El Paso weighs in on Strip Clubs

[LEVOW]

Well unlike Houston Smooth, the strip clubs are not in downtown, or concentrated only in 1 part of town. They are all pretty spread apart, and mostly all of them are gated, and placed around businesses.

[TexanWest]

Originally Posted by Smooth from ELP

You obviously do not have any respect for children at all (crumb crunchers...nice!!) I have no regrets having children...matter of fact I want one more.

Public "scrools"? Sorry mine are going to a Private School. So you'd rather let govt leave these joints alone and let them be? Have you seen what happens when govt leaves them alone? Drive around H-town and you will see city blocks that have these strip clubs and XXX vid shops.....they look like crap.

In the same city blocks there are scrools too. Whole area run down and smell like old booze and pi$$. Is that the way you want ELP to become? You have no respect for your city either.

You want more kids? Good for you. And really I mean that. I don't begrudge anyone who has kids. It's their business. But you just can't expect everyone else to shield your new ones from the world as you expect us to with regards to your current ones. When you do that, it becomes my business.

Yes, government should let such establishments be, even if they're next to a school. Property rights trump your aesthetic sensibilities. The problem is we've allowed government to intrude so far into our personal affairs and private businesses that we've allowed handfuls of well-connected groups to control what we do and say, as well as how we spend our own money. What else should we push away from schools so as not to offend the kiddies? How about funeral homes? Gotta keep kids away from death, you know ("Granmommy's gone on a long trip, Timmy!"). And let's pull that nasty explicit music from our music stores, as well! (Hannah Montana for everyone!)

El Paso's city government is simply doing what every incompetent government body does: concentrate on a hot-button issue and forget about the unimportant stuff like, oh, I dunno, property taxes, gang warfare, water drainage (or lack thereof). It's easy to point a holier-than-thou finger at strip club owners, quote a Bible verse or two, trot out a child or two, and ban anything related to sex than it is to explain why certain city council members give sweetheart deals to their buddies in the private sector.

I don't visit strip clubs or go to adult video establishments, but they are what they are. How can I (or anyone) say that such places should be abolished, while saying nothing about Wal Marts that sell high-powered rifles and ammo just yards from schools and homes? (And I do support the right to keep and bear arms.) The problem is the slippery-slope. It started with smoking in bars (I don't smoke, either), then restrictions on strip clubs, then restrictions on all sexually oriented businesses. And from there? Will Barnes and Noble be forced to remove its "Human Sexuality" section? (And, if you do take your kids there, do you let them go to that section? Or do you watch them to make sure they don't?) Should we also ban vulgar language around children as well? (Yes, a person was actually fined in Florida years ago for this.) Or maybe we should just replace all the books at B&N with that pap from the "Left Behind" series?

If you want to shield your kids from every evil and wrap them in bubble wrap, then have at it. But our freedoms are more important than your children's comfort level.

I have no respect for a city that attempts to decide what its residents should do, say, or think. In our attempts at a "grime-free" world, we are sacrificing everything that we say is important to us just because some people have realized that rearing children can be fraught with risks.

And, by the way, you may want to keep your kids away from priests. Quite a few of them have not exactly been doing things in the "children's" best interests.

But, hey, at least those scary strip clubs are zoned a few hundred yards away!

[Smooth from ELP]

Originally Posted by TexanWest

But, hey, at least those scary strip clubs are zoned a few hundred yards away!

Alright so it looks like we are completely polarized on this issue. Ok how about they move the joints out to far far east Montana....past the swinger clubs, past Hueco Tanks, and over the Hueco Mtns? Hey that would be a great place to create a Red Light District!!!

[Muhnay]

Originally Posted by Smooth from ELP

Alright so it looks like we are completely polarized on this issue. Ok how about they move the joints out to far far east Montana....past the swinger clubs, past Hueco Tanks, and over the Hueco Mtns? Hey that would be a great place to create a Red Light District!!!

So your going to force me to live by your standards? Your going to inflict your moral beliefs on me, and your going to infringe on my rights?

My wife was a stripper, ahem.. Exotic Dancer, she never did drugs, she never slept around, and she made fantastic money doing so. If I can handle it, then it should be of no concern to you. Besides had anything happened between me, her and some coworkers, what business is that of anyone else's?

I don't shield my kids from the world.. I make sure they are aware of everything. I also don't force my Moral/religious beliefs on them, I tell them what I think and then I also tell them what others say they think.. and I let them discover on their own. They have to decide what it is they believe.

I don't visit strip clubs, I have no need.. I am married to the most wonderful beautiful women in the world. But if anyone wants too they should have that right.. too many people are trying to tell me how I need to live my life.. what happened to freedom?

[Smooth from ELP]

Freedom...we are excerising it in this thread. Good points all and great arguments. I am not bending or breaking though.

The signs are obvious, they are everywhere
All that we hear about is the gloom and despair
Too many would be prophets saying
"Its the end of it all"
Cause mother earth cant take much more
The hammers gonna fall......Moderator cut: From the Terms of Service: Copyrighted Material - Instead of copying-and-pasting articles, photos, or other material you find on the Internet, you should be posting links to those articles. Posting a snippet from the article and then the link is the appropriate way to post.

by 4 Him - For Future Generations

[Muhnay]

Originally Posted by Smooth from ELP

Freedom...we are excerising it in this thread. Good points all and great arguments. I am not bending or breaking though.

You don't have to, you have already lost the argument. The business wont be altered, or moved, or made to go away. So thanks for sharing your opinion... it still wont change anything.

Oh and my favorite song by 4 him is: 4him - Measure Of A Man LYRICS

And we are also exercising our Freedom, to watch porn, see strippers, or goto church. If they enforce rules on SIN businesses, then I will demand they do the same for churches.

[kidicarus89]

Didn't have a chance to comment in this thread, but looks like all the points I was going to make...have already been made.

For the record I'm really not that big a fan of strip clubs, I see them as a waste of money. But I support their right to exist, as there are no negatives associated with their existence; as long as they are housed in discreet and fenced in buildings, I don't have a problem.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Smooth from ELP

You obviously do not have any respect for children at all (crumb crunchers...nice!!) I have no regrets having children...matter of fact I want one more.

Public "scrools"? Sorry mine are going to a Private School. So you'd rather let govt leave these joints alone and let them be? Have you seen what happens when govt leaves them alone? Drive around H-town and you will see city blocks that have these strip clubs and XXX vid shops.....they look like crap.

In the same city blocks there are scrools too. Whole area run down and smell like old booze and pi$$. Is that the way you want ELP to become? You have no respect for your city either.

I think having every-other business be a strip club, nudie bar or adult bookstore makes El Paso seem like a not very family oriented city. We certainly have many more of such businesses than nearly any other city around.

[Muhnay]

Originally Posted by malamute

I think having every-other business be a strip club, nudie bar or adult bookstore makes El Paso seem like a not very family oriented city. We certainly have many more of such businesses than nearly any other city around.

Houston has us beat by a long shot. And please lets not be ridiculous, every other business is not a SIN business.