GA Supreme Court sides with Brookhaven in Pink Pony lawsuit (Atlanta: credit card, school)

[atltechdude]

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

There is no evidence that this has anything to do with religion.

You are misinformed. It has everything to do with religion. The members of the council are very religious. My district member is a church deacon, he won out over a lawyer (go figure).

The attorney they hired to draft the ordinance is a religious crusader from TN who has drafted these laws for a lot of cities.

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

It does, however, have a good deal to do with money. Follow the money trail.

Actually, the Pink Pony offered Brookhaven $200k per year as a licensing fee to stay open, which is twice what they were paying Dekalb. Brookhaven would have made more money had they stayed open.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by whodean

The pony was illegal under Dekalb county laws to, they just paid a bribe each year to get around it.

What? Other clubs of this nature have existed all over DeKalb County. Ever heard of Strokers?

STROKERS ENTERTAINMENT CLUB - 7539

[David1502]

Many municipalities in Georgia have ordinances which prohibit strip joints from serving alcohol - this has been a reality for a good 20 years. In fact, the City of Smyrna passed the first ordinance which was able to pass muster in court and since that time, numerous other municipalities have passed a similar law. I would be willing to bet that the City of Sandy Springs would be happy if the strip joints and adult bookstores, which are grandfathered in from being in unincorporated Fulton, would go out of business. You are not going to see any new strip joints obtain a license there now.

People may not remember the Gold Club which was located across the street from Lindberg Center. At the time, it was applying for zoning, many in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood opposed it saying that it would bring in drugs and prostitution. After being in business a couple of years, a customer, an NFL player, became aggressive shouting "I've got to have it!!" and had to be escorted out of the club. This gave the owner the idea to begin a prostitution business at the club which he did (drug dealing, too). Later there was a sting operation and a major trial with many famous people, former customers, indicted (even a prince from Norway!).

Anyway, I bring this up because none of the suburban municipalities want a Gold Club in their backyard. People forget that the license to serve alcohol is called a privilege license and each establishment has to get it renewed every year. Each City Council votes on that license. The City of Smyrna has run sting operations where they will have people underage attempt to purchase alcohol. If a business does not check I.D.'s, and sells to them, they will have a tough time getting their license renewed. My point is there isn't a constitutional right to serve alcohol and in GA, it is up to the discretion of the local governing body - either City or County.

By contrast, the City of Atlanta derives a large portion of its revenue from the convention business and one of the big draws for conventions in Atlanta are its strip clubs. Therefore, the City of Atlanta has a different attitude when it comes to strip clubs than its suburban counterparts who are not in the convention business to a great degree.

[AcidSnake]

I like reading these online forums and engaging in discussions on ideologically charged issues on quality of life in Atlanta.

Because it just lets me know how hyprocritical and intellectually bankrupt the conservative thought process is.

Redstate Geogians love to say that they are pro-business. But what they won't say is that only some business are allowed to thrive and others like the Pink Pony or Tesla aren't.

Redstate Georgians talk up wanting a high quality of life. But they only want it for themselves. They will just as easily force politically weaker Georgians to deal with trash dumps and low air quality from high pollution coal plants.

Redstate Georgians talk up "letting the market decide the winners and losers". But they give corporations a iron-gripped monopolistic hold on Georgia. The internet market(if you actually think there is one) is the prime example.

As usual, I am of the opinion that Redstate Georgians are simply dishonest belligerent bullyish morons. There is no other way around it.

Its almost hard to believe that at one point in the past, Georgia had promise as being the more progress of the southeastern Dixie states. And now this state is on a freefall towards gooberville.

My apologies for being so harsh. But I find it so hard to deal with this illogic sometimes. And no one wants to say this. Why do we keep talking around this situation?

My gosh...

[MattCW]

I think you hit the nail on the head AcidSnake. I see the same thing here in Conyers (see my topic on youth curfews) and from a lot of other places. It's part of the reason I can't say I'm fully a supporter of either party.

[ATLTJL]

I think the real issue here is that the Pink Pony has been happily existing for some time.

If you want to pass a law saying "no strip clubs," that's totally fine....but you have to grandfather the ones that already exist.

If you're worried the club will bring drugs and prostitution like the Gold Club, that makes it even easier. Let 'em do it, then go make a bust and shut them down.

I agree that the will of the people should dictate ordinances and decide what types of businesses to allow moving forward. But I don't think that gives you the right to shut down an existing business that is operating within the law and take away someone's livelihood. If they aren't operating within the law, go bust them and shut them down.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

I like reading these online forums and engaging in discussions on ideologically charged issues on quality of life in Atlanta.

Because it just lets me know how hyprocritical and intellectually bankrupt the conservative thought process is.

Redstate Geogians love to say that they are pro-business. But what they won't say is that only some business are allowed to thrive and others like the Pink Pony or Tesla aren't.

Redstate Georgians talk up wanting a high quality of life. But they only want it for themselves. They will just as easily force politically weaker Georgians to deal with trash dumps and low air quality from high pollution coal plants.

Redstate Georgians talk up "letting the market decide the winners and losers". But they give corporations a iron-gripped monopolistic hold on Georgia. The internet market(if you actually think there is one) is the prime example.

As usual, I am of the opinion that Redstate Georgians are simply dishonest belligerent bullyish morons. There is no other way around it.

Its almost hard to believe that at one point in the past, Georgia had promise as being the more progress of the southeastern Dixie states. And now this state is on a freefall towards gooberville.

My apologies for being so harsh. But I find it so hard to deal with this illogic sometimes. And no one wants to say this. Why do we keep talking around this situation?

My gosh...

Not every business is appropriate for every location. There is a reason why there is zoning. If you want to see a city which has absolutely no zoning, look at Houston. There are ramifications for any business on its surrounding community. Are you saying that any business should be able to set up shop wherever it wants?

If "Redstate Georgians talk up "letting the market decide the winners and losers." " - there would be an apartment complex and pawn shop on every corner in metro Atlanta. The real estate development interests in Atlanta have a lot of money to throw at elected officials, yet they have voted against such interests in their zoning decisions.

In contrast to your opinion, I find the Atlanta suburbs to be some of the most attractive places to live in the country. I have spent a good bit of time in some of the wealthiest enclaves of the Bay area and L.A. as well as Boston and I don't see landscaped buffers and streetscapes on the roads there (which often need repaving). There is a reason that the Atlanta suburbs have this attractive appearance and it's because the citizens have taken an active interest in creating a beautiful place to live.

If we wanted a complete laissez faire environment, we would live in Houston.

As far as your comment about coal plants - isn't there a GA Power plant in Bartow County, a Republican stronghold?

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

I like reading these online forums and engaging in discussions on ideologically charged issues on quality of life in Atlanta.

Because it just lets me know how hyprocritical and intellectually bankrupt the conservative thought process is.

Redstate Geogians love to say that they are pro-business. But what they won't say is that only some business are allowed to thrive and others like the Pink Pony or Tesla aren't.

Redstate Georgians talk up wanting a high quality of life. But they only want it for themselves. They will just as easily force politically weaker Georgians to deal with trash dumps and low air quality from high pollution coal plants.

Redstate Georgians talk up "letting the market decide the winners and losers". But they give corporations a iron-gripped monopolistic hold on Georgia. The internet market(if you actually think there is one) is the prime example.

As usual, I am of the opinion that Redstate Georgians are simply dishonest belligerent bullyish morons. There is no other way around it.

Its almost hard to believe that at one point in the past, Georgia had promise as being the more progress of the southeastern Dixie states. And now this state is on a freefall towards gooberville.

My apologies for being so harsh. But I find it so hard to deal with this illogic sometimes. And no one wants to say this. Why do we keep talking around this situation?

My gosh...

/thread!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

I like reading these online forums and engaging in discussions on ideologically charged issues on quality of life in Atlanta.

Because it just lets me know how hyprocritical and intellectually bankrupt the conservative thought process is.

Redstate Geogians love to say that they are pro-business. But what they won't say is that only some business are allowed to thrive and others like the Pink Pony or Tesla aren't.

Redstate Georgians talk up wanting a high quality of life. But they only want it for themselves. They will just as easily force politically weaker Georgians to deal with trash dumps and low air quality from high pollution coal plants.

Redstate Georgians talk up "letting the market decide the winners and losers". But they give corporations a iron-gripped monopolistic hold on Georgia. The internet market(if you actually think there is one) is the prime example.

As usual, I am of the opinion that Redstate Georgians are simply dishonest belligerent bullyish morons. There is no other way around it.

Its almost hard to believe that at one point in the past, Georgia had promise as being the more progress of the southeastern Dixie states. And now this state is on a freefall towards gooberville.

My apologies for being so harsh. But I find it so hard to deal with this illogic sometimes. And no one wants to say this. Why do we keep talking around this situation?

My gosh...

Snake,

Are you okay with Riverdale banning strip clubs? Or is that different in your opinion?


§ 10-29. Operating regulations, Article II. Adult Entertainment Establishments, Chapter 10. Amusements And Entertainments, Part II. Code, Code of Ordinances, Riverdale

[jero23]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Well, opening a strip club doesn't give you a vested right to keep operating it. Cities, boundaries, ordinances and permits change all the time and folks venture into the business with their eyes wide open.

As to the location, what does being inside 285 have to do with it?

You can keep attempting to move the goalpost all day long, but you know what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, there was a court ruling from a few years back about non-conforming (grandfathered) uses.

What does being inside of I-285 has to do with it? If you have to ask this question then you are already not playing with the full deck on this issue. Carry on...