by Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News
City officials are looking into enacting guidelines that aim to curb illicit activities at massage parlors. (KBAK/KBFX)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) —
Massage parlors could face tougher local rules, if the Bakersfield City Council gives its OK to some proposals just presented to a council committee. The city attorney's office is suggesting changes that would affect both the business owners and their workers.
"There's a lot of things that we're trying to clear up, to make the massage business actually a respectable business in the City of Bakersfield," Deputy City Attorney Richard Iger told Eyewitness News on Monday. He made a presentation to the council's Legislative and Litigation Committee.
Iger said one idea is to require any massage therapist in the city to have certification from the California Massage Therapy Council.
"The goal of that entity is to try to legitimize the business," Iger said. He said many cities across the state have adopted that standard. "They have stricter rules on the schools that they'll approve, and they make the practitioners actually show their knowledge before they'll issue a permit," he said.
Iger said schools approved by the CAMTC must require more hours of training.
"The thought is, that will get rid of a lot of practitioners that come in that don't have any actual massage skills, they're just out there to conduct illicit activities," Iger said.
The city has seen the number of investigations and arrests continue to increase. Iger had police statistics showing nine arrests at massage businesses in 2012, going up to 26 in 2015, and 21 arrests last year. Iger said there have already been 15 arrests this year.
Iger said police respond to these businesses when they get complaints.
"They'll go undercover, and a girl will solicit for prostitution while they're in there," he described.
In a couple of recent examples, a woman was arrested on suspicion of prostitution this February at the Panama Health Spa near Panama Lane and Stine Road. Last May, another woman was arrested for the same charge at a business in the 700 block of Oak Street.
With the proposed rule-change, the city would also get tougher on the owners of these businesses.
Iger said now, if a massage shop has its city permit revoked for a rule violation, they can reapply in nine months. The rule change would require that if a business permit is revoked, an owner could not reapply for a year. And that would be for the location where the revocation happened, or any site in the city.
The attorney said the current rules have allowed a "revolving door" of shady operations. Sometimes the business name is just changed, sometimes a relative of the owner who was cited will quickly reapply.
Iger said they've seen a recent example like that.
"The husband will have the revocation (of the city permit), then the wife will reapply," he described. "We have nothing in the code to prohibit that, so she'll get it. A couple months later she'll receive a revocation, and then now the daughter is coming in and applying, and there's nothing in the code to prohibit that."
Chris Parlier, Jacquie Sullivan, and Andrae Gonzales are on the "Leg and Lit" committee, and they voted to send the proposals for the tougher rules on to the full city council. Iger said that will likely happen in June.
Parlier said he's heard concerns about human trafficking at massage parlors, and the tougher certification that would be required by the rule-change could help identify that.
Sullivan asked about more penalties, and Iger said if a business was cited, and continued to be uncooperative, they could face an administrative citation with the possibility for a $1,000 fine.
Iger said the current rules are not working. He hopes a tougher ordinance will lead to good massage operations staying open, and the problem ones not re-opening.
"It's something that I think the industry and the citizens of Bakersfield deserve better," Iger said. "To have a clean shop, and to know that if they go get a massage, that it won't be something inappropriate."
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City officials are looking into enacting guidelines that aim to curb illicit activities at massage parlors. (KBAK/KBFX)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) —
Massage parlors could face tougher local rules, if the Bakersfield City Council gives its OK to some proposals just presented to a council committee. The city attorney's office is suggesting changes that would affect both the business owners and their workers.
"There's a lot of things that we're trying to clear up, to make the massage business actually a respectable business in the City of Bakersfield," Deputy City Attorney Richard Iger told Eyewitness News on Monday. He made a presentation to the council's Legislative and Litigation Committee.
Iger said one idea is to require any massage therapist in the city to have certification from the California Massage Therapy Council.
"The goal of that entity is to try to legitimize the business," Iger said. He said many cities across the state have adopted that standard. "They have stricter rules on the schools that they'll approve, and they make the practitioners actually show their knowledge before they'll issue a permit," he said.
Iger said schools approved by the CAMTC must require more hours of training.
"The thought is, that will get rid of a lot of practitioners that come in that don't have any actual massage skills, they're just out there to conduct illicit activities," Iger said.
The city has seen the number of investigations and arrests continue to increase. Iger had police statistics showing nine arrests at massage businesses in 2012, going up to 26 in 2015, and 21 arrests last year. Iger said there have already been 15 arrests this year.
Iger said police respond to these businesses when they get complaints.
"They'll go undercover, and a girl will solicit for prostitution while they're in there," he described.
In a couple of recent examples, a woman was arrested on suspicion of prostitution this February at the Panama Health Spa near Panama Lane and Stine Road. Last May, another woman was arrested for the same charge at a business in the 700 block of Oak Street.
With the proposed rule-change, the city would also get tougher on the owners of these businesses.
Iger said now, if a massage shop has its city permit revoked for a rule violation, they can reapply in nine months. The rule change would require that if a business permit is revoked, an owner could not reapply for a year. And that would be for the location where the revocation happened, or any site in the city.
The attorney said the current rules have allowed a "revolving door" of shady operations. Sometimes the business name is just changed, sometimes a relative of the owner who was cited will quickly reapply.
Iger said they've seen a recent example like that.
"The husband will have the revocation (of the city permit), then the wife will reapply," he described. "We have nothing in the code to prohibit that, so she'll get it. A couple months later she'll receive a revocation, and then now the daughter is coming in and applying, and there's nothing in the code to prohibit that."
Chris Parlier, Jacquie Sullivan, and Andrae Gonzales are on the "Leg and Lit" committee, and they voted to send the proposals for the tougher rules on to the full city council. Iger said that will likely happen in June.
Parlier said he's heard concerns about human trafficking at massage parlors, and the tougher certification that would be required by the rule-change could help identify that.
Sullivan asked about more penalties, and Iger said if a business was cited, and continued to be uncooperative, they could face an administrative citation with the possibility for a $1,000 fine.
Iger said the current rules are not working. He hopes a tougher ordinance will lead to good massage operations staying open, and the problem ones not re-opening.
"It's something that I think the industry and the citizens of Bakersfield deserve better," Iger said. "To have a clean shop, and to know that if they go get a massage, that it won't be something inappropriate."
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