AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2005 > October > 31
Monday, October 31, 2005
Revisiting the issue: ‘Sex trade’ on Roswell Road
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just spent about 20 minutes re-reading the comments posted on Mike King’s take on cleaning up the “sex tradeâ€? on Roswell Road and I have come to only one conclusion. That’s 20 minutes of my life that I won’t ever see again.
Having been in Sandy Springs since 1962, I wasn’t aware we had a “sex trade.â€? Indeed, I got so excited reading that we had a sex trade that I jumped in my car and went cruising the streets of town, looking for the sex trade. I mean, golly, when you start throwing terms like “sex tradeâ€? around it sounds like hundreds, dare I say, thousands are earning their living by merchandising good vibrations, if you catch my breeze.
Maybe you can, after all, put a price on love, or at least a rental fee. Well, campers, after going up and down Roswell Road for many hours, as well as every side street, with eyes wide open here’s what I found:
Two naked-lady nightclubs
Two bookstores that have movies showing people’s naughty parts
One establishment that some say offers men a “happy ending� at the end of a massage
Frankly, I was thinking bigger, you should pardon the expression. I was expecting to discover an avenue that resembles the one Jimmy Stewart found toward the end of “It’s a Wonderful Lifeâ€? where Bedford Falls has turned into Pottersville, rife with businesses catering to man’s coarser nature. Or maybe a stretch like Amsterdam where there are women of commercial virtue reclining in the store windows dressed in lime-green teddies and or worse (better?). Sadly, however, I went looking for an elephant and found a mouse.
So here’s what I can confirm about the retail sex business in Sandy Springs. Two nightclubs, two bookstores and one “spaâ€? so to speak. In the interest of disclosure, I have been in one of the clubs once (12 years ago) and one of the stores twice (the last time eight years ago), but never in the spa.
But here are a few things I know about the sex business here in our corner of God’s little acre. There must be enough local customers to keep these places in business or they would have gone away a long time ago. I don’t see out-of-state tour buses parked outside these establishments and you’re never going to convince me that scores of randy males from Snellville and Jonesboro are making a cross-town drive so they won’t be caught on a jolly-hunting expedition.
And here’s something else to mull over. As a reporter I worked in cities that did not have single strip club, dirty bookstore or seedy massage establishment. In those innocent little burgs I read enough police reports and sat in enough courtrooms to tell you that the moral climate in those places was no shining example of prudence.
Sexual shenanigans do not need strippers or XXX-rated movies to thrive. If you think people lack imagination, take a peek into the dark corner of their psyche.
Do I wish these places were gone? Sure do. I believe these businesses put back absolutely nothing positive into the community. And please don’t tell me that they pay taxes, which help us all. That makes paying your taxes sound like a cause for a medal and a parade.
Let’s elect our leaders and get down to some real issues first. Are we going to get taxed and how much? Where will our municipal services come from and how will we pay for it? Can we ease traffic? How do we best manage future growth? Is the Sandy Springs sex trade a burning issue? Not unless you go unprotected.
