McKeesport Community Concerned As New Gentlemen's Club Moves In
McKEESPORT (KDKA) -- Mary Sharpe owns the Snips and Tips Beauty Salon a few doors down from the incoming gentlemen's club, Saints and Sinners, set to open on Valentine's Day.
The Walnut Street location in McKeesport used to be a bar-restaurant called Chick's Grill, so finding out that it'll now be a place where fully nude woman dance is disheartening for her.
"I don't want it that close, you know what I mean, that's the whole thing," Sharpe says. "I'm afraid at night my clients aren't going to want to come down after dark."
The owner of Saints and Sinners, Scott Birdseye says he doesn't understand why the city of McKeesport and its residents were giving him such a difficult time.
Birdsye says contractors were putting in a lot of work to get the establishment opened by Friday night.
McKeesport neighbors claim Birdseye doesn't have the proper permits required to not only run a strip club but also a bar-restaurant.
Birdseye referred all those questions to his attorney who couldn't be reached Wednesday night.
He says that Saints and Sinners will charge a cover fee at the door on Friday and will sell prepackaged foods, but will give away beer.
Community members say there's already a gentlemen's club just a few miles away, and wonder why another one's needed, especially so close to neighborhoods filled with children.
"We live in the community. We have kids," Rochelle McBeth, a McKeesport resident said. "I have a 5- and an 8-year-old, and you don't want that especially when there's another one in the area. You don't want two bad influences."
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