In an apparent effort to protect Lompoc’s minors from any human traffickers who might want to open a dance hall, Lompoc City Councilmember Gilda Cordova went to bat for the city’s unenforced 50-year-old laws on dances, dance halls, and dance studios.
“These are basic regulations that protect the activity of minors in those locations,” she said during the Feb. 15 City Council meeting after alluding to the fact that human trafficking is one of the biggest concerns in America.
I’m not sure that these unenforced rules requiring dance venue and academy operators to get a Lompoc Police Department permit are preventing anyone from human trafficking. Didn’t you hear? There was a big sting operation that netted 14 arrests of people paying for sex with human trafficking victims in Santa Barbara County—and guess what? Not a single one was at a school dance.
And I’m not sure exactly what you’re trying to say, either. Do you believe dance hosts are inherently evil?
That might be what Mayor Jenelle Osborne took from her colleague’s weird affinity for the outdated regulations. Osborne, who’s from Texas and a historian, said the laws were “often put in place for different societal reasons, whether it was a belief that dancing led to the devil or that they just didn’t like the idea of people getting together and socializing with music.”
That’s just crazy talk. Dancing obviously doesn’t lead to the devil, but it does lead to people getting a little too close for my comfort. I want a full arm’s length between dancers! Write that into the regulations!
Cordova didn’t appreciate the insinuation that she was being a religious zealot.
“Nobody’s trying to stop the city from having the Father Daughter Dance,” Cordova said. “Nobody’s trying to stick this under religious over-protections.”
I don’t know, Cordova, it seems like you think the Father Daughter Dance might need to get a permit from the police department to prevent human trafficking from taking over the penultimate family affair.
“I feel that if it’s something that is not hurting anyone, why remove the restrictions that could protect, in my opinion, any minors or children,” Cordova said.
Because unenforced laws make no sense. If the police department said the rules are no longer necessary and City Attorney Jeff Malawy believes there are other regulations that do in fact protect potential human trafficking victims, then these half-a-century old and likely religiously motivated rules (because religious institutions are, in fact, exempt from the regulations) are a moot point.
“If we can’t enforce something and don’t actively do so, then who are we protecting?” City Councilmember Jeremy Ball asked.
The children! Duh!
But instead of repealing the dumbest rules in Santa Barbara County, Lompoc’s City Council members caved to Osborne, who asked city staff to draft a separate ordinance governing public dances and dance venues open to minors before repealing the original laws.
Don’t worry, though, Councilmember Dirk Starbuck had a suggestion: “If I was going to have a dance, I’d go rent from the county at the Vets’ Hall at this point.”
The Canary believes in being footloose and fancy free. Send tips to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 3, 2022.
