[ilvtofu]

Off topic but are the richmond radisson girls still around? 11th floor IIRC

EDIT: Lame.. news article from last month, how long till the JB's are back?

Massage parlour rubs council wrong way

Water Club located on top floors of Radisson Hotel shut down

BY ALAN CAMPBELL, RICHMOND NEWS MARCH 16, 2011


A massage parlour inside one of Richmond's top hotels has been shut down by the city for two months amid allegations of prostitution.

The Water Club -- which rents the 11th and 12th floors of the Radisson Hotel on Cambie Road -- has had its business license suspended for 60 days after police and bylaw officers caught naked employees and customers in compromising positions.

Members of the Richmond Gang Enforcement Team even entered the club on one occasion, after spotting license plates of known gang associates in the hotel's parking lot.

The team found the individuals in question inside the club, surrounded by fresh marijuana butts.

Over a year, the privately-owned club built up a catalogue of bylaw infractions, including: staying open after hours; smoking marijuana; drinking alcohol on the premises; refusing entry to the RCMP and licensing officers; and numerous occasions of unlicensed masseurs caught naked in darkened rooms with equally naked customers.

A used condom was also found in one of the rooms during one of the unscheduled inspections.

Many of the inspection raids were prompted by calls from hotel staff, who got fed up with what appeared to be underage Asian females -- whom they understood to be prostitutes -- heading up to the Water Club armed with alcohol during the early hours.

And on several occasions, the club's manager, Paul Jin, either refused to let the officers into the premises or took a while to come to the door.

When Jin did let the officers in, he frequently told them the club was closed and that there was no one here.

But more than once, the officers discovered employees and customers either naked or wrapped in just a towel.

The same customers claimed to have no knowledge of how they got there. Although it was later found that staff and clients had been using an emergency exit to come and go from the club, usually when an inspection was sprung.

High profile Richmond lawyer Dave Tarnow, who represented the club at Monday's city hall hearing, asked council for an adjournment because the club's three directors lived in China and wanted to be present for the hearing.

Council denied Tarnow's request and proceeded with the hearing, during which, the club's lawyer called on one of the masseurs to give evidence.

Council and Mayor Malcolm Brodie were confused when it became clear the employee had only worked there for two months, long after the bylaw infractions took place.

Nevertheless, the young Asian woman told council, when prompted by Tarnow, how there is strict no smoking rules at the club, no nakedness and no sex offered to clients.

She added that if the club was shut down for two months, she would find it very difficult to get another job.

Tarnow then told council how the Water Club is a "substantial business" which the owners have invested up to $1 million in, have to pay $20,000 a month in rent and employ between 30 and 40 people.

The club has since erected several no smoking signs and the windows have been uncovered, Tarnow said.

"This particular company has not been before council before and this is really a first offence," he added. "The lady that was caught in a compromising position has had her employment terminated."

Council was unconvinced and unhappy none of the directors or even the manager showed face at the hearing.


Read more: http://www.richmond-news.com/travel/...#ixzz1JhtDVFdl