Communities see results with similar massage regulations approved by Buffalo Grove -...

[massage]

As Buffalo Grove officials prepare to implement a stricter regulation on massage businesses involved in illegal sexual activities and other acts, officials in two nearby communities have seen similar ordinances already in effect deter disreputable businesses.

"We have not had any problems in the past five or six years," said Laura Dee, an environmental health officer for Park Ridge. "It's really been foolproof."

Buffalo Grove officials looked to both Park Ridge and Mount Prospect when debating and developing an ordinance intended to make it more difficult for businesses that operate prostitution rings under the guise of massage parlors to return to the same location after losing a business license.

Officials in both Park Ridge and Mount Prospect said their separate ordinances have cut down on activities where massage businesses try to re-open at a location, but under a different name, following a license revocation.


In numerous meetings earlier this year, Buffalo Grove officials debated over the scope of the ordinance, and whether it would discourage legitimate businesses from locating in town and overly penalize property owners who lease space to massage businesses.

Under the ordinance Buffalo Grove trustees approved March 20, when a massage place loses its license because of prostitution-related offenses, the owner of the property where the offenses took place cannot lease that spot to another massage business for the next two years

The 24-month restriction can be applied when a massage business has had a license revoked for making fraudulent, misleading or false statements on a license application; a licensee's conviction that is related to violating provisions of the license, the subject matter of the license or the premises occupied; refusing to allow village inspectors or investigations, and when the conduct of the business constitutes a nuisance or presents a danger to the public, according to the new ordinance.

Buffalo Grove officials proposed the ordinance after two women were charged in April 2016 with operating a massage therapy business without a license in the village, officials have said.


Mount Prospect Police Chief Tim Janowick said the village's own 24-month restriction has deterred questionable massage businesses from re-opening in the village.

Often times, police have found owners of those businesses will look to locate to a different area when they know they can't re-open for another two years, he said.

"We've had several instances where they just passed the license to someone else in the same organization," Janowick said of the intention behind the Mount Prospect ordinance.

In Park Ridge, officials had a different intention behind their ordinance regulating massage businesses, Dee said.

They wanted to try and discourage men from engaging in prostitution, thinking a 24-month restriction may make it more challenging for them to find massage businesses that offer the illegal services.

"Previous clients would no longer — out of habit — go there," Dee said, adding how businesses faced with the 24-month ban ultimately left town. "They never did go back into those spaces."

Owners and managers of several Mount Prospect massage businesses either declined to comment or did not return calls requesting comment.

In Park Ridge, Vive! Therapeutic Massage owner Geri Balazs said she was thankful for the local ordinance since it helped clearly define professional massage businesses.

"I take ethics and professionalism sincerely," Balazs said. "As far as how Park Ridge has been treating me, they've been wonderful."

She said she performs background checks on each person she hires and also trains them on how to conduct phone calls with interested customers.

Once in a while, her staff will answer a call from men who are asking inappropriate questions about the services offered at the business, she said.

"We cut them off right there and then," Balazs said. "Your reputation will follow you."

rwachter@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer


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