Youth centre 'thrilled' massage parlour dropping application

A drop-in centre for vulnerable youth is celebrating after a body rub parlour withdrew its applicationto open up a few doors down.

"We're just so thrilled and relieved that our kids are not going to have to deal with the risks of having a body rub parlour next door," said Crystal Kids director Miri Peterson in awritten statement.

The centre is on 118th Avenue at 88th Street and helps youth aged 6 to 17.

"The kids we work with go through a lot,"Peterson said. "Many of them are very vulnerable."

Petersonsaid sheis familiar with thebody-rub business, evenintervening when girls she worked with were recruited to work in similar parlours in Edmonton.

Crystal Kids organized a petition against the parlour which garnered 16,000 names."We could not have done this without the community support," Peterson said.

Peterson was going to present the petition at theappeal hearingscheduled forMay 2.

That meeting was originally set for last Thursday, but waspostponed whenthe massage parlour owner's representativewas arrested on charges of living off the avails of prostition as part of a largeriinvestigation into human trafficking.