A senior Portland fire official is under investigation for telling a downtown sex club the city would look the other way if it violated fire safety laws.
In late June, Portland Fire & Rescue denied a permit to Ron Jeremy’s Club Sesso for an anniversary party because the club’s renovation project was unfinished.
Porn star Ron Jeremy opened Club Sesso at 824 SW 1st Ave., the former location of the tapas restaurant Fernando’s Hideaway, in June 2009. Sesso bills itself as an “upscale, high-energy swingers club” where patrons have sex, often in view of other customers.
Admission is members-only, and pricing reflects demand: A one-year membership for a single woman is $50; for couples, it’s $100; and for a single male, $150.
Assistant fire marshal Doug Jones lives in Sandy, Oregon – roughly 30 to 40 minutes away from Portland. Yet when inspectors showed up at the club’s “anniversary party” around 11 p.m. on a Saturday night some two months ago, the manager called Doug, who promptly hopped into his ride and drove from Sandy to downtown Portland to intercede, arriving at nearly midnight.
That’s one dedicated “public servant”!
In the presence of two OLCC inspectors and Club Sesso personnel, who knew the event lacked a permit, Jones overruled his inspector’s concerns.
Portland City Councillor Dan Saltzman oversees the fire bureau, and he takes these allegations “very seriously”, although he has no comment.
Because of course he doesn’t.
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