Strip club deal delayed again
Move follows three hours of heated testimony from neighbors, activists
A proposal to open a strip club in downtown Milwaukee has stalled again.
A Common Council committee decided Monday to hold the matter without a yes-or-no recommendation, meaning the issue won’t go before the full council at Tuesday’s meeting.
Ald. Chantia Lewis proposed holding the measure so Westown Association, the local business improvement district, could act on its suggestion to find another location for the club downtown. Her motion was approved 3-2. Aldermen Tony Zielinski and José Pérez voted against delaying action, with Zielinski pointing out Westown has had years to try to find another location.
The decision came after more than three hours of heated
testimony about the strip club, proposed for 730 N. Old World 3rd St. Business leaders, residents, activists and neighborhood associations lined up in opposition to it.
“This would be the largest slap in my face,” said Tony Janowiec of The Shops of Grand Avenue.
Janowiec, a principal owner at both Interstate Parking and Aggero Group, is part of a group of investors who bought the property for $24.6 million in 2015. He said two groups that were set to sign leases at the site — a children’s group and a law firm — have paused plans because of the potential of a strip club nearby.
One resident in a neighboring apartment building said he would move if the club opened.
And Martha Love of the Human Trafficking Task Force of Greater Milwaukee warned that “strip clubs are a gateway to human trafficking.”
But several residents who live in the building where the club would be located spoke in support of the proposal, saying it would bring added security staff, lighting and cameras to the area.
The building’s owner, David Weir, said the city has lost “a lot of money” over the fight for the strip club and that the legality of it was already settled “constitutionally.”
“We can continue to the play the game, but the bottom line is these people will bring development, they will bring prosperity,” he said, adding, “If it’s legal and it’s proper, it should go forward.”
If the Common Council ultimately agrees to grant the license, strip club owners would drop their lawsuits filed against the City of Milwaukee over past blocked efforts to open clubs in the heart of the city, under agreements club owners signed earlier this month.
The agreements involve Silk Exotic owners, such as Six Star Holdings LLC, Boardroom Entertainment MKE LLC, and Roaring 20’s Management LLC. Those groups have previously sought to open clubs downtown. The owners of the new club would include Silk’s Joseph Modl, Scott Krahn and Radomir Buzdum.
Silk’s Craig Ploetz, who would serve as the head of operations for the downtown club, said he has extensive experience operating strip clubs in Wisconsin.
Ald. Robert Bauman criticized the deals, saying they don’t fix the legal problems that led to the lawsuits. He also warned that “there is an appearance that we are trading a license for money.”
“You are trading a license for the dismissals, there’s no question about that,” Bauman said.
Deals would end lawsuits
Under the deals, club owners would drop their lawsuits without costs to either party, and city officials would agree to not enact legislation that “substantially burdens” the operation of a strip club for six years.
The city would not, for example, effectively ban “champagne rooms” by designating a minimum room size in which erotic dancers perform, nor would it require the dancers to remain at a certain distance from patrons while performing, require them to perform on a stage, or prohibit “any touching (other than touching that is already prohibited by state law),” the agreements say.
Repeated attempts have been made to open a strip club at the Old World 3rd St. location, which was previously Rusty’s Old 50.
Last year, city officials approved a nearly $1 million payment to Silk Exotic owners who have been fighting for years to open a club downtown.
Jon Ferraro of Silk was indicted in California in 2015 as part of a sprawling racketeering case targeting the Russian mob, according to federal cellphone tracking warrant that was briefly unsealed.
Rusty’s Old 50, which was previously run by Diane Buzdum with the help of her brother, Radomir, previously ran into trouble with the law when Milwaukee police officers found vertical poles and dancers, many of whom were wearing just “pasties,” underwear and high heels, according to a police report. The poles were later removed, additional police reports show.
Many of the strip club owners whose license applications were considered Monday have contributed to Zielinski, the committee’s chairman. Members of the Buzdum family, including Radomir, contributed nearly $2,700 to Zielinski from 2013 and 2016, according to the state’s online campaign contributions site. Ferraro has contributed nearly $1,600. And other Silk owners, including Ploetz, Krahn and Modl, have contributed $394 each, online records show.
Zielinski noted that he gets campaign contributions from numerous donors, but said they don’t influence his positions on the issues. He has previously voted five times against strip clubs, he said.
“I get contributions from everybody all the time,” he said. “I listen to all the information at the hearing, I take everything into account, and I vote accordingly.”
Martha Love of the Human Trafficking Task Force of Greater Milwaukee warned that “strip clubs are a gateway to human trafficking.”
Ald. Robert Bauman criticized the deals, saying they don’t fix the legal problems that led to the lawsuits. He also warned that “there is an appearance that we are trading a license for money.”