Taxi/Topless War: Dollar deadline approaches

Just when the ongoing battle pitting local strip clubs and cab and limo drivers was starting to level off, there’s the potential of more trouble on the horizon.

Last month, payoffs from clubs to drivers topped the $100 mark with most of that coin going to limo drivers who then kicked back bucks to Boulevard resort door personnel.

After a quest agreement was reached, the amount dropped to the current $70-per-head figure with a further agreement to lower the rate to $30 on May 15, one informed source tells me.

But if the clubs don’t go along in unity, I am told Rick’s Cabaret and Treasures may bust out and return to the $100-per-person tip arrangement, which few clubs can compete with in the long run.

The drivers like the money, and some of the clubs really need the help in the marketing department. (It’s too late for Seamless, which went into foreclosure recently.) But with some top clubs paying hundreds of thousands a month in kickbacks, I mean tips, this is one serious marketing expense.

As an aside, several drivers have bent my ear about the hypocrisy of me commenting about this issue when it’s newspapers such as those owned by Stephens Media that appear to be losing potential revenue from club advertisements.

I don’t buy it because most tourists who are out to chase the topless experience don’t first plunk down the cash to buy the Review-Journal. (Although, frankly, I highly recommend it.)