You are looking at posts in the category San Francisco massage parlors.
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It’s not the first time some Lafayette establishments have been in the spotlight. But Heather Schlachter, a somatic therapist who is also a trained massage therapist, says more attention is being paid to the issue because of an influx of massage parlors in this city and elsewhere.
“What’s hard is that they’re trying to restrict prostitution,” Schlachter said about the city’s new rules, which regulate everything from signage to hours these business must be closed. “They’re trying to place these laws that have to do with prostitution, and not people like us. It’s a very tough place to be.”
Therapists and practitioners have been in that tough place since February, when several residents approached the council with complaints about possible illegal activity at massage parlors in their neighborhoods. One read explicit reviews of local shops taken from several websites, and a tailor complained that shady goings-on at a nearby parlor were putting a dent in his business. The city responded by drafting a tough new law that regulates all massage establishments.
City staff, massage therapists and area residents turned out at Monday’s meeting of the Lafayette city council to weigh in on the city’s attempts to regulate a proliferation of massage parlors within city limits.
Ordinance 606 will be brought back for a second reading by the council on May 29.
See the full article from “Patch.com”
… We wanted to give them that flexibility because it’s pretty clear that we’ve always been demanding a white-tablecloth restaurant and I’ve learned over the years that in a tough economy like this, you really have to let the market drive whatever is going to happen,” Mayor Rob Schroder said.
“At this point we’re kind of learning that we may get a white-tablecloth restaurant in there, but would it be successful?”
However, the sales agreement prohibits a list of uses for the street level space in both buildings, including offices, bail bonds agency, check-cashing store, pawnshop, medical marijuana dispensary, massage parlor and liquor store. In a nod to the recent kerfuffle over a proposal for a building in the 500 block of Main Street, the agreement also bans lice removal salons and colon cleansing salons.
The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday to sell 630 Court St. for $155,000 to Southport Land and Commercial Co. and transfer ownership of 610 Court St. to the company. In March, the council agreed to buy 610 Court St. from Contra Costa County for $378,000 with the understanding that Southport would reimburse the city. Martinez bought 630 Court St. from the county for $175,000 in 2005.
By using part of the ground floor in 610 Court St. for a conference room that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, plus a large trash room, Southport would free up space in 630 Court St. to expand the restaurant and possibly add a bakery.
The council has been adamant about its desire for a white tablecloth restaurant in 630 Court St. The sales agreement prohibits a list of businesses for the space, including bail bond agency, laundromat, pawn shop, medical marijuana dispensary, massage parlor and liquor store. In a nod to the recent controversy over a proposal for a building in the 500 block of Main Street, the agreement also bans lice removal salons and colon cleansing salons.
Both districts are “community commercial zones,” where several years ago regulations were modified to allow tattoo shops on a ground floor on Webster Street with a use permit and on an upper floor as a “by right” use.
About the same time, however, the Park Street Business Association moved to prohibit the shops outright on a ground floor, according to the city.
A proposal from a tattoo business to open on a ground floor on Webster Street last year sparked widespread opposition from nearby residents and merchants, prompting the West Alameda Business Association to now ask for regulations identical to those regarding Park Street.
Along with governing the location of tattoo shops, the ordinance going before the council Tuesday would allow massage businesses on ground floors on Park and Webster streets with a use permit.
City officials also are asking the council to remove “massage parlor” from the city’s municipal code as an “adult entertainment activity.”
At the May 21 meeting, the council will review an ordinance requiring that massage therapists and practitioners are certified by the California Massage Therapy Council, a private nonprofit the Legislature created in 2008 as part of a law that established statewide standards for massage professionals.
Under the proposal, owners must register their massage business annually with police and keep a list of the certified therapists and practitioners who work there. Owners also would have to keep a daily log of each client, the therapist who treated them and the services performed. Police officers could inspect the logs as part of a criminal investigation or ordinance compliance check.
Dunbar said police do not have reliable data on the extent of the prostitution problem in Pleasant Hill. However, he noted that Bay Area law enforcement agencies also are increasingly concerned about human trafficking linked to massage parlors because women are sometimes forced into prostitution to pay off the debt for their passage to the United States.
TAMPA — The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office has dropped a charge against a Brandon spa operator accused of violating a county ordinance.
Hui Juan Xu, 43, the operator of Blue Danube Spa, was arrested in March and charged with running an unlicensed sexually-oriented business.
But legitimate massage parlors are not considered sexually-oriented businesses in Hillsborough County, state attorney’s spokesman Mark Cox said, and are not required to obtain those licenses.
A judge closed the case last month.
See the full article from “Tampabay.com”
Police said the suspected armed robber is a Hispanic man in his 20s who was wearing a dark hat, dark glasses, a dark hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. A second suspect is believed to be involved and had a similar description and visible tattoos on his arms, Wrapp said.
Neither employee sustained any injuries in the incident, police said.
The two stolen vehicles are a white 2010 Kia Sedona van with California license plate number 6LRX798 and a black 1999 Honda Civic with California license plate number 4EPP234, police said.
Royalty Spa has been reported as an adult massage parlor at a number of sites that reportedly list establishments that offer sex services. For instance, rubmaps.com, which features an interactive map of adult massage parlors and user-submitted reviews of masseuses and sex services, has a listing for Royalty Spa, as does a site called NaughtyReviews.com. A Yelp reviewer from December 2011 suggested that Royalty Sa was a “shameless, disguised brothel.”
See the full article from “Patch.com”
The wiretapping count is based on his admission that he used interception devices to record cell phone conversations of people his clients paid him to surveil. The charge covers activities from August 2007 until his arrest, but he estimated that he used the tactic between 75 and 100 times over the past decade.
Additionally, Butler said he was paid $3,500 from a mother wanting to “scare straight” her son, and shared the payout with Wielsch for staging the youth’s arrest. On 10 occasions, Butler said he and Wielsch found prostitutes through the Internet, rushed their front doors and took their personal property.
In the summer of 2010, Butler said he posed as a police officer when he and Wielsch shook down a prostitute and her madam of $10,000 in cash and property at a San Ramon hotel.
Butler confirmed long-held rumors when he said he and Wielsch ran a brothel out of a Pleasant Hill massage parlor from November 2009 through April 2010, collecting $10,000 in rent and protection money, as Wielsch’s position of authority shielded them from scrutiny.
Only on the Concord police could one officer lodge sexual harassment allegations against another who previously won a settlement for sexual discrimination. The Concord cops who show up each day just to do their jobs must feel like they wandered onto the set of a TV reality show.
Have you noticed the three separate Walnut Creek establishments on Locust Street, all within a span of 50 yards, that regularly advertise specials for 30-minute therapeutic foot massages? What is it about that street that makes peoples’ feet so sore?
Speaking of massages: It’s good to see the Lafayette city fathers finally cracking down on the extracurricular services being offered in such parlors. That’s precisely the kind of activity that has earned Lafayette its unsavory reputation.
The latest ruling in Martinez is that it’s OK to be licensed as a lice-removal business and it’s OK to do whatever needs doing behind closed doors. Just don’t advertise those services on your storefront signage. Wonder if that goes for massage parlors, too?
