The Sydney, Australia, city council has shot down a proposal for a mega-brothel, which would have catered to a discrete clientele on an unprecedented scale. The council cited unfair competition and disruption to community for its decision. The council members made it clear that they did not object to the business itself, only to its size.
Super-sized brothel
The proposed $12 million Stiletto Brothel is the brainchild of millionaire Eddie Hayson and his Artazan Property Group. The facility was to have been an expansion of an existing brothel, doubling the number of rooms and adding a wing for group activity. The expansion would have made it the largest brothel in all of Australia.
Unanimously rejected
The application for Stiletto was rejected unanimously by the 10-member council on Tuesday. According to the news agency AFP, the council likened its impact on the community to “a super-sized shopping mall that would threaten competition.”
Councilman Shayne Mallard called the proposal the “Westerfield of brothels,” referring to the Australia’s largest chain of department stores.
Increased ‘anti-social behavior’
The impact the expansion would have on residents of the community was also considered in the decision. The increase in “anti social behavior” in the neighborhood of the existing brothel could only increase if its size was doubled, posited council member Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
“The intensification of use by way of additional floor area and rooms will have an adverse impact on the character and the amenity of the neighboring residential area,” she said. “I’m concerned about the impact that a brothel of this size will have on nearby residents.”
‘We’re not prudes’
The council was quick to say that the rejection was not out of any desire to legislate morality. “We’re not prudes; we’re not opposed to brothels, but we have a policy of anti-clustering, spreading them out,” Mallard said. He then reminded the group that other Australian cities, like Brisbane and Melbourne, also have restrictions on the size of brothels.
Sources
ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-20/too-big3a-mega-brothel-plan-rejected/2907510/?site=sydney
Mid-day: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/sep/200911-Mega-brothel-expansion-rejected.htm
AOL: http://www.aol.com/2011/09/20/stiletto-brothel_n_972504.html
An actor, film maker, screenwriter, cat lover and journalist, Ron lives in Eastern Washington where he pursues his professional and creative endeavors with equal relish.
PG&E to pay $70 million for pipeline tragedy
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., a northern California utility, has agreed to pay $70 million to the California town of San Bruno for a pipeline explosion that killed eight people in 2010. Company says it’s remorseful The San Francisco-based power company’s president, Chris Johns, released a statement Monday, saying PG&E is sorry and eager to [...]
Judge stabbed and deputy shot in Washington courthouse
Following a standoff in a Washington state county courtroom Friday, a man reportedly escaped after shooting a sheriff’s deputy in the shoulder and stabbing a judge in the neck. The man is still at large. Treachery among the tree farms The incident occurred Friday afternoon in the western Washington town of Montesano, which bills itself [...]
Microraptor was one flashy little dinosaur
A team of Chinese and American scientists have found that Microraptor, a small four winged dinosaur that went extinct about 130 million years ago, was likely black and almost certainly had glossy, iridescent feathers. Until now, the coloring of extinct creatures was a matter of pure speculation. That may no longer be the case. The [...]
Autocorrected message leads to school lockdown
Adjacent schools in Georgia were locked down for two hours Wednesday after a text message reportedly warned of a “gunman” on campus. Later, it was learned that the message was the result of a smartphone autocorrect function, attempting to “fix” the misspelled slang word “gunna.” A series of mixups A series of mixups led to [...]
