Not everyone’s happy with proposed crackdown on Tampa massage parlors

Tampa’s City Council is poised to vote Thursday on the first reading of an ordinance seeking to reduce human trafficking by cracking down on massage parlors.

The proposal was introduced earlier this month by the city’s legal department. It came following months of concerned citizens coming before the Council, asking them to crack down on so-called “health spas” located mostly along Kennedy Blvd.

But those working at some of the massage parlors in question say the language of the ordinance is far too broad, and will only end up hurting employees of such establishments, not those involved in human trafficking.

“It’s going to arrest victims, it’s going to further criminalize sex work, and it’s going to make folks who are experiencing human trafficking far less likely to come forward,” says Sydney Eastman with the Sex Workers Solidarity Network.

That point-of-view is only now surfacing, following months of the Council hearing from representatives of the group “Clean Up Kennedy” about the need to remove the scourge of human trafficking by going after those massage parlors.

“It’s modern-day slavery … and it’s happening in our backyard,” Councilman Guido Maniscalco remarked at the Council’s Dec. 7 meeting.

Eastman questions how Maniscalco (or anybody on the Council) knows trafficking is going on at such establishments, since, she says, nobody spoke with people who work in those targeted massage parlors on Kennedy.

The proposed ordinance will require businesses to obtain bathhouse permits. It also prohibits hours of operation at such facilities between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; bans operators or employees from having criminal records; allows inspections by Tampa Police officers up to four times a year and mandates fines or jail as punishment for violations.

“There’s a lot of business that operate with people who don’t have licenses,” says Dr. Jill McCracken, an associate professor of rhetoric and writing studies at USF St. Petersburg. “I think it allows the police dept. to come in and target specific business for specific reason, to try to find prostitution and it’s not necessarily going to do anything to prevent trafficking.”

McCracken has researched sex work and sex trafficking, and says that the provision banning anyone with a criminal record from working in the industry is only going to marginalize more people who already have a difficult time making a living wage.

“I think it’s a good start,” says Councilman Harry Cohen, who intends to vote in support of the ordinance.

But Cohen admits it’s only targeting a very specific class of violator.

“We may have to do something more in the future to target other classes of violators, but that doesn’t mean that we should throw out the good as a sacrifice to the perfect,” he says.

Tampa resident Joseph Manson says the issue of human trafficking has always been on his radar, but he was inspired to form the “Clean Up Kennedy” website and Facebook group after viewing a WFLA News-Channel 8 broadcast story in May about Kennedy massage parlors.

“This ordinance isn’t going to get rid of all human trafficking in Tampa overnight,” he says, “but it’s a good start in targeting the illicit massage businesses that are in our city.”

Manson’s group already achieved some of their intended goals, with protests earlier this summer that led to the closing of two such establishments on Kennedy.

The News Channel 8 story quotes a Tampa police detective about the establishments in question, calling them “essentially brothel(s).” Female staff “often work under visas from Korea and dress in lingerie or other sexually provocative work clothes,” the report stated.

The Sex Workers Solidarity Network notes that the story failed to feature anyone who works at those spas.

“Since no one has actually heard from or spoken to a single victim of human trafficking,” Eastman says, “we’re not even sure that’s what’s happening here.”

Manson counters that by saying he spoke with enough anti-human trafficking organizations, local nongovernmental organizations, neighbors, and members of law enforcement to be convinced there’s a problem in these establishments.

“I don’t really know where these other organizations are getting their information, but that’s where I’m getting my information,” Manson says. “I am certain that there’s human trafficking going on and they’ve all been involved in this process of creating this ordinance.”

Last week, members of the Sex Workers Solidarity Network met with Assistant City Attorney Mike Schmid about the ordinance. He encouraged the group to review the proposal and consider suggesting alternative language when it goes before the council.

Cohen also welcomes any feedback about the ordinance from the organization.

“I want to hear what this group has to say, and if they point to some things that are of concern then we’re going to be open-minded and look at it,” he says. “All of us want the same thing, and that’s to safeguard human beings from being exploited. I’m going to do everything to achieve that goal, and if what we’re doing needs to be tweaked or improved in some way, I’m totally open to that.”

Professor McCracken says the measure will perhaps “clean up” Kennedy Boulevard, so she can see why there’s support for it. “It’s not going to decrease or get rid of trafficking.”

“Everybody’s against trafficking,” she says. “But if you’re really against trafficking, then you talk to victims of trafficking, you talk to the technicians, and you ask them,’ how is this ordinance going to affect you?'”

Council members will vote on the proposed ordinance 9 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 315. E. Kennedy Blvd.