City imposes strict rules for massage parlors in Monterey

New rules are on the way for the Monterey massage businesses after numerous complaints about some of them soliciting sex instead, police said.

Twenty out of the 33 permitted massage places in the city were rated on a niche website for how good their sexual conduct is, police said. Sixteen of them have been highly rated, police said.

The City Council approved the first reading of the proposed ordinance at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Some of those rules include making massage places close at 9 p.m. Some spots in the city currently close at 10 p.m.

All masseuses must be listed on the business permits, doors must be unlocked during business hours and there shall be no consumption of alcohol or drugs inside the parlors, police said.

“We know that there are legitimate massage places our there and we want them to be allowed to do the business they should be doing,” Monterey Interim Police Chief Dave Hober said.

“It’s the ones that are using that particular shingle that are looking to solicit people after hours that are throwing a monkey wrench into the program,” said longtime resident Steve Thomas.

“There have been no prosecuted cases on the books for any of these businesses, Hober said regarding sex-trafficking or prostitution. But it doesn’t mean they aren’t happening behind closed doors,” Hober added.

The City Council will get another reading of the proposed rules later this month.