DETROIT, MI — Nobody is pretending that the infamous 8 Mile Road that serves as boundary between Detroit and its northern suburbs is the nicest part of town, but that doesn’t mean that adding another strip club to the increasingly adult oriented area is welcome.Tami Salisbury is the executive director of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association and she’s definitely not digging the idea. “There’s tons of investment occurring along the 8 Mile corridor,” she points out, “so it’s disappointing to see a use like this.”
Salisbury’s concern is that brisk introduction of multiple adult entertainment establishments will encourage people to think “that 8 Mile is nothing but strip clubs, which is not the case.”
Of course, some might wonder what the hubbub is about if there’s so much non-adult investment and building going on in the area.
The larger Detroit area has 33 strip clubs, nine of which reside along the 8 Mile corridor. Community advocates want to see the number stop there and are asking for a block of any new adult businesses that they believe might try to exploit loopholes that they claim have allowed developers to creep into the area.
“We’re trying to build new homes in the community, senior housing, build up the business districts and bring the neighborhoods back,” anti-strip club activist Mike Fisher explains. Fisher, who is executive director of the Detroit Community Initiative, has been battling topless clubs for 12 years with obviously limited success. His group’s latest target is a proposed club that wants to move into a former go-kart track.
Fisher asks a question that agitators on both sides of the issue have long asked. “Why are we still fighting this issue?”
Supporters and opponents will have their chance to weigh in yet again on the topic at a January 31st hearing before the city’s Department of Buildings and Safety Engineering when the property owner will apply to use the land, which is zoned for industrial use.
What anti-club forces call a loophole, developers likely call legal and professionally smart. In this case, although topless clubs can’t open in areas where the land is zoned for commercial use, they can open in areas zoned for industrial use.
Property owner Mike Dabish likely appreciates the distinction, given that he has spent five years trying to sell or lease the land with no success. His attempts to build an ethanol fueling station on the land were pointless thanks to a different city moratorium, and so the space has languished, becoming a target for vandals and scavengers. Given that the property is directly across from a DaimlerChrysler plant and nowhere near residential neighborhoods, Dabish considers it an excellent location for a club.
Those who disagree insist that topless clubs simply send the wrong message to the populace at large, and have worked to get support from the city council and mayor’s office.
“I don’t have anything else to put there,” he insists. “If anybody objects to the business that’s going there, they can … buy the property.”
While nobody has offered to step forward and make a financial offer, those who don’t want to see another topless club admit Dabish isn’t doing anything illegal and does have the right to open a club if he so chooses.
