There's an interesting back-and-forth in the comments of this Fort Wayne Observed post about mayoral candidate Matt Kelty wanting to fight SOBs -- sexually oriented businesses. I'm not sure how important this issue is, given all that will be on the next mayor's plate. The larger issue, which some of the commenters approached, is a sex-obsessed popular culture in which we (and our children) can see far more on the living-room tube than is visible at the "gentelemen's clubs." But that's what a campaign is about; Kelty cares about the issue and puts it out there to see if voters agree.
A further observation: As problematical as courts have tried to make dealing with strip joints (nude dancing being a protected form of "expression," after all), I like where the Supreme Court ended up on the overall issue of obscenity (that, rather than "pornography" being the legal concept) -- to be decided by prevailing local standards. Fort Wayne and Las Vegas aren't the same, and we shouldn't want them to be. Prevailing standards are generally set by a prosecutor's judgment of the local morality and how much time and energy the prosecutor is willing to devote. Anyone who wants to direct such a war from the mayor's office should probably be talking with Prosecutor Karen Richards.
Comments
The ADULT ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS which includes GENTLEMANS CLUBS and EROTIC NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY PUBLICATIONS and INTERNET
SEXUAL EDUCATION WEB SITES is a 15-20 BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY.
Thats bigger than GM. Ford. Chrysler. Toyota. Honda. professional sports ( which gambling on march madness in Indiana is illegal, by the way ).
If there wasnt the demand for all the SOB'S in allen county- escort services, strip clubs, x-rated dvd rentals, sex toy stores, lingerie shops, etc.; then there wouldnt be the supply.
whatever happened to the "inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? make love, not war.
You want religious intolerance, opression, and sexual repression? move to the middle east, and join the ayatollah, or the taliban. convert to islam- they forbid sex, drugs, and alcohol. just dont inflict your misery and standards of morality and decency on me, or anybody else. the land of the free was founded bcause the pilgrims, and puritans were kicked out of england for the same kooky oppresive evangelicalism.
miss the inquisition? witch hunts? mcCarthyism? long for the good old days of torture, and interrogations? not me.
I served in the Navy to fight religious whack jobs, and radical fundamentalist nut cases, of all ilks- islamicist, christianist, whatever. they are all cut from the same cloth of self righteousness. woe to you scribes, pharisees, and blind guides. look at the log in your own eye before you go removing the splinter in mine.
go spend your time and money helping the poor single women with children who dont work in strip clubs, or the COMMERCIAL SEX TRADE, and who arent making 50-100,000 dollars per year, because there arent any other jobs in allen county that pay as well.
and while we're at it- what about political prostitution of our system, and selling our taxes, and votes to the highest bidder, and lining ones pockets by scamming money from grandiose downtown development BOONDOGGLES.
By the way- investors wanted for the new 20 million dollar DEJA-VU strip-joint/casino soon to be located vicinity of Harrison Square- now thats a draw. sex sells.
This is all pretty simple if you ask me...
Let the market dictate how many strip clubs are allowable by local "moral standards."
If local morality is such that there are no patrons, these places will die off quickly. If patrons are plentiful, then this "morality" isn't quite what people profess it to be.
In the case of Fort Wayne, one can clearly deduce that the average local morality must be sufficiently low to generate a flow of willing, paying customers substantial enough to support just about exactly as many establishments as we have. If local morals were as high as some would have you believe, the number of venues would be forced down by a lack of patronage.
Like I said, it's all pretty simple...I dare say that I have seen absolutely ZERO evidence indicating that somehow just the existence of such facilities somehow creates its own circular flow of customers/demand. Quite to the contrary, the demand seems directly proportionate to the supply...
Coincidence? I suspect it is not.
Andrew, for someone that doesn't even live in this community, not to mention your very young age you sure seem to be full of bul1S*1t opinions on how this effects us.
Maybe you should focus on Ohio for a while?
Such vitriol, Dan....geez. Lighten up.
I have lived in an around Fort Wayne for my entire adult life, never residing even as far as 20 miles from the pearly gates of the Summit City. In fact, right now I'm a mere 17 miles away as I type this.
I work in Fort Wayne, my kids both attend school in Fort Wayne, my wife attends school and works in Fort Wayne, my family does all of our grocery shopping in Fort Wayne, our local news comes from Fort Wayne, and virtually every penny of disposable income that I opt to spend is spent in....
...you guessed it, Fort Wayne.
I pay Fort Wayne and Indiana taxes on the money I make and spend. No, I don't pay property tax in Fort Wayne, but neither do half of the residents of Allen county (add up the # of local rentals...it's staggering). So aside from the fact that I sleep in Ohio (and have for about 6 months now), I spend significantly more time in Fort Wayne than many Allen County residents.
Focus on Ohio? Why? The nearest city of consequence to me in Ohio is Toledo. That's 79 miles from my front door to the Toledo city limits. I have been there twice in the last two years. By rate of comparison, I have had only 23 days in the last year that I have NOT been to Fort Wayne.
I hate to have to point this out, but I care more about Fort Wayne and pay more attention to the goings-on therein than a vast majority of people who live there. Pretty sad if you axe me. The only reason it bothers you is because I'm always there, waiting in the wings for you to open your flap and let loose some half-cocked hypocrisy or some total nonsense sprinkled with no more than a pinch of (usually inflammatory) truth...and you know that I love to watch people eat their own words...
I'm not even trying to make you eat your words here, I'm just continuing my pursuit of anti-partisan politics, and you, Mr. "AWB," are a blind partisan. If your son had been on my flag football team and you were a ref, I would have loved that about you...but as an element of political discourse, especially discourse intended to create a political system free of the under-table dealings and weird party-line pandering, extreme partisanship is not particularly appealing.
You have called yourself a "Capitalist" at every opportunity afforded you in the last year. It's time to pony up, Dan. If you are indeed a "Capitalist" as you have suggested (in writing, no less), you should find the threat of further governmental regulation absolutely against your core set of principles. The Adult Entertainment industry is one that is already heavily burdened by regulation...as a "Capitalist," you should see this as a very anti-American setup.
I am, however, extraordinarily happy that you decided to let this dialogue slide into the "but you're just a Buckeye" personal-smear phase. I'll take that to mean that you have absolutely nothing with which to rebuke my TRUE capitalist philosophies on the subject.
Stay cool, Danno.
I think this is a pretty simple issue myself...
I choose NOT to spend a lot of my time in "strip clubs;" however, I have been to strip-clubs in the past.
The people who choose to work in these establishments are adults and work in these establishments of their own free will.
The people who choose to spend time in these establishments are not forced into the establishments at gun point.
Morals are taught at home. Lets keep the Government out of this issue...
Mike Sylvester