As someone who does not live in Portland and has no experience with or knowledge of your organization beyond your comment and the article here, I find it extraordinarily disingenuous that you present yourself as a group primarily concerned with having “good neighbors” but then show up to protest with signs saying “They want our daughters.” That belies an agenda that goes well beyond worrying about local businesses obeying noise ordinances—as does opening with claims of “trafficking,” and as does your implication that a man who tells you to stop messing with “his business” must be a pimp (not an off-duty DJ or bartender or bouncer) because he’s not recognizable to you as the owner and didn’t stay long enough to qualify, in your eyes, as a paying customer on that day. Just a few minutes on your website proves you have an issue with all adult businesses because they are selling adult services, hence your comfort in claiming that all of them don’t pay taxes or maintain their buildings, and aren’t “legitimate businesses.” Care to tell us again how you don’t “predjudge”?

1) Okay
2) Added a c by mistake. It is also Diablo.
3)SOS Oregon was told they are related. I was not aware Acropolis owners are related to other adult entertainment business owners and it would only matter if these relatives were headed to court for crimes like DUI and unlawful penetration of one of their workers, or like the Desmarais clan they operated numerous businesses under federal investigation.
4) I did not realize Shared Hope is faith-based. SOS Oregon gets information from all sources including inside the industry. As for caring whether people think SOS Oregon is faith-based or not is less important than making sure SOS Oregon is not misrepresented by club owners and the media.
5) License plate photos were taken of people trying to run us over with cars on public property. We documented this for police as we were sure by the time police arrived, they would be gone. Business owners near the private room business you reference were instrumental in putting up a camera to monitor their lots as customers of the business were parking illegally in their private lots and they feared crime based on the private room business owner’s past record. They have the right to monitor their private property. Taking photos/videos of people who are harassing, intimidating, creating a nuisance, and trespassing is a way to document this for later investigation.
Again, happy to meet with you to discuss. You have my email.

1) Any further comments with copied/pasted bullet points will not be approved.

2) It’s Zukle.

3) Speaking of surnames, your 8-29-11 update doesn’t just say “Yes, both the Blush owner and the Dolphin owner have the same last name so they may be related,” and in fact says, “Makboul, who owns a house in Beaverton, has been in the news before in regards to OLCC, and is related to Dean MacBale, owner of the Dolphin clubs, who was accused of unlawful sexual penetration in May, and resisting arrest and DUI in March.” Since the owner of Acropolis also has relatives who own adult businesses, it causes the reader to wonder why a blood relationship matters in one instance and not the other, and why it is relevant at all.

4) If you don’t want people to think that SOS Oregon is faith-based, then you might want to consider getting your information from a source that is not Shared Hope.

5) If “no one has the right to harass and intimidate,” then what do you call actions such as taking photos of license plates and broadcasting the parking lots of adult businesses online?

The protest in front of the proposed Casa Diablo location was not protesting “the mere existence of the 35-year old Acropolis and another strip club two miles away …” This is from the latest SOS Oregon newsletter explaining why Sellwood-Moreland neighbors decided to hold a Stand-in:

Sellwood‐ Moreland neighbors have gathered together to fight the opening of Casa Diablo, a strip club currently operating in NW Portland whose owner, Johnny Zuckle, avoided a time/place/manner violation hearing by selling the club to a friend. In the midst of fighting the location of this club in their neighborhood, Sellwood‐Moreland residents became aware of ongoing harassment of neighbors near Blush and Acropolis.
Neighbors of Blush and Acropolis have seen and heard:
•Club patrons trespassing onto neighbor’s property to do drugs and have sex (one instance of this resulted in an arrest for cocaine possession);
•Car tires slashed, cars broken into and bicycles stolen;
•Club patrons, appearing to be DUI, sideswiping vehicles on 3 separate occasions;
•Used condoms, cigarettes, beer bottles, and porn mag/club guide in neighbors’ yards;
•Club employees abandoning dogs in their cars for 9+ hours during their work shift;
•Club patron urination on private property and in the street;
•Club patrons stumbling down street to their cars, appearing drunk and over‐served;
•Club patrons leaning out of their cars to vomit;
•Club employees urinating and dumping bags of garbage into Johnson Creek;
• Club patrons & employees revving car & motorcycle engines in club parking lot & up/down street at
excessive decibel levels as late as 2:45 am;
• Club parking lot lights above legal luminescent limit shining into neighbors’ houses;
• Excessive noise from club sound system and from patrons exiting the club until 2:30 am.
Residents are asking law enforcement and city officials to enforce Portland’s civil and criminal codes. Steve Pharo, executive director of OLCC, walked the neighborhoods near Blush and Acropolis and promised to contact the owners of the clubs to address neighbors’ concerns. OLCC’s authority extends only to alcohol‐related issues.

You accuse the SOS Oregon website of being “laughably inaccurate.” Unfortunately, like your article, much information in this industry is anecdotal, although Shared Hope is currently putting together a study regarding trafficking in the strip club industry. I have personally spoken with three dancers who told me some clubs in Portland are involved in trafficking. One ex-dancer sent me an email about the Desmarais clan and their clubs’ involvement with trafficking. The charges against them are related to prostitution, but when any woman works in an environment where she is coerced into selling sex acts deemed illegal in the state of Oregon and providing part of her earnings to that coercer, she is being trafficked.

Material on the SOS Oregon website is based on interviews with police officers, a few dancers, and activity observed outside strip clubs and private room businesses. A “cinematic 1980’s pimp” was not seen, but another guy was and told SOS Oregon protestors to “stop messing with my business.” This was outside Ben Cunningham’s business and he was not Ben Cunningham, and his “business” appeared to be checking up on the woman working inside as he did not stay long enough to pay for a show.

As for “xenophobic undertones” I have no idea what you are referring to. Yes, both the Blush owner and the Dolphin owner have the same last name so they may be related. You are bringing in xenophobia – why? Because of the last name? That is your issue, not SOS Oregon’s issue.

I did not see anyone at the protest with uncomfortable faces. In fact, Sellwood-Moreland neighbors accepted water and watermelon from the man you describe as “an aging Juggalo …” and from another man. Now who is being biased? Look at the pictures you published. People on both sides are just hanging and talking. You were taking pictures, others were taking pictures … it was just like a picnic … with signs … sometimes nonsensical perhaps on both sides, but signs and smiles nonetheless.

Many people would like to frame this argument into an attack on sexuality and tag SOS Oregon as some sort of moral police. This is entirely and completely inaccurate. We started in Beaverton when we got tired of neighborhood businesses vacating their leases due to harassment from neighboring strip clubs. We are, and continue to be, concerned with what is going on outside strip clubs. I tried to work with the owners of these clubs who professed to wanting to be good neighbors, but these guys wouldn’t even attempt the simple task of policing their parking lots. Ky Le told me, “I am in the business of making money, not spending it, and, in the end, I can do whatever I want, and you will go away.” Well, it is hard to go away when neighbors of strip clubs are emailing and complaining about patrons’ activities outside these clubs all over Portland. These are not neighborhood bars whose owners are interested in being good neighbors. As for crime stats, there are stats on Zuckle and other clubs (Zuckle was cited for a time/place/manner violation), but much is not reported due to owners intimidating neighbors and business people, and police not filing reports when perpetrators have already left the scene.

SOS Oregon continues to educate itself about this industry. I have met with a representative of sex workers and hooked her into BOLI and OLCC officials because I think workers in this industry need a voice and are all too often faceless and nameless. I have had a few conversations with dancers outside these clubs. I am willing to meet with anyone about this industry and would have spoken with protestors on Friday except I have found it is difficult to have an open conversation when a club owner is hanging around. I certainly do not prejudge, as you have clearly done in your article bringing in some info about “conservative mega church Mars Hill” which I have never heard of, but will now be looking up. SOS Oregon is comprised of social liberals and conservatives who agree on one thing – no one has the right to harass and intimidate. Email help@sosoregon.org if you would like to discuss further. I am most decidedly not some church lady and have no bias to bring to the table unless it is against owners who have continually lied to me and in public forums about how they want to work with neighbors, not against them, and then break good neighbor agreements and promises left and right.