OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - One of Utah’s oldest businesses is feeling the pressure. Owners of the Lighthouse Lounge in Ogden - the city’s oldest cabaret - say the city is forcing them to move because the business is not in the right zone.
On the steps of Ogden’s City hall, employees and supporters of the Lighthouse Lounge in Ogden protested. The city is forcing the strip club to move and they're not happy about it. The hand made signs are clear. The local business has been around more than 50 years. More than 30 employees will be out of jobs, among them, single moms.
One employee says, “I am paying my way through school, I also am a mom so I’m trying to do my best to provide for my child while going to school in a limited amount of time and this is the only job I know that fits my schedule.”
Employees at the lounge say the club is good for Ogden’s economy and provides wanted entertainment, but they're battling the typical and negative stereotypes of their line of work. Tiia Secor says, “They seem to think that because we are a sexually oriented business that it automatically means that there's drugs, violence or all sorts of negative aspects to it when these people have never set foot in our bar.”
Mayor Matthew Godfrey says that's not it at all. He says the lounge has been violating zoning ordinances for years, “State law changed a long, long time ago that doesn't allow sexually oriented businesses across from places of worship and they're right across the street from a church.”
The lounge is allowed to operate in manufacturing zones. Godfrey says, “We’re not kicking them out of their business. They can continue to go and operate their business they just need to do it in a zone that's appropriate.”
Protestors say it's politics from the city to "clean Ogden up" but they say there are other establishments within city limits that are far worse. A Lighthouse owner says, “We've never had any gang fights, we've never had stabbings, never had shootings, no drug deals.”
The city does need to give businesses enough time to recoup their investment. How much time is that? That's what the city is trying to determine right now.
