Candidate can't convince baristas to quit

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A state House candidate is planning her next move after being rebuffed in efforts to convince baristas to quit their jobs at two so-called sexpresso stands.

Michele Strobel, who is challenging Rep. Norm Johnson for his 14th District House seat, said she's working with a group of about 20 who want the controversial coffee stands featuring scantily clad women closed.

"We think these girls are being exploited and we're worried about it," she said. "As a woman, I'd be mortified if my child would do that."

Strobel talked with two baristas Tuesday as part of a broader effort to close the stands, which she said are giving downtown Yakima a black eye.

Strobel said her only intention was to help.

But one of the baristas at Dream Girls on Yakima Avenue said she was offended and felt demeaned by the conversation, which lasted about 10 minutes.

"She basically kind of made me feel like what I was doing was wrong. She kept asking me if I felt what I was doing was wrong. I said no -- I go to work, make coffee, and go home. I don't do anything else, said 24-year-old Alisha Perez, who manages the coffee stand.

"I felt like she was trying to belittle me," said Perez, who said she told Strobel that she was "perfectly happy with her job."

"I assumed that maybe she wasn't happy working there," Strobel said. "I found out otherwise."

A spokesperson for the other stand that Strobel visited, Deja Brew on West Washington Avenue, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Strobel said she's been talking with two groups of people that approached her after she spoke out against the stands at a Feb. 18 Yakima City Council meeting.

"It just seems like we've put so much into the downtown area and (it's) an eyesore," she said.

The effort to shut down the stands is in response to complaints of men masturbating in the parking lots of those coffee stands and workers pole dancing, she said.

"They keep pushing the envelope, pushing and pushing and I think that now it's time for us as a community to say no more."

Dream Girls owner Cheryl Clark said she considered Strobel's visit unprofessional.

"For her to go in there, that is really bold and no respect for our business at all or our employees," Clark said. "I would never go into any business and impose my opinion on them.

"I think what we're doing is fine," she added. "We're following the law; we're not outside soliciting, we're not dancing around for money."

In January, Strobel announced she would challenge fellow Republican Johnson during next fall's election. Both share a generally conservative take on fiscal issues.

But the 47-year-old Selah resident placed herself to the political right of Johnson, who she criticized for co-sponsoring a House bill that expanded domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples. He was among nearly 60 House members who co-sponsored the bill.

During a special meeting Feb. 18, the City Council rejected 4-3 a proposal to apply the city's adult business ordinance to the so-called sexpresso stands. There are four such stands in Yakima, and one in Union Gap.

Earlier this year, the council updated the city's indecent exposure ordinance to outlaw G-strings or see-through apparel as primary clothing. Police in January conducted an undercover sting and cited a barista at Dream Girls for wearing a G-string.

Strobel first weighed in on the issue at the Feb. 18 council meeting.

"At this point, I think we're going to meet and find out what other communities have done and see what the next step is," she said. "I think we're going to move forward and see what we can do."

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.