Dallas strip clubs must close early


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It’s been almost three years since we asked the city to shut down the XTC cabaret on Stemmons Freeway. At the time, it was the murder of a 34-year-old man in the wee hours of the morning after a long series of violence in the parking lots.

The club never closed and the violence continued. Last March, a 32-year-old man was shot dead at 3:15 a.m.

XTC is a terrible place. But violence and crime are not unique to it. The city created a Northwestern “club” task force after the March massacre, and eight police officers have since been busy. They accumulated 101 felony charges, 149 misdemeanor charges, 1,036 citations and 1,454 traffic stops. A task force, in part of Dallas.

The belief that strip clubs are just another form of entertainment is belied by evidence that shows they are magnets for crime, from drug trafficking and sex to assault and murder.

That’s why we support the ordinance proposed by Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua that would force strip clubs in Dallas to close from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. companies.

Unfortunately, nothing so obvious is easy at Town Hall. At a committee hearing on Monday, a few council members, led by council member Omar Narvaez, managed to postpone this for at least six months so that another “task force” could be appointed to “study. ” that question.

The word of the police chiefs who clearly described the ongoing criminal activity, and who documented it exhaustively, was apparently not enough.

Based on the poor performance of the council committee, we are concerned that this will someday become an ordinance.

Nonetheless, we appreciate that Bazaldua is addressing this issue and look forward to his return to the board in May. He is a progressive politician who is nonetheless clear-sighted about the need to use proper regulation to stop criminal activity before it begins.

A number of other large cities in Texas have stricter rules than Dallas when it comes to forcing strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses to go out of business. El Paso has a closing order at 2 a.m. San Antonio is at 2:15 am

The majority of arrests around sex-related businesses in Dallas so far this year have taken place after 2 a.m., according to a city briefing on the draft ordinance. And if you look at the XTC schedule, you’ll see that the club proudly announces that it’s open until 5 a.m. daily. But it is not the only one. A quick search reveals a number of clubs that continue to operate after the city’s bars close.

Regulating these businesses can be difficult. There are implications of the First Amendment. But it is not rock-solid moralism to look at the facts and determine that sexually oriented businesses need more scrutiny. These are places that are associated with an increase in violent crime, where guns, drugs and sex trafficking are common.

Police officers shouldn’t be around the strip club until dawn, and Dallas has the power to do something about it.

We support Bazaldua in cracking down on their hours of operation and look forward to the city council passing its common sense bylaws.

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