http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_18005977
SOUTH PASADENA - City officials Wednesday postponed a move to to curb and control massage businesses.
City officials may require massage parlors to take out a conditional use permit, giving South Pasadena more authority over how many and where they can operate. To do that they would need to impose a moratorium.
Of the 11 massage businesses in South Pasadena, seven have opened since 2010. The city receives two to three inquiries per week from business license hopefuls.
Local governments have lost some ability to police these establishments since the California Massage Therapy Council established by state law in 2008, allows - but does not require - masseuses to be certified by the state and forego any local screening process.
"What this will allow us to do is have more control over the number of establishments and locations," said Sergio Gonzalez, assistant city manager. "Were looking at a proliferation of these types of establishments that have worked their way to cities that are behind on the number of them."
Before the responsibility of vetting operators and their employees fell onto police departments. Authorities can still perform spot-checks.
The move would make sure there isn't a high density of these types of businesses, Gonzalez said, adding that operators and masseuses will still have to be certified.
Jenny Cui, owner of
SP Asian Therapy and
Spa on Fair Oaks Avenue welcomes the move.
If
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there is a expansion of massage parlors in South Pasadena it would hinder her ability to remain competitive, Cui said, who opened her business five months ago.
The topic caught the attention of the City Council after Lisa Pendleton, a South Pasadena resident and member of Women Involved in South Pasadena Political Action, brought it up at a February meeting.
Pendleton said massage parlors don't represent a positive image of the city because of signage, closed drape storefronts and the type of clients they typically attract.
The general perception is that "massage parlors are often a source for illegal activity (and) creates a blighted condition within the city's commercial areas especially when there is an excess of such establishments," Pendleton said in a letter to the City Council.
Pendleton called for the city to place massage parlors into their own category and require them to take out a conditional use permit.
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