The hope has been to crack down on bad actors, but a recent incident shows there's likely room to improve. Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis says his department found red flags with a recent application to get a massage establishment license for a building on West Mason Street. Davis says an internet search of the applicant's phone number found it listed on several other similar websites that are also known for locating illicit massage parlors.
While those were for out of state establishments, the city previously granted the same applicant a massage establishment license for the Day Spa, on Military Avenue, on July 30, Weycker says for a decade she's suspected a handful of massage establishments on Military to be illegitimate.
She was hopeful when the city passed its license policy, but says so far little has changed. To me that is just crazy. We inspect our food trucks more than we do our prostitution houses. That doesn't seem right. The city's license policy is for buildings. The state oversees licenses for individual therapists. City records show there's been 25 applications for massage establishment licenses since the new policy took effect last February.
Three have been denied and one license has been revoked. That doesn't include the West Mason Street license request the city council took up last week. In addition to denying the request for a license on West Mason, the city council wanted to also take a vote to have city staff look into revoking the existing license on Military.
City Attorney Joanne Bungert advised against that, pointing out the revocation process is eventually before the council. She didn't want any indication there was a prejudgment. FOX 11 asked city council member Melinda Eck, who led the charge for the ordinance, if she knew how the applicant was previously granted a license for Military Avenue. Eck says there's been growing pains, but believes the efforts to curb illegal activity are going in the right direction. Green Bay Police Lt. Steve Mahoney says police initially approached the massage establishment license applications the same way they do for liquor licenses, by performing a criminal background check.
