Glendora Outlaws Pot, Tattoos

[Spliff Twister]

Sex, drugs and tattoos all made an appearance on a recent Glendora City Council agenda.

But the racy-sounding meeting was about suppressing those vices, not encouraging them.

The city tightened regulations on how and where massages can be given in Glendora, and put a moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries and tattoo parlors within city limits. Officials called the collection of votes preventative housekeeping, but a local history buff pointed out that the Oct. 10 agenda reflected the conservative, family-values personality of the city.

"I'd say we tend to be on the conservative side, pro-family, tending toward things that would perhaps shield the community from influences that they have decided are negative," said Dick Swinney, a city resident and Glendora history enthusiast.

But Mayor Doug Tessitor said the recent votes represented nothing more than good governing.

"It's just an example of our city staff doing what they should do, monitoring our city ordinances and codes to make sure they're up to date," he said. "We have to make sure we're not sound asleep when these things come up."

Glendora has no "pot clubs" or tattoo parlors, butalso lacks any specific rules to govern them. With several other San Gabriel Valley cities enacting moratoriums on marijuana dispensaries, the city has received calls from people hinting at setting up shop in Glendora, said David Chantarangsu, assistant director of the city's planning department. Inquiries about establishing tattoo parlors have come in, too, he said.

The moratoriums could last up to a year and will give city planners a chance to study how to write ordinances that would eventually allow marijuana dispensaries and tattoo shops, said City Manager Eric Ziegler.

"We need to set up some kind of standards that these places can meet before they locate in town," he said. "It's always better to tackle that before the fact."

The city has no massage parlors either, but it does allow other businesses to offer massages. Scattered nail salons, spas and an acupuncture center have failed to register for business licenses or masseuse permits, so the city has prosecuted and closed them, Ziegler said.

However, the massage ordinance targets far more salacious behavior. It aims to prevent potentially sexual massages or outright prostitution by defining exactly what was meant in the city's code by a "therapeutic massage" - the only kind allowed in Glendora.

"This community has never really embraced the concept of free-standing massage parlors," Ziegler said. "They've accepted the premise of a massage in concert with a beauty spa, or a medical or chiropractic practice."

The new ordinance ensures that these are the only kinds of businesses where massages can be given, he said.

Glendora's moral sensibilities have a historical root, Swinney pointed out.

Before the city incorporated, north Glendora developed as a teetotaling, church-building town, with terms written into all of the land deeds outlawing alcohol. And in south Glendora, then called Alosta, saloons were built instead of churches and rumors of brothels persist to this day, Swinney said.

Both halves of the city now tend toward moral conservatism, he added.

"The city's personality always depends on who is on the council," he said. "We've had struggles between economic and development points of view. But regardless of which side was represented on the City Council the last 20 years, they've tried to preserve a family atmosphere. That means eliminating businesses that they think would be detrimental."

Newshawk: Spliff Twister - www.420Times.com
Source: San Gabriel, CA
Pubdate: October 23, 2006
Author: Alison Hewitt
Copyright: Copyright © 2006 Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
Contact: alison.hewitt@sgvn.com
Website: http://www.sgvtribune.com/