Could it just be the cost of the election. I seem to remember a fairly high number that may have been more politically damaging when used to defend the ruling rather than just let it drop.

The reason is that beverage distributers, newspapers, outdoor advertising plants, and many other industries are tied to the strip club business, plus the law probably wouldn't stand up to repeated challenges and would've wasted a lot of city money. The strip clubs rake in tons of dough and spend almost all of it locally. There's your reason.

This is truly scandalous...and as yet, unreported. (Despite the fact that L.A Times reporters Jessica Garrison and Patrick McGreevy who have covered this story for the Times are both aware of this information, and have heard it from several sources.)

The real truth, according to well placed City Hall sources, is that "Fat Cat" lobbyist Steve Afriat and the Lap Dance Club owners BLACKMAILED the City Council members into beating a hasty retreat. Afriat & Co. told Miscikowski that his clients vowed to raise at least $2 MILLION OR MORE to create a warchest to DEFEAT ANY CURRENT SITTING COUNCILMEMBER WHO VOTED TO PUT THE LAP DANCE BAN ON THE 2005 BALLOT. That's when all the odd-numbered council seats would be up for reelection. Despite Afriat's and the Adult Industry's public bravado, the Industry actually fears a public vote on the Lap Dance issue. These club owners know what really goes on inside their clubs (blatant prostitution) and they feared having the truth completely "outed" to the voters.

Seven Councilmembers felt their balls in the vice grip and fell for Afriat's: The Council's "Weakest Link" Ed Reyes (CD 1), "Mr. Tough Cop" Dennis Zine (CD 3), "Mr. Law and Order" Jack Weiss (CD 5), Council Prexy Alex Padilla (CD 7), "Ms. Lap Dance Queen" herself, Jan Perry (CD 9), Waffling Eric (aka "Sex is my District's #1 Industry") Garcetti (CD 13), and Hizzoner's sister Janice Hahn (CD 15). Only CD 11 - Miscikowski's seat - would be open (due to Cindy being termed out).

Afriat made it painfully clear that NO ONE would want to be on the 2005 ballot with this Lap Dance Referendum, because he would ensure that any Councilmember who did not vote for a compromise that would eliminate the "Six-foot rule" would be so dirtied up in the election that they wouldn't be able to see straight.

You see, getting rid of the "Six-Foot Rule" is crucial to the survival of these "Brothels-posing-as-"Innocent"-Lap-Dance-Clubs." If a customer must keep a six-foot distance from the "dancers", then sex can no longer take place between the "customer" (read "John") and the "dancer" (read "Hooker"). It's just that simple. And without sex taking place in the "Lap Dance" clubs, no one would go and the clubs and the "dancers" would be out of business.

The Indusry can live without billboards in the neighborhoods (which the Club Owners have agreed to give up), they can somehow live without private "VIP" rooms (watch, many of the clubs will now offer "semi-private" curtained sections that offer just enough "privacy" for the Johns to whip out their peckers in the dark, or get "rubbed" to the point of climax), and they can even live with ostensibly tighter police restrictions (the Club Owners are not stupid - they know the size of the Vice Squad is simply never going to be adequate to catch all, or even the majority, of the law violators - only the most stupid ones who are just too blatant to the neighbors).

What is so shocking is that Cindy, who is not known for being a shrinking violet, would succumb to such blatant threats by Afriat. Apparently, Miscikowski saw her Council majority crumble when many of the Odd-Numbered District Councilmembers lost their confidence, and were unable to muster the courage to fight Afriat and the Lap Dance Industry.

Of course, Afriat is an equal opportunity lobbyist. In fact, he proudly boasts of having the highest total billings and the largest number of clients trying to alter the outcome of City Council votes. Clearly he is among the highest paid lobbying trolling the halls of City Hall. He has incredible connections with many Councilmembers, having run several Councilmember campaigns, worked in City Hall, and delivered tens of thousand of dollars in contributions from his (oftentimes) questionable clients to all the City Councilmembers, to City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, and Mayor Hahn. He was a longtime staff member of former Councilmember (and current County Supervisor) Zev Yaroslavsky. He has run many Councilmember's election campaigns (such as Ruth Galanter's last campaign). He was rewarded by Galanter when she appointed him to the Council's Redistricting Commission.

Afriat not only represents the Lap Dance Clubs (where heterosexual men get off - for money), he also represents most of the gay bathhouses in Hollywood and Silverlake (where gay men get off, too - not for money, but for free). The latter group includes many of the most notorious establishments that the L.A. County Health Department wanted to shut down for allowing unsafe sex and unprotected sex among their gay male clientele.

[...Edited by L.A. Observed...]

But "Fat Cat" Afriat knows a gravy train when he sees it. In fact, Afriat's full involvement is a yet uninvestigated part of this whole Lap Dance story. He is one of the top "go-to" guys when L.A. power brokers want to press the levers of City Hall. When blue chip law firm Latham & Watkins (attorneys and lobbyists George Milhsten, Cindy Starrett, and Bill Delvac, on behalf of their client, the House of Blues) wanted to pressure the City Council (controlled by then Council President John Ferraro) to back down from awarding yet another sweetheart contract to rival Nederlander Group (represented by longtime Ferraro friend and patsy, attorney and lobbyist Neil Pappiano) to allow Nederlander to continue to operate the City-owned Greek Theatre (despite House of Blue's clearly superior bid), Latham & Watkins turned to Afriat to collect enough signatures to force the issue onto the ballot. When Afriat turned in enough signatures, Nederlander (and the City Council) balked, and Nederlander agreed to share management responsibilities with House of Blues.

Afriat's latest Lap Dance signature-gathering charade was simply a replay out of his earlier Greek Theatre play book. It was never intended to reach the ballot for a vote by the people. It was just a charade to blackmail the sheep-like Councilmembers who were afraid of Afriat's threat of a "gloves-off" rough and tumble campaign against all the Odd-Numbered Councilmembers seeking to keep their jobs in 2005.

But unlike the Greek Theatre, what many citizens and voters do not realize is that these so-called "Gentlemen's Clubs" that Afriat happily represents are BLATANT FRONTS FOR PROSTITUTION (as well as NARCOTICS, ALCOHOL VIOLATIONS, SEXPLOITATION, VIOLENCE, AND NUMEROUS OTHER VICE-RELATED PROBLEMS) - plain and simple. If you doubt this, simply read the LAPD Vice Report to the City Council appended at the end of this message (which is reproduced VERBATIM).

If the Los Angeles City Council wants to legalize prostitution, then so be it. They should zone it, regulate it, tax it, and make sure the hookers are regularly tested, and sexually transmitted diseases are not being spread to the public. But the dishonesty of this whole sorry Afriat episode is that the City Council is turning a blind's eye to what they know is clearly unlawful conduct.

If they want to change the laws, a la Clark County, Nevada, so be it. But then the Council should say so, and not shrink from reasonable regulations against prostitution, only to allow the prostitution to take place in the midst of residential neighborhoods. If you don't believe me, consider the official Undercover Report by the LAPD Organized Crime and Vice Division submitted to the City Council on August 12, 2003 that clearly documents what is really going on in these sex clubs. The following text is VERBATIM from a letter sent to the Council by the LAPD:

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT (letterhead)

WILLIAM J. BRATTON, Chief of Police
JAMES K. HAHN, Mayor

P.O. Box 30158
Los Angeles, Calif. 90030
Telephone: (213) 485-5210
TDD # (877)275-5273
Ref # 8.5.1

August 12, 2003

The Honorable Public Safety and
Planning and Land Use Management Committees
Room 1010, City Hall
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

(Council File No 99-0185)

Honorable Members:

This transmittal provides background information regarding the regulations pertaining to adult live entertainment contained in the draft ordinance revising the police permitting procedures and regulations to be considered in a joint session on August 13, 2003. Assisted by personnel from the City Attorney's Citywide Nuisance Abatement Program (CNAP) police reports for approximately the last 18 months were reviewed, some of which are summarized below, to determine the types of law enforcement problems arising from businesses that offer live adult entertainment. Most of the incidents summarized below which involved prostitution arose in the context of a "lap dance" which takes the following two general forms:

a. The entertainer sits in the customer's lap, while he is seated. She moves her buttocks back and forth over the customer's body. At times, the customer climaxes and both parties anticipate this outcome.

b. Another form of "lap dancing" consists of the entertainer standing between the customer's legs and sliding the front of her body down the front of the customer's body. Contact occurs between the entertainer's breasts and the face of the customer and there are other variations of the contact as well.

A CD-ROM was previously submitted to the Public Safety Committee, which depicts some of this activity. Although "lap dancing" and other forms of contact occur routinely in the public areas of adult businesses, this conduct escalates to more intimate sexual behavior in private areas known by various names, including "VIP rooms."

The following summary is informational, describing the need for police resources to monitor businesses, which provide live adult entertainment. The regulations contained in the draft ordinance under consideration do not ban live adult entertainment. The proposed regulations will assist the police by making it more difficult to have direct physical contact between the entertainer and the patron, thereby limiting illegal conduct.

Generally, police response to live adult entertainment locations is for the following violations:

1. Prostitution: This is shown in two ways. Either a police officer enters the business posing as a customer and is then solicited for prostitution or a police officer observes a customer receiving sexual attention. Almost always, the prostitution was preceded by a "lap dance" and at times, the agreement was to engage in prostitution in a difference locale.

2. Violent conduct: The reports document violent confrontations including stabbings and fights with weapons other than knives, such as baseball bats. The fights appear to stem from the customers' attempts to grab the entertainers, exposing themselves or otherwise engaging in disruptive behavior. One security guard candidly admitted that he was accustomed to being threatened by customers.

3. Lewd conduct: A number of arrests involve entertainers who engaged in lewd conduct, such as inserting their fingers into their vaginas. One report involved a female customer who received a lap dance as her 18th birthday present and was offended when the dancer removed the customer's blouse and bra and licked her breasts.

4. Some narcotics violations were also noted.

Summaries of some of the police reports reviewed by the CNAP attorneys are provided below. The names and addresses of the businesses have been omitted.

VALLEY BUREAU

Site One
Council District 12 Greig Smith

An unknown suspect approached the bartender and bit her on the buttocks.

One of the entertainers approached a customer and gave him a hug. She then accused a customer of staring at her at which point he called her a "crazy bitch." She threw the contents of a wine glass at him; then he threw beer on her. She hit him with a glass, causing his head to bleed.

A bounder was asked to remove a customer because he was annoying the dancers. When the bouncer attempted to have him leave, he told the bouncer "he might get shot." The customer alleged that he was then punched in the nose.

A customer alleged that another customer punched him about six times because he was friendly with one of the employees and would not agree to stay away from the bar.

Site Two
Council District 7 Alex Padilla

A female customer was celebrating her 18th birthday. She got a lap dance as a present. She was offended when the two entertainers removed her blouse and bra and licked her breasts.

A man with a pipe wrench attempted to enter the club. he was told he could not enter with the pipe wrench and without paying the cover charge. He attempted to rush over the turnstile and was arrested.

Site Three
Council District 7 Alex Padilla

An inebriated customer jumped on the stage. He was escorted out, but returned shortly. He was removed again. He returned again and got into an argument with another customer who stabbed him with a meat fork.

A dancer got into an argument with a customer over tip money. The customer left the location and was followed by a prospective employee who then punched the customer.

Two customers got into an argument in the pool hall. One of them stabbed the other when they left the location.

Several customers grabbed a dancer on stage. Her boyfriend escorted the customers out of the bar with the help of two other individuals. A fight broke out in the parking lot, during which the customers retrieved several baseball bats and beat the two individuals accompanying the boyfriend. One of the boyfriend's associates was placed in intensive care due to a subdural hematoma.

Site Five
Council District 3 Dennis Zine

An undercover officer accompanied a dancer to a partitioned area for a lap dance. During the lap dance, she agreed to give the officer a "private lap dance" for $300. She asked for the officer's phone number and he gave it to her. Later, he received a call from her and she agreed to meet him at a motel. She subsequently agreed to "have sex and go down" on the officer for $300.

Site Six
Council District 3 Dennis Zine

Undercover officers observed one of the dancers, during her dance, place her finger into her vagina and then into her anus. Subsequently, during a lap dance, she placed her finger into her vagina again.

Site Seven
Council District 6 Tony Cardenas

Undercover officers observed a dancer rub a one dollar bill over her vagina, then rub her vagina numerous times. She followed this up by inserting her finger into her vagina three times.

Site Eight
Council District 13 Eric Garcetti

The manager attempted to escort two customers out because they refused to adhere to the two drink minimum. Then the customers punched the manager.

Site Nine
Council District 12 Greig Smith

A customer stalked a bartender and a customer threatened a dancer.

Site Ten
Council District 1 Ed Reyes

In one incident, a customer threatened a security guard. The guard stated that he had many problems with intoxicated persons who threatened him.

On another occasion, customers exposed themselves to the entertainers. The security guard was asked to escort them out and collect the money owed to the club and dancers. The customers became belligerent when asked for money and tried to punch the security guard, whereupon he used his pepper spray. The customers got into their car and threatened to shoot the guard, at which point, the guard drew his gun. They took off but returned and began to throw rocks at the guard's car. One of the rocks hit the guard. The customer got into his car, threw the car into reverse, and attempted to run the guard over. The guard took out his gun again and this time he fired several shots at the vehicle.

Site Eleven
Council District 3 Dennis Zine

This site was closed following an abatement lawsuit filed due to the numerous violations at this location, including arrest for being under the influence of a controlled substance and prostitution.

CENTRAL BUREAU

Site Twelve
Council District 14 Antonio Villaraigosa

Undercover officers entered the location. One of the dancers came off the stage and offered one of the officers a lap dance for $40. After she began dancing, the officer told her that he could get that from the stage. She then offered to take the officer to the VIP room where she would "blow" him for $120.

Site Thirteen
Council District 13 Eric Garcetti

Undercover officers entered the location and met a female at the front door. They paid her $40 for an entrance fee. In a conversation with the officers, she told one of them that he could get a "private business office dance" in the back office. When asked how much it was, she said, "I don't do sex, but my friend does" pointing to another female. The officer told her he wanted a blow job and the first female told him to give her an additional $20. The officer then went into the back room with the second female who said that she could not say anything because she was afraid of being arrested. The officer asked her if he could get a blow job for $40 and she nodded. As she began to kneel, the officer told her he had changed her mind.

An undercover officer entered the location and paid a $20 entrance fee. He struck up a conversation with a female at the bar. After talking for a while, the female agreed to "suck and fuck" the officer for $40. She advised the office that he could purchase a condom at the store on the corner. When he asked if he had to pay the cover charge to renter, she told him that he could come back in without paying again.

An undercover officer entered the location and was advised by a female that the cover charge was $20 to "sit and talk to the ladies." While he was at the counter, another female approached him and solicited him for a lap dance in the private lap dance room. She stated that he needed to give the first female $20. The officer went into the room and had a lap dance. When he came out, the first female solicited him for a lap dance. She took $20 from him and gave them to an older third female. During the dance, she agreed to "suck his dick" for $60. The officer told her he had to go to the ATM to get the money and she assured him that he would not have to pay to come back in again.

Site Fourteen
Council District 14 Antonio Villaraigosa

Undercover officers entered the location and went to the counter. There they were approached by a female who offered a private dance for $40 that would be real good. When an officer inquired by what she meant by "good," she responded that "I'll make it real dirty. I'll put my ass, my tits and snatch in your face. Come on, I'll make you cum in your pants."

Undercover officers entered the location and sat at a table. A female approached the officers and offered to give them a lap dance. The officer asked if he could get some tequila and she went to a back room. She came back and said that they were waiting for the security guard to get some. One inside the booth, she began to dance. She subsequently agreed to have sex with the officer for $150. When the officer asked if she had any condoms, she told him that he could get some napkins and clean himself of after they were done. Subsequently, she had a conversation with the other officer during which she also offered him sex for $150.

Undercover officers were conducting a check for prostitution activity. They sat down at the center stage. They observed one of the dancers place her face on the crotch of one of the male customers, simulating oral copulation. While she was doing that, she inserted her middle finger into her vagina. She then went back to a pole and began to masturbate by inserting a finger into her vagina.

Officers were investigating complaints of lewd activity and the unlawful supplying of alcoholic beverages. They observed one of the dancers, holding on to a pole with one hand, lay back and insert a finger into her vagina. She then positioned herself on her knees, arched her back and inserted one finger into her rectum. A second dancer put both of her legs around the neck of one of the patrons. She inserted a finger into her vagina and began to move the finger in and out. She completed her dance and approached the officers. She offered them a lap dance, $30 for a bikini, $40 for topless and $50 for totally nude. She told them that she could do the dance in one of half a dozen dark rooms or a private room in the back. She told the officer that for $50 he would be very satisfied and that he could touch her anywhere.

WEST BUREAU

Site Fifteen
Council District 11 Cindy Miscikowski

At this location, officers had previously observed the dancers massaging the customer's crotch areas appearing to masturbate them. One of the officers obtained a lap dance during which he asked if she gave private dances. The dancer replied that she could take him into the Fantasy Room for $500. Later on, the officer attempted to clarify what he would get for $500. The dancer elaborated that she would jerk him off and that he would also get a bottle of champagne.

Site Sixteen
Council District 11 Cindy Miscikowski

Undercover officers conducted an operation for prostitution activity. The officers were immediately approached by a dancer who offered a lap dance for $40. She said that the dances took place in a private room and he would be fully satisfied. During the dance, the officer inquired if he could get anything more. The dancer replied that he could get sex for $800. When the officer balked at that much money, she offered a hand job for $500. He said he needed to get it from his car and ATM. He asked if she had a condom and she responded that he would need to get that too.

Undercover officers entered the location and were approached by a dancer who engaged one of the officers in a conversation. She told him she could make him feel good during a dance. When asked how she would do that, she told him that if they went in the back, he could pull it out. When he inquired further, she said that she could rub it with her hand. She further agreed to make him cum with "my pussy, lips or hand." In the room, she offered him a "titty fuck" for $100.

Officers entered the location and observed the same dancer who had previously offered a sex job for $600 engaging in sexual intercourse with a patron in the lap dance area. She was straddling him and moving up and down and he was lightly spanking her buttocks. After officers identified themselves, they saw that the patron's penis was exposed, as was the dancer's vagina.

Site Seventeen
Council District 11 Cindy Miscikowski

Undercover officers entered the location and observed dancer 1 dancing fully nude while facing a male patron. She used two fingers to physically contact and trace her vaginal area and then spread her vagina open and stroked her clitoris. She brought her fingers to her lips and licked them. She then placed her hand on her vagina in a slapping motion. Officers then observed her pinch and twist both nipples.

Three other dancers were observed engaging in conduct which involved squatting in close proximity to male customers and spreading their legs and touching their vaginas or anus.

SOUTH BUREAU

Site Eighteen
Council District 15 Janice Hahn

Officers entered the location and paid a $20 entrance fee. A dancer approached a female officer and asked if she wanted a dance. The officer asked how much for a dance because she wanted to give her husband a night to remember. The dancer said that she would not do anything for him but that: "You can suck my titties and I can suck yours and touch down there." The officer confirmed the offer: "$200 for VIP room, the five dances, tittie sucking and touching down there?" The dancer responded: "$200 for everything."

The incidents outlined above demonstrate the police problems posed by businesses offering adult entertainment and the burden on police resources. The proposed ordinance will assist in alleviating these problems and the corresponding demand for police attention.

If you have any questions regarding this report, please feel free to contact the undersigned at (213) 485-5201. Representatives of the police department will be available to answer questions at the hearing on the ordinance.

Very truly yours,

WILLIAM J. BRATTON
Chief of Police

(signed signature - V.M. Proctor)

V.M. PROCTOR, Captain
Commanding Officer
Organized Crime and Vice Division