The name of a North Miami Beach strip club is causing quite an uproar with neighborhood residents.
The club, called Swinging Richards, is a male strip club for gay men, and the attorney for the owners says other locations in country are very successful.
The club on Biscayne Blvd and 172nd Street has changed hands a number of times but residents say this time it's a first.
Stephanie Kiensle, who lives near the club, doesn’t think the name—or the message it sends is good for her community.
“Then I realized Swinging Richards, 'oh that does not sound good.' The connotation is pretty vulgur,” Kiensle said.
Some North Miami Beach residents say they don’t like the name, while others say any strip club in the neighborhood is not good. But they emphasize that they are not discriminating against gay men, they just don’t like the name.
North Miami Beach City Councilwoman Barbara Kramer said people are concerned about what the name means.
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“I think they are just concerned about what it means and what kids are going to think and what we are kind of known for, sort of,” Kramer said.
In a statement, Swinging Richards’s attorney Norman Powell told NBC Miami that the club owners complied with all the state and local rules that are applicable to the question of its business, including the payment of the City of North Miami Beach’s after hours operation licensing fees and notification requirements for the use of its fictitious name.
Powell also says the owners have been a boost to the city’s tax base and, after cuts to the police force in the area, they are providing off duty detail work for several officers every week.
