Councilwoman moves to limit escort services

Intent on keeping outcall entertainment and escort services out of residential neighborhoods, Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald is backing a new ordinance that would force the businesses into commercial areas.

The ordinance, which will be introduced during Wednesday's City Council meeting but approved at a later date, was sparked by an application last month for an escort service by Blue Limited, in Boggs McDonald's ward.

Had the item been approved, it would have been the first escort service licensed in the city of Las Vegas in nearly three decades.

Ultimately, escort services are prohibited in the Summerlin master-planned community, where the company was trying to locate, so the application was shelved. Boggs McDonald, though, asked the city attorney to draft a new ordinance to keep future business from trying to locate in residential areas.

Some believe City Councilman Michael McDonald was behind the application in an attempt to throw a curveball to the councilwoman's election run.

Cynthia Steinman, one of Bleu Limited's two partners, is a former exotic dancer at the Crazy Horse Too strip club.

McDonald, a close friend of Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo, vehemently denies any connection to the service.

Boggs McDonald said it was unusual that an application for an escort service would be made in her ward, but said it gave the city a chance to address the issue.

"It was kind of the first time it had come up in a very long time and in many ways the city had never prepared for this type of possibility," Boggs McDonald said. "Now that there are these businesses that seem to want to open up within the city limits, we thought we needed to set some new ground rules as to where they would be suitable."

The ordinance prohibits the operation of escort bureaus and outcall entertainment referral services in residential areas. The businesses must be located in commercial zones, where strip malls and office complexes are commonplace.

Because the ordinance requires the businesses to be conducted at a fixed location, employees must be dispatched from the premises.

Metro Police estimates that in the last three years there were close to 700 arrests in Clark County for prostitution associated with escort services.

"I have heard from residents, and my own personal view is this type of use should not ever be allowed to operate in residential neighborhoods," Boggs McDonald said.

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