Letter to the Editor: A blight on our community
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
A few blocks south of this creek there is another blight on our community, one that fills me with a sense of shame and betrayal every time my daughter and I walk through its parking lot on our way to her bus stop.
This morning we found stripper trading cards featuring women either naked or in crotchless panties, last week it was a few used condoms (we see those a lot), and a few weeks ago I found drugs-- though that was on the sidewalk just outside the property lines.
The giant fishnet clad legs of the Deja Vu Showgirls are hard to miss, yet somehow this establishment has become the unspoken of elephant in our community. We willingly pay increased levies to keep our school arts programs, will plan our city around our spawning salmon, and vociferously defend our tree canopy-- all important causes for sure. But despite our willingness to advocate for these protections, we are condoning, through our silence and our complacency, the presence of Lake Forest Park's very own strip club.
Glowing neon letters advertise the price of lap dances (3 for $100 if you're interested). Graphic photos of women with teeth and tongues bared invitingly gaze out at families dining at Floanna's. Women are encouraged to sign up and "earn extra money for college" as there are lots of "hot local ladies” according to their website.
This is our community. This establishment is a reflection of who we are. The Streamkeepers asked us to step up and preserve Bsche'tla Creek to a level of health that is "more fitting to our city's image." Perhaps we could find a business-- or affordable housing units or a community space-- that would better reflect our city's image than the neon legs of Deja Vu.
Kirsten Potter
Lake Forest Park
Kirsten Potter
Lake Forest Park
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7 comments:
Don’t visit Amsterdam…
We have lots of blights on our community. I've heard more police sirens outside my window in the past two years than in the previous ten that we've lived here. Last night's bit of midnight drama came complete with a cop ordering a suspect to "show your hands!" This happened on a once quiet street filled with single family houses. It's not my favorite bedtime routine.
Our community is a far less safe place now than it was ten years ago, and much of that is due to pro-criminal policies pursued by our elected officials, but you're going to single out one strip club that has been in operation for 40 years? This seems to me like a case of mistaken priorities.
When Cities put up with this, it won't be long til the City looks like 3rd Ave in Dwtwn Seattle. It's a shame that the Facebook commentary, this this is behavior that should be protected as a right.
Thank you for articulating what many of us have been thinking for years.
That club has been there more for than forty years. No, it's not a point of civic pride, but neither is it the worst thing in the world.
The parking lot belongs to the business, so in theory you are trespassing. I find many businesses in this area distasteful- all the pot shops for example - but at least they are operational, rather than the burned out shells of empty buildings further south.
Who are you electing? Due digence, civic involvement and participation is how we change our communities, cities, counties, districts and state. Get actively involved! Go to city council meetings, go to county commissioner meetings, and go to Olympia, be heard
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