It's Western New York's undying topic of discussion: how to revitalize Buffalo's crumbling downtown core. Past suggestions included building War Memorial Stadium's successor inside the city instead of in Orchard Park and a waterfront campus for UB. Contemporary plans to start a phoenix-like revolution in Buffalo run the gamut from the long-delayed waterfront development to building a casino in the heart of the city. Of the panoply of solutions, no one has struck upon the siren song of sex - until now.
James Hellerer, manager of Rick's Tally Ho, thinks an adult nightclub would be inconspicuously at home downtown. The establishment, modeled after Cheektowaga's "unique gentleman's cabaret," would be located on the second floor of a Pearl Street building across from the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. Hellerer assured The Buffalo News his proposed club would be a "classy, elaborate place," "minimally apparent" from street level and would bring "diversity" to downtown businesses. The mayor's office has yet to take a formal stance on the proposal, which, because of the location, will be subject to approval by zoning boards and perhaps Buffalo's Common Council.
Even if a "classy" establishment refers to the dancers stripping down to only pasties and G-strings, the fact that words like "pasties" and "G-strings" are bandied about with sincerity reveals how desperate a state Buffalo currently finds itself in. When considering Hellerer's proposal, Buffalo officials should look downstate for inspiration. In an effort to revitalize seedy, rundown Times Square, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani drove out the area's unpleasant elements - strip clubs included - spurring a rebirth and making the Square respectable enough to host Michael Bloomberg's inauguration this New Year's Eve.
As with the obsession over casino gambling, any "adult nightclub," "strip joint," "nudie bar" or other establishment solely dedicated to vice and temptation is destined to fail as a revitalization tool for the city. The amount of revenue a "Club Sex" would fill the tax coffers with would be minimal. Just like any casino, the only jobs brought to the area would be lower-end service jobs, not the kind that would build a stronger tax base or a hi-tech infrastructure necessary for a vibrant economy in the 21st century.
Placing such a morally dubious establishment across from the Hyatt, one of downtown's nicer establishments, would send a terrible message to the few who visit the Queen City. Is the convenience with which Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could obtain a lap dance following his talk at the Hyatt last Wednesday worth the stigma of an all-nude review? While in other cities it's an established practice for business lunches to take place in strip clubs, Buffalo is a different kind of town. It's far too small for any patron of Hellerer's brainchild to be guaranteed the anonymity large cities offer; even walking into a lunchtime strip club in downtown would be a highly visible act, one ill-advised to local businessmen.
Western New York is dominated by suburban communities, which in turn are dominated by families. Consequently, this is not an area that lives for excitement. The businesses that thrive are those catering to family-oriented activities. Wegmans and TGI Friday's succeed precisely because they target families and offer a minimum level of quality consumers can depend upon. The Western New York economy does not thrive on quality "adult entertainment" - and never will.
