Increasing Neighborhood Livability
Update April 24th, 2012 - Neighbors Need Your Help
SOS Oregon continues to work with local neighborhood residents and businesses to ensure local officials are enforcing codes and ensuring strip club and private room businesses are regulated. Please take the time to read this lengthy newsletter. Standing together and staying informed we can make a difference. Reference the last newsletter on February 28th, 2012. Read the
April 24th Update.
Or, visit the SOS Oregon Facebook Page.
Who We Are
SOS Oregon is a non-profit coalition formed to increase neighborhood livability. SOS Oregon works with advocacy groups, neighborhood businesses, and municipal, state and federal officials to address the proliferation of unregulated adult entertainment businesses.
Our goals:
- Demand short-term code enforcement at the city and county level
- Encourage long-term industry regulation at the local, state and federal level
- Promote ongoing education of the public about human trafficking and reduce demand actions such as stand-in protests at unregulated adult entertainment businesses that are ignoring neighbors' complaints about nuisance and crime emanating from these businesses.
Why We Are Here
There are 56 strip club and private room businesses within Portland city limits. Dozens more are outside of city limits. These businesses are often located next to residences and small neighborhood businesses. Private room businesses are entirely unregulated. A Las Vegas brothel owner visiting Portland stated private room businesses are "...houses of prostitution right in your backyard." Law enforcement officers state strip, lingerie modeling and private dancing clubs serve as fronts for prostitution and attract crime to neighborhoods.
SOS Oregon seeks regulation and code enforcement to police businesses that routinely ignore good neighbor policies and laws legitimate businesses routinely follow. All the businesses on the SOS Oregon radar routinely:
- Avoid paying taxes
- Treat workers as independent contractors, avoiding employment taxes and fair employment laws, so the workers are wholly unprotected
- Do nothing to maintain their buildings or grounds, ignoring county and city codes
- Allow their patrons to trespass onto neighboring business and resident property, commit crimes, and harass customers of neighboring businesses
Join Us
Participate and educate yourself by joining the email list - send a message to: help@sosoregon.org
Contact information for public officials and for adult entertainment business owners and landlords is available on the Resources page. Links to information on advocacy groups and current news items are available on the Resources page.
Take Action
Report suspicious or questionable activities around adult entertainment businesses:
| Clackamas County Sheriff non-emergency number | 503-655-8211 |
| Multnomah County Sheriff non-emergency number | 503-823-3333 |
| Washington County Sheriff non-emergency number | 503-629-0111 |
| Washington County Code Enforcement | 503-846-6748 |
| City of Beaverton Code Enforcement | 503-526-2271 |
| Portland Police Online Reporting www.portlandonline.com/police/cor/ |
Support local family-friendly businesses in the area to help keep them in our neighborhood.
Together we can make a difference.
Hot Topics
Contact Us:
help@sosoregon.org
Facebook Page
Join stand-in protests of private dance clubs and lingerie modeling salons. -read more-
Next Stand-In
What's Up With That?
Neighborhood Impacts of Sexually Oriented Businesses -Read More-
You have probably asked yourself many times, what is up with lingerie modeling shops? Is lingerie sold inside? -Read More-
What's Up with Sex Trafficking?Young girls garner a high price in the commercial sex industry. -Read More-
When you take on the adult entertainment industry, you take on a $40 billion a year industry. This well-heeled group hires the best attorneys and lobbyists money can buy. -Read More-