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Press Release
Community pressure ousts lingerie studio Bowing to neighborhood pressure and the threat of a city-backed lawsuit, the owner of a lingerie modeling studio in west Houston said he has packed up his belongings and permanently shut his doors to business at 10206 Westheimer Road. "It's over, they beat me," said Ted Lee Wright, owner of Asian West modeling studio. "I got tired of the hassle and just want to move on." Fred Trotter, owner of the property that housed Asian West, said he and Wright came to a "gentleman's agreement" Monday, and Asian West was out of his rental space by midnight. Trotter paid Wright $20,000, who, in exchange, agreed to move out and relocate his business elsewhere. "To avoid litigation, we came up with this settlement agreement," Trotter said. "They agreed to go and not come back." Residents in the next-door neighbor Briargrove Park subdivision, who have been fighting a battle to drive Asian West from their neighborhood, said they are happy to hear the news but want to see something in writing before celebrating in the neighborhood's streets. "Assuming that what they say is true, our goal is met," said Melissa Magee, president of the Briargrove Park Property Owners Association. "Our whole purpose was to see them move, to shut them down." Local church officials say they are simply happy to get the news and will assume it is truth unless they hear otherwise. Dale Hendrix, business administrator for Grace Presbyterian Church, which owns property directly behind Asian West, said if the place is officially closed, nothing more needs to be done. If not, the problems will resurface. "For now, we will trust that all goes well and we thank Mr. Trotter for his help," Hendrix said. "It is good that we could achieve our objectives sooner than later and with minimal confrontation." Church of the Ascension is located across the street from Asian West. "This is wonderful - the best news I've heard in weeks," said Church of the Ascension rector, the Rev. Dr. Walter Ellis. "It's a shame you have to bribe someone to leave, but I am glad they're gone." Magee said the Briargrove Park Property Owners Association will continue circulating a petition among homeowners, urging City Attorney Anthony Hall to file a lawsuit against Asian West, until they have documents in hand confirming Trotter and Wright's claims. "Originally it was a five-year lease, and we would hate for their gentleman's agreement to say they can move back in if the place isn't leased out in six months or so," Magee said. If Asian West continues to operate in Trotter's shopping center, Magee said, the association and two neighboring churches want the business declared a public nuisance in court and forced to close its doors at that location. Homeowners prefer to go the lawsuit route, Magee said, because simply declaring Asian West a sexually oriented business does not guarantee the business will have to vacate the neighborhood. When residents first learned about the business moving into a shopping center down the street from their neighborhood in January, their first line of attack was to get the city to force the business to register as an SOB - it is now permitted as a retail establishment - so that it would be subject to that ordinance's distance requirements. That city law was amended five years ago to keep sexually oriented businesses 1,500 feet from a residential area, school, church, park or day-care. Both churches are located within 1,500 feet of Asian West. Despite four arrests for prostitution at Asian West in the past three months, residents' efforts to get the business declared an SOB have been unsuccessful because, according to city law, it must be proven that employees are engaging in sexual activity, and displaying specific parts of their breasts and buttocks during their modeling stints before the business is forced to get an SOB permit. Arrests for prostitution do not fit that bill because often employees only have to agree to perform a sexual act in exchange for a fee to be taken into custody. Mike Howard, District G Houston City Councilmember Bert Keller's chief of staff, said Keller and at-large Houston City Councilman Michael Berry sent a letter to Hall urging the lawsuit and that Asian West be declared a sexually oriented business. The letter also recommended that the city's sexually oriented business ordinance be changed to include businesses that have had employees arrested and convicted of prostitution. That ordinance has been tied up in court for several years. After Houston City Council revised its ordinance in 1997, several clubs appealed, and a federal judge said the requirement - which doubled the previous distance of 750 feet - was unconstitutional. The city appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and has been waiting for six months for a ruling on whether the distance requirements are legal. Legal actions aside, Trotter said the agreement stands and he is happy to get out of the middle of the controversy. "My grandmother said my reputation is already damaged, so I need to move forward as soon as possible," Trotter said. "I'd like to see some help from the community now, such as the churches telling their congregations I solved the problem for them." Trotter said he is already trying to lease the 1,200-square-foot space formerly occupied by Asian West, and said he will open up his own business if there are no takers in the next few months. "I am thinking about putting in an ice cream and coffee shop if I can't lease it out," Trotter said. Wright said he does not know what he will do with Asian West, but he does know that he will not set up shop again in west Houston's Westchase District. "I will either relocate somewhere else or sell the business," Wright said. |
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