Park Ridge Wants Escort Service Signs Taken Down
PARK RIDGE, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- The City of Park Ridge is taking legal steps to get the manager of a strip mall to remove some storefront signs that are raising eyebrows.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Mike Krauser reports, the signs recently appeared in two empty storefronts at a strip mall on the 800 block of North Northwest Highway.
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They advertise Trixee's Escort Service, read: "Three night stands w/ all the trix." The signs include a price of $2,400 and a phone number.
The phone number is registered to a cell phone with an automated voicemail message that does not include the name of a particular business or person. A message left Tuesday by the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate was not immediately returned.
Cathy Doczekalski, manager of Park Ridge's Department of Community Preservation and Development, said the escort service named on the sign has not applied for a business license from the city and the city was attempting to get the signs removed.
"We're trying to get them taken down," Doczekalski said. "We're trying to work with the property manager."
She added: "This is a concern for the city."
City Attorney Everette "Buzz" Hill said the Park Ridge City Council discussed the signs during a closed-session meeting recently because the city is preparing to pursue legal action to get the signs removed.
The signs, Hill said, violate the city's Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance prohibits "signs of an offensive nature," and defines such signs as those that display "any matter in which the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex."
"We contend the message conveyed is so blatant that we think its an advertisement of an illegal activity," Hill added.
Hill said he believes the escort service advertised is an actual business.
Trixee's Escort Service does not appear to have a Web site, and a Web search only turns up news stories about the signs in Park Ridge.
Contacted by the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate n employee at Park Ridge Barbers, located between the two empty businesses where the signs are displayed, said she did not know anything about the signs or why they were posted there.
An employee at JD Kadds, also located in the strip mall, declined to comment.
The Park Ridge Herald-Advocate contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
