Duluth has suspended or revoked licenses for five massage parlors as part of a renewed effort to regulate the adult-oriented businesses. The City Council held its first appeal hearings for massage parlors Monday, about a month after making sweeping changes to the city's existing laws governing the businesses to slow down their proliferation and to better ensure the qualifications of massage therapists.
This is a positive first step. Opponents of the new ordinance said it lacked clarity and unfairly lumped real practitioners of massage therapy with those windowless storefronts and shops with neon signs and largely male clientele. Tong Tong's owners didn't appear at Monday's hearing because they accepted revocation of the parlor's business license and withdrew their appeal.
Tong Tong is unable to apply for another license because the city, as part of its new law, has imposed a limit of three massage parlors per 10, residents -- or seven total for the city of 26, The parlor was the site of a shootout between police officers and a pair of armed robbers in late November. Another massage parlor, Nukoa Day Spa, accepted a day suspension of its license and withdrew its appeal. The owner told council members that he planned to dissolve the business and leave the city.
Most of the appeals centered on administrative violations, including failure to maintain a registry of licensed massage therapists on staff and a list of customers that includes names, addresses, telephone numbers and dates of service.
Chinese Therapeutic was cited for those violations and keeping its doors locked while performing massages during business hours; it received a day suspension. Buford Highway, one of metro Atlanta's global calling cards, has found itself in the middle of federal action on immigration.
