<div class="bbWrapper">Here's an updated article from today's gta section of the star...<br />
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1117059010847&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845<br />
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Vaughan targets body rub parlours<br />
Only one charge laid last year<br />
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New officer to beef up enforcement<br />
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GAIL SWAINSON<br />
STAFF REPORTER<br />
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Vaughan politicians are dedicating a full-time bylaw officer to closing down illegal body rub parlours, after berating staff for lax enforcement.<br />
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"Somewhere along the line we have dropped the ball and I'm very angry about this," regional Councillor Joyce Frustaglio told a working session of council yesterday.<br />
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Compared to Markham, where 50 bylaw charges were laid against bawdy houses last year, Vaughan staff laid only one such charge. By comparison, Richmond Hill enforcement staff issued 140 bylaw charges against the sex dens in 2004. <br />
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York Region police can also lay charges under the Criminal Code. There are currently 13 unlicensed and five licensed body rub parlours in Vaughan. Markham has 19, all licensed. There are 13 parlours in Richmond Hill, all unlicensed, for a total of 50 body rub establishments in southern York Region.<br />
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In Vaughan, body rub parlours are licensed as holistic health centres, giving non-therapeutic massages.<br />
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Vaughan politicians heard yesterday that body rub parlours, both legal and illegal, are typically fronts for prostitution. They also often employ minors and are a magnet for robberies, drug smugglers and organized crime, the working session heard.<br />
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Two weeks ago, Vaughan bylaw officials told council they simply didn't have enough resources to properly battle the problem.<br />
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This came after council received a letter from a now-retired senior York Region police official, sharply critical of Vaughan's failure to crack down on bawdy houses. <br />
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"The regional police have provided training to your bylaw officers and offered suggestions that other municipalities are using to effectively manage body rub parlours," said the letter from Inspector Denis Mulholland.<br />
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"Unfortunately, due either to a lack of staff or a lack of commitment, Vaughan has failed to act," the letter concluded.<br />
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The issue received more attention after a series of articles in the Star earlier this month examined the licensing of holistic health centres in Toronto. <br />
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The series revealed that about three-quarters of the establishments granted licences as alternative health treatment centres in Toronto are actually sex dens and went on to detail the problems city enforcers have in shutting down the licensed operations. <br />
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Frustaglio said several years ago, Vaughan was a leader in fighting the proliferation of illegal bawdy houses springing up across the region.<br />
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But now, the city lags far behind Richmond Hill and Markham.<br />
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"How could staff, in all good conscience, neglect this program to the degree where we were once number one and we are now last?" she asked.<br />
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Frustaglio said when Vaughan cracked down on "rub and tug" joints, council members, including herself, were threatened by owners.<br />
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But Councillor Alan Shefman questioned the need for pouring scarce resources into regulating the sex trade.<br />
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"This is the most scandalous, in a moral sense, of all the issues we have investigated," Shefman said. "But is it the most significant? Is it more significant than illegal dumps?"<br />
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The new bylaw enforcement officer will come from the city's five-person bike patrol unit. The matter goes back to council in two weeks.</div>
