Posted by Hal Dardick at 1:07 p.m.
Chicago aldermen attempting to prevent prostitution offered under the guise of massage services today endorsed a measure to ban massage businesses in locations that are mostly residential.
The ordinance approved by the City Council Zoning Committee would ban massage parlors in confined business districts that essentially serve just the surrounding neighborhood. They would be allowed in areas that have more commercial development.
Today’s action amends a previously proposed ordinance that would have enacted a broader ban and was opposed by therapeutic massage therapists who said it would damage their ability to do business. The newer measure was endorsed by Mayor Richard Daley’s administration, unlike the previous one. It is scheduled to go before the full council Wednesday.
David Penn, an executive with the Massage Envy chain that is expanding in the city, said the proposal would prevent his company from doing business in some areas — without doing much to address the problem of prostitution.
The proposal “doesn’t really solve the problem of the kind of illicit activities that you have,” he said.