04-13-2005, 06:30 PM
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/04-13-2005/news/local/story/299270p-256223c.html">http://www.nydailynews.com/04-13-2005/n ... 6223c.html</a><!-- m -->
City cleared to XXX out smut
BY HELEN PETERSON, TANYANIKA SAMUELS and TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
The Big Apple is about to get a cold shower.
An appeals court gave the city a green light yesterday to shut down strip clubs and other X-rated businesses operating outside adults-only zones.
The ruling could force 100 flesh meccas out of residential and tourist neighborhoods, and into industrial areas such as the far West Side of Manhattan.
"The only place in Manhattan that you will have adult establishments is surrounding Jets stadium," said Mark Alonso, a lawyer for Ten's Cabaret on E. 21st St.
The sex shops plan to appeal, but if they don't prevail, some of the topless bars, video stops and theaters are likely to close - or at least cover up.
Scores, for instance, would have to shutter its E. 60th St. emporium but could keep operating its club on W. 28th St., a spokesman said.
"The city is going to lose millions in taxes a year," Alonso predicted. "Businessmen don't go out of their way to see dressed women dance."
At Stiletto in Times Square, a stripper named Alexis feared she would lose her job. "I have bills to pay. I have to feed my daughter. I have to pay rent," said the 26-year-old dancer. "I make a lot of money here."
Mayor Bloomberg, however, hailed the court's decision as a victory for families who don't want porn peddlers next to churches and day care centers.
"New Yorkers won't have to push their strollers past porn shops, have topless bars for neighbors or have to worry about peep booths in the back of their corner magazine store," he said.
The city has been trying to quarantine the sex industry for a decade, starting with dramatic zoning changes in 1995 that barred adult entertainment from most neighborhoods.
Initially, the businesses were subjected to a so-called 60-40 rule: if 40% of their floor space was dedicated to smut, they could only operate in the designated zones.
Many owners found ingenious ways to skirt the rule, by stocking 60% of their floor space with copies of one children's video, for example.
In 2001, the city retaliated by amending the zoning ordinance to close the 60-40 loophole and use much broader guidelines to define adult businesses.
The stores sued to block the changes, and a state Supreme Court judge agreed the revised rules were unconstitutional.
But yesterday's 4-0 decision by the Appellate Division reversed that ruling and upheld the new zoning.
The clubs can now ask the state's highest court to hear the case, but an appeal is not automatic. In the meantime, they hope to get a stay barring the city from padlocking doors.
Originally published on April 13, 2005
Personally, I think this is bullshit and have no problem with strip clubs and stores.
I miss the old New York, the gritiness and filth it used to possess. It's nice to have a safe city but at the same time there is no luster to the great city it once was. Now it's filled with the extreme rich or the dirt poor. It's truly sad.
City cleared to XXX out smut
BY HELEN PETERSON, TANYANIKA SAMUELS and TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
The Big Apple is about to get a cold shower.
An appeals court gave the city a green light yesterday to shut down strip clubs and other X-rated businesses operating outside adults-only zones.
The ruling could force 100 flesh meccas out of residential and tourist neighborhoods, and into industrial areas such as the far West Side of Manhattan.
"The only place in Manhattan that you will have adult establishments is surrounding Jets stadium," said Mark Alonso, a lawyer for Ten's Cabaret on E. 21st St.
The sex shops plan to appeal, but if they don't prevail, some of the topless bars, video stops and theaters are likely to close - or at least cover up.
Scores, for instance, would have to shutter its E. 60th St. emporium but could keep operating its club on W. 28th St., a spokesman said.
"The city is going to lose millions in taxes a year," Alonso predicted. "Businessmen don't go out of their way to see dressed women dance."
At Stiletto in Times Square, a stripper named Alexis feared she would lose her job. "I have bills to pay. I have to feed my daughter. I have to pay rent," said the 26-year-old dancer. "I make a lot of money here."
Mayor Bloomberg, however, hailed the court's decision as a victory for families who don't want porn peddlers next to churches and day care centers.
"New Yorkers won't have to push their strollers past porn shops, have topless bars for neighbors or have to worry about peep booths in the back of their corner magazine store," he said.
The city has been trying to quarantine the sex industry for a decade, starting with dramatic zoning changes in 1995 that barred adult entertainment from most neighborhoods.
Initially, the businesses were subjected to a so-called 60-40 rule: if 40% of their floor space was dedicated to smut, they could only operate in the designated zones.
Many owners found ingenious ways to skirt the rule, by stocking 60% of their floor space with copies of one children's video, for example.
In 2001, the city retaliated by amending the zoning ordinance to close the 60-40 loophole and use much broader guidelines to define adult businesses.
The stores sued to block the changes, and a state Supreme Court judge agreed the revised rules were unconstitutional.
But yesterday's 4-0 decision by the Appellate Division reversed that ruling and upheld the new zoning.
The clubs can now ask the state's highest court to hear the case, but an appeal is not automatic. In the meantime, they hope to get a stay barring the city from padlocking doors.
Originally published on April 13, 2005
Personally, I think this is bullshit and have no problem with strip clubs and stores.
I miss the old New York, the gritiness and filth it used to possess. It's nice to have a safe city but at the same time there is no luster to the great city it once was. Now it's filled with the extreme rich or the dirt poor. It's truly sad.