Owners of 2 Pawtucket massage parlors seek to block new city regulations - The Providence...

[massage]

By Amanda Milkovits
Journal Staff Writer Posted Jan. 7, 2016 at 4:33 pm Updated at 4:38 PM

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- The owners of two Asian massage parlors are going to court to try to stop the city of from enforcing a new ordinance regulating "body works" businesses.


The ordinance passed unanimously by the City Council just before Christmas is intended to crack down on massage parlors that offer "body works," but are actually thinly disguised brothels.


A lawyer for Harmony Spa and Far East Acupressure filed an emergency petition in Superior Court Thursday for declaratory judgement and motion for a temporary restraining order against the city, Mayor Donald Grebien, the city council and Finance Director Joanna L'Heureaux.


In the petition, lawyer Gary E. Blais argues that the ordinance is confusing and targets the spas without a justifiable public safety issue, and that the spa owners fear that the ordinance will subject their businesses to unannounced and "salacious law enforcement."


"Other than a few scathing 'sound bites,' and provocative pronouncements recently made to the press about the plaintiffs' type of enterprise, by city officials, there has been no proof" that the spas threaten the public health, Blais argued.


The matter is set for a hearing Jan. 13, Blais said Thursday. Antonio Pires, the city director of administration, said in response: "We understand this is a land of laws, and everybody has the right to object to an ordinance we believe is correctly filed and are administering."


Providence, Central Falls, Coventry and Cranston have similar ordinances, but this is the first legal challenge. All require "body works" businesses to obtain licenses, identify owners and employees, forbid sex acts and revealing clothing, and comply with city codes. The spas can't be used for sleeping quarters, and city investigators may visit without notice to conduct inspections.


The ordinances were designed to shut down places suspected of sex trafficking; some had been subject to prostitution raids. Police in Central Falls and Providence found women were living in some of the spas, transported in a route that begins and ends in Flushing, N.Y. The few owners who testified at city license hearings in Providence were vague about how the businesses were run.


After the Pawtucket City Council passed the ordinance, the city sent out letters to 16 businesses to notify them that the ordinance may apply to them.


Grace Kwon, who said she's owned Harmony Spa for five years, and Sg Young Soung, who said she's owned Far East for three years, both filed affidavits in support of the temporary restraining order request. Kwon has a state-issued license for massage therapy, but Young Soung does not, according to state Department of Health records.


Both spas have long advertised on adult-entertainment websites. Far East, which has had advertisements on Backpage.com featuring young Asian women in erotic poses, lists its president as Hyun Min Kim, in Flushing, N.Y. Harmony Spa, in a strip mall between a laundromat and pizza place, advertises "hot masseuses" on Backpage.com. Both are regularly reviewed in sex websites, including as recently as this week.


Neither Kwon nor Young Soung attended the committee hearings last summer when the ordinance was proposed by city council members Timothy Rudd Jr. and Sandra Cano.


Mayor Grebien refused to enforce the ordinance when the city council first passed it in August, saying City Solicitor Frank Milos thought it could subject the city to lawsuits and that it needed enabling legislation from the state. So, Pawtucket Rep. Carlos Tobon pre-filed legislation. The city council took the ordinance back to committee, tweaked the wording, and passed it again last month. The mayor approved the new version.


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