Can’t fight sex dens

Councillor wants city’s ombudsman to clear obstacles to prosecuting massage parlours

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

27th October 2009

City Hall is powerless to close massage parlours and holistic centres operating as sex dens, according to Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti.

Today, he is calling on the city’s ombudsman and its top lawyer to investigate why, and recommend changes the city, province and federal governments can make to give politicians the necessary power to shut them down.

“Our staff are bound by provincial legislation and can’t discriminate,” Mammoliti said yesterday. “The city cannot deny a licence if someone has got a clean record, so to speak.

“What’s happening is those operators going before the licensing tribunal or criminal courts, and who get convicted, will just simply change the (person’s) name on the licence application.”

Another issue, he said, is that city bylaw and licensing enforcement officers, unlike Toronto Health inspectors, can’t enter a business without a warrant.

He complained many of the policies governing them are 60 years old.

“It’s so complicated that the ombudsman, in my opinion, needs to go through the whole system and let us know what the obstacles are that are hindering us from doing our job properly,” said Mammoliti, who estimates there are 3,000 sex dens across the city.

Mammoliti’s call, being tabled at today’s council meeting, is being seconded by Councillor Mike Del Grande.

He is grappling with the same problems in Scarborough.

In yesterday’s Sun, Del Grande lamented there are concerns about how authorities are dealing with the establishments that he says pose an “increasing” problem for the city.