Brothel's owner is defiant

GRANT HARDING
Businesswoman Teresa McGregor is unfazed by public opposition to her intention to open a brothel in Dannevirke's High St.
Protests have included a public meeting attended by about 100 people last week, the delivery by children of 2500 pamphlets around the southern Hawke's Bay town on Saturday, and a petition which was to be delivered to the Tararua District Council at 4pm today.
But Ms McGregor, the mother of two boys, said she did not expect those initiatives to make a difference when the council's hearings and tribunals committee meet to discuss resource consent tomorrow morning.
The council has indicated to her that the application to run the brothel, Promiscuous Girlz, meets all requirements and will be rubber stamped.
"There is no reason it shouldn't," she said.
Her brothel will have off-street parking, a rear entrance and minimal signage.
And council statements back her up.
Tararua District Council environmental services manager Mike Brown recently said, "From our viewpoint, there is bugger all we can do about it. The property is zoned commercial, and it is a commercial business."
And chief executive Roger Twentyman told the public meeting, "The council has every ability to be involved in the environmental area but, when it comes to moral issues, it doesn't have the mandate to act on the community's behalf."
Annoying opponents of the business is its location on the main street. Ms McGregor has bought the former Public Trust building which carries a Historic Places Trust classification.
A spokesperson for The Concerned Citizens Group, Gill Allardice said, "I know it's a business and it's legal, but what worries me is that it's taking the innocence of our children."
She said children would naturally ask what the building was used for.
Mrs Allardice believed the council had not made a thorough investigation of laws surrounding opening a brothel. She said it was an offence to the public.
Her group wanted their views heard, and hoped that the petition would force a delay to the brothel's opening and allow a bylaw to be put in place.
Even if it did open at the end of August the "60 plus"-year-old said she would continue to agitate for its closure. Mrs Allardice said it had taken Carterton residents 18 months to get a brothel closed down, and that would be her group's aim.
But Ms McGregor said the opponents of her business were "close-minded". From Palmerston North to Hastings there were people who did not have companionship. "Everyone deserves that," she said.
If resource consent is granted Ms McGregor said there was only one way her opponents could stop her business, and that was to "put their money where their mouth is and buy me out."
But they'll have to be quick. Advertisements for professional staff, both male and female, are ready for placement.