Property
Sex centre idea quashed in Budapest's 9th district - ReSource
The director of Moulin Rouge was to open a 5500 sqm erotic shopping centre in Lurdy House: Such was the news that exploded into public consciousness on April 12.
The Ministry of Interior declared the plan, nicknamed the “sex plaza," to be “groundbreaking" and did not raise any moral objections against the enterprise that “does not require a tolerance zone and views prostitution-related services and industries in a complex manner."
According to plans, every sex-related service up to the point of legality would have been available in the Ferencváros sex plaza, explained Moulin Rouge director János Vermes. In addition to his position with Moulin Rouge, Vermes is also the manager of A2 Wellness Centre Sport and Leisure Kft, which lists the sex plaza among its projects. Cost estimates proposed a total budget of HUF 1 billion. Fifty stores, porn theaters, peep shows and striptease bars would have opened on the grounds of the shopping centre using this money.
The project manager explained that prostitutes would have been able to use this erotic entertainment centre to build contacts, but the vital act could not have been performed within the walls of Lurdy House, since prohibited by law.
Vermes did not wish to comment on any other notions relating to the project, saying that it would not be fortuitous if the municipality, which was to grant the needed permits, were informed of their intentions by the media.
District in shock
But that's exactly what happened. The 9th district municipality was completely unaware of the plans for a sex plaza but managed to come up with its position rather quickly. SZDSZ' district mayor Ferenc Gegesy prepared a protest announcement, in which he stated that a business project of such profile would affect not only the building in which it were housed but also the surrounding environment, and would no doubt wreck fifteen years' worth of hard work to rehabilitate the 9th district. The plaza would therefore make nearby government initiatives like the Palace of Arts or the National Theater ridiculous.
Although the project manager of the sex plaza speaks of permits depending on the goodwill of the municipality, Gegesy admitted that the district has no legal means to bar the sex centre's establishment. Local government could only have denied the operating permit, if a school, other protected children 's institution or church were within 200 meters of the sex-plaza-to-be.
Against immorality
The local government has thus decided to attack the idea of the sex plaza armed with the 1997 government decree concerning the required distance between a school and a sexual tolerance zone. The mayor submitted a motion to the representative body on April 19th, which was unanimously accepted. In this motion, the municipality suggested an extension to the required minimum distance between erotic shops and religious or educational institutions to 1000 meters. At this session, it was also decided that Mihály Kökény and Pál Tibor, the district's two MSZP parliamentary representatives, would lobby for the modification of the government decree in question.
The municipal statement attached to the decree motion declared anew that a sex plaza would “destroy the district's good name," and petition minister of the interior Mónika Lamperth, as well as Katalin Szili, leader of the house, to find a solution to the Ferencváros dilemma under their own authority. “We find it outrageous that such dubious notoriety might replace the city renewal and rehabilitation efforts of the past fifteen years in Ferencváros which have garnered Hungarian and international acclaim and support," the statement writes. Following the parliamentary meeting, Gegesy explained that not only are the families who regularly spend their leisure time in Lurdy House concerned about these developments, but also that the building is home to an official document bureau and a branch of the land registry office.
Mysterious retreat
In the light of the information listed above, it is not entirely clear why Lurdy House would back out of the contract in the end, since the district did not possess any truly binding measures with which to prevent the execution of the original concept. Kökény announced on April 21st that the shopping centre would not conclude the deal with A2 Wellness Centre Kft. “My colleagues have spoken with Lurdy House and I can now announce that the shopping centre has stepped back from the contract," he said, stressing again that although the idea was not objectionable based on current laws and regulations, it was still perceived as a provocative initiative.
Miklós Hallai, one of the managing directors of Lurdy House, did not wish to explain the true reasoning behind the decision to back down from the contract. He merely said that they withdrew from the contract on Monday, April 18th, one day before the 9th district accepted the decree motion against the first Budapest sex centre.
