When Apple Valley residents discovered a suspected house of prostitution masquerading as a massage business near an elementary school, city officials reacted quickly.
The place was shut down within days by police, who then helped draft a new ordinance to better regulate how massage parlors operate.
City Council quickly approved the ordinance this month after Police Chief Scott Johnson warned that prostitution rings might target Apple Valley because of its lax oversight of massage establishments. The new ordinance requires background checks, investigation fees, disclosure of owners and a business license.
The council's decision, and Johnson's comments, have outraged massage therapists, especially those working out of their homes.
"You have a cottage industry here of people who work out of their home that become criminalized under this ordinance," said Barbara York, president of the Minnesota Touch Movement, a statewide organization of and for massage therapists.
York said there are as many as 3,000 such practitioners in the state, many of whom work in their own homes.
The new ordinance would not prohibit such businesses, but would add possibly hundreds of dollars in fees and payments to people who might not be able to afford it.
"This is really a great way to make a living," said Victoria McCurdy, a massage therapist in St. Paul who works out of her home. "All kinds of people do this on a part-time basis" to make ends meet.
