Poll split on nude dancing ban

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 7, 2000

Results of an online poll were markedly different from the barrage of letters received by the Austin Daily Herald since the newspaper started asking its readers what they thought about the issue of nude dancing in Austin.

Monday, August 07, 2000

Results of an online poll were markedly different from the barrage of letters received by the Austin Daily Herald since the newspaper started asking its readers what they thought about the issue of nude dancing in Austin. Not surprisingly – letters are required to be signed by the sender – the vast majority of the letters were in favor of banning nude dancing.

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For the more anonymous online poll however, the results were even.

What the Herald asked was simple: "Should the city ban nude dancing?"

Survey says … 50 percent don’t want a ban; 50 percent take the opposite view.

In total over the past week, 207 people responded to the survey question – a little less than 1 percent of the population – with 104 voting "no" and 103 voting "yes." The Web site would only take one vote per Internet account.

Often a hot-button topic in the past, nude dancing is an issue again in the aftermath of the June 30 double homicide because Austin Police Chief Paul Philipp stated that he saw "a direct link" between nude dancing and prostitution in Austin. The murders allegedly came about because an encounter with a prostitute led to the attempted robbery of the roofers slain last month. However, neither woman involved in the double homicide was a dancer.

Council ordinance committee member Neil Fedson was surprised to hear that 50 percent of those who responded to the online poll didn’t want a ban. Fedson, who was appointed to represent the First Ward when council member Roberto Romo stepped down, isn’t a fan of the activity.

"I don’t know if we can ban it or not," Fedson said. "We’ll know more after the meeting tomorrow. Nude dancing isn’t all of the problem with prostitution, but our own police chief said it has an impact. … We can’t get rid of the bars, but as for nude dancing, I don’t think we need it."

Although bar owners have refused to interview with the Herald before the ordinance committee meeting, Brown Derby part-owner Karen Peters pointed out that the term "nude dancing" is incorrect: the dancers do wear G-strings or T-bars on the lower half of their bodies when they dance.

On Tuesday, the council ordinance committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall to discuss the issue. The meeting is open to the public and will take place in the small conference room or in council chambers on the lower level of the Municipal Building at 500 Fourth Ave. NE.

"The only thing I would say is that we’re not going to legislate morality," ordinance committee member and Second Ward council member Jeanne Poppe said. "We do need to look at what kind of impact it (nude dancing) has on the community, and if it’s a negative one we have to talk about what laws we have in place and what the possibilities are for change. The majority of people won’t be impacted by a decision either way unless it clearly makes us a safer community.

"I hope we can hear from the bar owners Tuesday," Poppe added.

Ordinance committee chairman Dick Lang was unavailable this morning.