pretty seedy bar right across the street from me (well one block over across the highway), I used to go there a ton and I loved it. It was REAL bad for a long time...Think of the movie Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze, and that was basically the bar, but with more of a white trash flavor to it, with tons of very promiscuous women/men etc (basically a den of ill repute if you will, but it was a bar/dance club). I had a LOT of fun there when I had long hair <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
Anyways the place closed down, and someone else bought it. They wanted to put in a bikini bar in there, but the local "family values" groups freaked out and did the whole "we don't want a place like that in our neighborhood" angle. The place won't even be topless that I know of, it will just be chicks in bikinis serving beer and dancing for you and possibly giving a lap dance or whatever. Well our local county commissioner (who I HATE for other reasons) got involved and made it her political soap box in order to further her career to get deeper into politics.
Now for the specifics. The place is 100% correctly zoned, meaning legally it has every right to be there. They knew damn well ahead of time that ANY business of ANY type was fully able to go in there, but they apparently didnt care. Now that it's there, and tonight is opening night, they seem to think the world is coming to an end. I do personally believe that they could have found a better location, but a fully popular bar was already there (the bar I used to go to).
One of the noted problems is that there is a dance academy there, so there are quite a few young girls in leotards near there DURING THE DAY and EARLY EVENING. I'm not sure what time the place will operate, but that is still not the places fault. I'm more of a political "Centrist", meaning I use both sides of the spectrum for political beliefs to choose what makes sense, and I pretty much abide by the constitution and the bill of rights overall, i'm generally one who believes that freedom of choice is the way to go, and whatever is LEGAL, and consenting ADULTS want to do, go for it.
So now this is a giant issue, and they will probably be going back and forth in court. I'm personally not a big patron of strip clubs, or even lame bikini bars, but I will be going there tonight just to flick my finger at the opportunistic politician that is using this as one of her steps to further her career. She fails to realize that by her drawing so much attention to this place, people will flock to the place in droves just to check it out, and many of those would have never gone in the first place.
So what is your take on this? My one friend is heavily religious, and can't seem to realize that regardless how people feel about something personally, as long as it's legal, people should be allowed to do whatever they want within those boundaries. I'm personally agnostic, so I can separate those strong personal feelings from the issue at hand. I also look at things as a "Isn't there something more important we could be B**ching about?" angle. If those same soccer moms who are freaking out about a place thats a tad worse than the avergae Hooters restaurant would channel that same exact energy into helping to gain charitable money for say pediatric cancer, or cleaning up our environment, or helping homeless abused animals, just think how much we could accomplish?
Anyways, was just curious what you guys thought. (lets be somewhat civil).
There used to be a pretty seedy bar right across the street from me (well one block over across the highway), I used to go there a ton and I loved it. It was REAL bad for a long time...Think of the movie Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze, and that was basically the bar, but with more of a white trash flavor to it, with tons of very promiscuous women/men etc (basically a den of ill repute if you will, but it was a bar/dance club). I had a LOT of fun there when I had long hair <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
Anyways the place closed down, and someone else bought it. They wanted to put in a bikini bar in there, but the local "family values" groups freaked out and did the whole "we don't want a place like that in our neighborhood" angle. The place won't even be topless that I know of, it will just be chicks in bikinis serving beer and dancing for you and possibly giving a lap dance or whatever. Well our local county commissioner (who I HATE for other reasons) got involved and made it her political soap box in order to further her career to get deeper into politics.
Now for the specifics. The place is 100% correctly zoned, meaning legally it has every right to be there. They knew damn well ahead of time that ANY business of ANY type was fully able to go in there, but they apparently didnt care. Now that it's there, and tonight is opening night, they seem to think the world is coming to an end. I do personally believe that they could have found a better location, but a fully popular bar was already there (the bar I used to go to).
One of the noted problems is that there is a dance academy there, so there are quite a few young girls in leotards near there DURING THE DAY and EARLY EVENING. I'm not sure what time the place will operate, but that is still not the places fault. I'm more of a political "Centrist", meaning I use both sides of the spectrum for political beliefs to choose what makes sense, and I pretty much abide by the constitution and the bill of rights overall, i'm generally one who believes that freedom of choice is the way to go, and whatever is LEGAL, and consenting ADULTS want to do, go for it.
So now this is a giant issue, and they will probably be going back and forth in court. I'm personally not a big patron of strip clubs, or even lame bikini bars, but I will be going there tonight just to flick my finger at the opportunistic politician that is using this as one of her steps to further her career. She fails to realize that by her drawing so much attention to this place, people will flock to the place in droves just to check it out, and many of those would have never gone in the first place.
So what is your take on this? My one friend is heavily religious, and can't seem to realize that regardless how people feel about something personally, as long as it's legal, people should be allowed to do whatever they want within those boundaries. I'm personally agnostic, so I can separate those strong personal feelings from the issue at hand. I also look at things as a "Isn't there something more important we could be B**ching about?" angle. If those same soccer moms who are freaking out about a place thats a tad worse than the avergae Hooters restaurant would channel that same exact energy into helping to gain charitable money for say pediatric cancer, or cleaning up our environment, or helping homeless abused animals, just think how much we could accomplish?
Anyways, was just curious what you guys thought. (lets be somewhat civil).