Is the End Near?

[Xylon]

Mimi, Pink, Nan Cho, Bellagio, Oceanside Etc. Seems the City is crushing the spas. Is the end near? Is this the end of the line for the fun?

Say it ain't so!

 

[Betwixt & Between]

There have been lulls before. It's cyclical.

 

[Katy]

but nothing like what is happening right now. time will tell, and we'll see how the lawsuit against the city by several of the amps works out. the tactics being used by the city right now, although possibly illegal, have been effective. at least 15 amps have closed in the last 1-2 years. not all for the same reasons, but still very saddening. i know some details about raids on Pink & Nan Cho in the last year that are pretty scary. Oceanside is closed because the city complained about their sign... the same sign they have had for 5 years. landlords are being threatened. and on and on...

the city's efforts to close them down was even detailed recently in an article in D Magazine.

hopefullly the amps CAN fight city hall. but it costs money. and time.

JPdM

 

[Baldrick]

That's the city using our resources for non violent activities! They need to get a handle on these streets!

 

[Wolfy Owns]

The problem is that all the city has to do is condem the properity

 

[Fritzie.]

As with the demise of the amps on the north end of Emerald several years ago the city seems to target most of their efforts on the most visible of the amps. By most visible I mean those easily seen by the general non-hobbying public when driving by on major traffic arteries and/or those surrounded by many more mainstream non-hobby related business establishments who complain about their existence. They're probably going to have to modify their business plan to something more under the radar in the not too distant future if what we now know as amps are to survive in the long haul. Set up shop in non descript business parks or near other adult oriented businesses with little or no signage, operating out of apts, etc... more and more popular amp girls will surely go the indy route over time.

It's been transitioning for some time now if you think about it. How many Asian indies were there 5 years ago? How many former amp girls are indy now?

 

[m y]

Not to rain on anyone's parade as I love the AMPs as much as the next guy, but we have to remember that they promote several illegal acts that are of major concern. There are several spas who pay for some girls who are brought across the border's illegally, some are brought with the hope of doing legitimate work and sending money back to their familes only to have to work for/with us to pay off their debt. All the spas and all the girls partake in tax evasion costing us all millions of dollars in tax receipts. Don't get me wrong, I love the creampies offered by many, but if we truly look at it objectively we have illegal entrants, human trafficking and tax evasion. This is a concern for the government. Just some thinking out loud.

 

[molitor]

Also you have to look at it this way, a lot of these girls come from california to earn money for college, that is the only way they can afford to go.

 

[Kristen K]

Asianmaster, don’t believe everything you read about human trafficking and sex slavery. A few anecdotal examples make good material for B movies and MSNBC documentaries, but the real facts don’t come close to supporting the claims of Melissa Farley and her followers.

Maybe we should start a legal defense fund for the amps.

JPdM is correct on one other point - this is not part of a NORMAL cycle. This crusade is being lead by a band of disciples of extreme feminism, who believe they have been put on Earth to “rescue the exploited victims of these evil places”. So far they have not been able to use the legal system to accomplish their mission, so they are trying to go around the law by bullying and intimidating the landlords and property owners. In other cases, these crusaders are using vague generalities in parts of the city code to get a favorable administrative decision while denying business owners due-process. Eventually, this will be resolved in the courts, but it’s going to be a long hard slog and there are no guarantees of the outcome.

In the meantime in order to survive, all the amps are going to have to make some changes to their business model. The bureaucrats and crusaders, working together with le have figured out that once they’ve paid the door fee (i.e. $40/$60), any physical contact, including a simple pat on the shoulder, is justification to write a “no massage license” ticket. Never mind that the ticket will probably be dismissed when it finally gets to court; as far as the city is concerned, there’s no such thing as “innocent until proven guilty”. The city code provides that on a single allegation, the administrative official may revoke the businesses’ certificate of occupancy thus making it technically illegal (fines up to $1,000 per day) for them to be open. The city’s actions have been appealed to State District and Federal Court, but while this is being sorted out, the amp owners need to rethink how the are going to operate their businesses.

 

[Arthur Always]

Went to eat at the sushi bar next to Oceanside this afternoon. People were carrying things out of Oceanside today, looked like tables,lamps etc. Looks like Oceanside may be done

 

[143243]

Never cared too much one way or the other about these things until several years ago I was involved in an actual, real-life documentary that took me from Korea to Dallas and several stops in between and then most recently several months ago I found myself on a similar train. I, like many of you, have gotten to know many of these girls very closely and several of them intimately, and the sad thing is that these things do exist and I must say that it has hit me again and the only people we have to blame is ourselves (I know, it gets back to the chicken or the egg). But without us these girls would not have a place to work and the spa owners would not be able to exploit these girls to the tune of millions of dollars a year. THe working girls would not feel they have no other choice but to fuck to pay for college, or take care of their families, or be tricked into working as a whore to pay back the broker who sold them. Anyway, I'm at fault myself so I will take this time to sign off and wish you all the best of luck.

 

[........]

If the AMP paid legitimate business income taxes........

If the John paid 'pleasure taxes'..............

Then we wouldn't be having this conversation. We get taxed for everything else - no reason not to add my FBSM+GFE to the mix

Certainly a lot more complicated than my statement, but I feel like being a smart-ass today.

 

[Boyoboy0]

Suite270 you've hit on something, taxes/revenue. Sometime in the near future, maybe 7 to 10 years when the the federal/state & local governments have to find more revenue, legislation will pass legalizing and regulating prostitution and pot. There's no new money coming from traditional sources, these will be the next big government revenue sources.

 

[Jessie C]

Does not sound like good news for Oceanside. I stopped by on Friday when I saw the doors open and talked to two of the house mamasan's. They said that they would be open again this week and all of the regulars would be there as well. Perhaps wishful thinking on their part. Hopefully they are just remodeling during the down time. Somehow I doubt it but... hopefully.

BTW axl how was the sushi?

 

[Big Dawg35]

In my experience, the AMPS need to buy some more tickets to the Policeman's Ball, or something like that.

I remember Valentine's Day in the evening, I was going to meet some people at Jaguar's, and there were cops on almost every corner of Northwest Hwy.

I would think the city could use its resources better than that.

If you use history as a guide, prostitution has long been tolerated in Texas, and I just don't see it going away anytime soon. But, Houston and Dallas are two of the last cities where storefronts thrive. Storefronts are pretty much history in most of the West Coast (at least ones of quality) and elsewhere. All they did was move to large apartment complexes.

 

[Pansie]

Oceanside is NOT closed for good. They are just waiting for paperwork.

 

[Mister Wise Guy]

dude please, don't start in on that, i doubt i've met 1 maybe 2 amp girls outta the hundreds i've seen that didn't know exactly what they were coming here for. Millions? not. these owners aren't making anywhere near the kind of money the newshounds would want you to think. most of the girls aren't either. it's like a top salesman in many industries, there's the top 10 percent making big bucks, about 50-60% making good but not major bucks and the bottom feeders who wash out. is it a multi-million dollar industry? yeah but that's cumulative. you don't see Bentleys and ferraris parked outside the amps, unless it's some rich dude.

without doubt the cities are abusing the statutes, remember the fine crap a few years back? total shit. just because some cop sees you walking out of an amp doesn't mean anything illegal happened.

income tax evasion? perhaps, but you'll find way more tax evaders in corporate america. if you really want to rant about income tax evasion round up the 10 million illegal wetbacks in this country and make them indentured servants. tax them double to refund the ultimate ponzi scam, social security (sic) which is projected to go broke right about the time i'll be old enough to start getting it, if i live that long.

yeah i'm drunk and i just want some kgirl love!

 

[Quia]

Wasn't sure if I should respond to you or not as I do not think this thread should continue but, what the heck, might as well. Waco, appreciate your comments but clearly you have neither had any relationships with any of the couple hundred working girls you've been with over the years nor have you taken time to sit down to talk with many of the owners and therefore have never banked any of their business. If you have time to do this in the future, you may want to inquire as to which cities are the most lucrative for the girls and then find out how many of the owners have several "shops" across the country. No disrespect meant, but your naiveness is refreshing. No harm, no foul. Happy days are here again.

 

[a-z]

how would you know? better still how would we know you are the all-wise all-knowing allfather of amps? if you content these girls are exploited i say as others have here the vast majority know full well what the biz entails. i guess you'd have us all believe rather naively every amp owner rakes in millions. now that's naive.

 

[YVONNE]

I love the AMPs. I would hate to see them all go.

The way that AMPS allow their operations to become so high profile has always astounded me. Big neon business signs, flashing open signs at 4:00 AM, etc.

I'm sure we all remember the freaking billboard on I-35 with an arrow pointing down to North Emerald. Then they're stunned and upset when the city rolls up one day to shut them down. I mean, who could have seen that coming???

I think that greed overrides common sense in most of these cases. The modified business model someone else mentioned might be a good idea to the benefit of all, both establishments and their patrons.

To those who know the people who run these places. Advise them that if they're out in the open and it's obvious what they are, then it is a matter of when, not if, they will be shut down.