Keep Johns Creek Safe

The anti-porn site nopornnorthhampton.org provides a more detailed discussion of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recent decision on the secondary impacts of “off-site” consumption of pornography. The studies cited in this case provide the legal rational for regulating the secondary impacts of the “new-generation” of porn shops, who try to market themselves as “romance shops”.  The following quotes from their article provide a good summary:

Some porn merchants claim that adult bookstores (as opposed to adult theaters) only have off-site consumption of porn, that they generate no signficant secondary effects, and that they should be exempt from adult-use zoning. The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagrees (PDF) just found that the City of Kennedale, TX has sufficiently demonstrated secondary effects for ‘off-premises’ porn shops.

We are pleased with the court’s decision. More generally, however, we are skeptical of the whole notion of ‘off-premises’ consumption. As anyone who has been in an adult bookstore knows, the shelves are lined floor to ceiling with movies and magazines with explicit covers. Unless you’re blindfolded, to select and buy anything is to consume porn.

The following is taken from the website www.communitydefense.org. The gist of the post is that the 5th Court of Appeals has found that there are adequate studies that show that “off-site” (no adult material is consumed on-site) adult businesses have secondary impacts that can be regulated via time, place and manner restrictions:

In a dispute over the constitutionality of ordinances regulating sexually oriented businesses, a permanent injunction in favor of an off-site adult store is reversed and remanded for further proceedings where defendant-city produced evidence that it could have reasonably believed was relevant, and thus could have properly relied upon in tailoring the ordinances. Therefore, the ordinances are narrowly tailored to advance a substantial governmental interest, protecting against harmful secondary effects.

This is important because the pro porn advocates have claimed that “off-site” adult businesses do not have secondary impacts like traditional adult businesses. The 5th Circuit notes that there are at least two (2) separate studies that document the secondary impacts of “off-site” adult businesses. Since secondary impacts can be documented, government can regulate “off-site” adult businesses in a similar manner that they can regulate traditional adult businesses.

This could have a significant impact on the outcome of any lawsuit between the Love Shack and the Cityof Johns Creek since the Love Shack claims to be an “off-site” adult business that does not have secondary impacts and therefore should not be regulated like a traditional adult business.

An article in the Grand Rapids Press details the impact of Grand Rapids’ adult ordinace on adult businesses in the city.  According to the article, Grand Rapids adopted the strict adult ordinance last year due to pressure from the Black Hills Citizens for a Better Community, which opposed a new strip club, and the Michigan Decency Action Council, which promised to pay for the city’s defense of the ordinance.

The ordinance was adopted last year, but was only enforced after U.S. District Judge Robert Bell denied a challenge by strip club owners last October.  The strict ordinance has been sucessful so far, as the following quotes from the article state:

“Due to harassement from the City of G.R.. As of Sat. Feb. 24, we will be closing our theatres + peeps. Thanx for your patronage. Sorry.”

 Herb Newhouse, owner of the Little Red Barn Adult Theatre, said he will remove the doors from the 14 “peeps” at his 28th Street business.

Newhouse said he expects his booths that drew about 100 patrons a day will see far less business. “Probably down to about 2 percent,” he said.

Since last October, the ordinance governing his live performances has cut revenues from $8,000 on a Friday or Saturday night to about $900, Newhouse said.

The adult business owners are hoping to be able to stay in business through the appeal process, so the case is far from over. 

The lessons we can learn from Grand Rapids are as follows:

• Citizen input is critical to getting good laws passed
• Good laws can be used to stop or slow the spread of adult businesses in a community
• The courts will uphold good laws regulating adult businesses

The AJC is reporting that the City of Johns Creek has budgeted $500,000 for litigation. There are two legal matters before the new city that will be addressed through the courts. Mayor Boder is quoted as says:

“Because we’re laying down our laws for the first time, if there’s ever a time when people will question it, it’s during this period of time. They may be dramatically different, and we will get push-back and that will come in the form of push-back. I was asked to put more in the budget by the attorneys and I cut it back.”

It looks like the city is willing to spend large sums of money to defend its laws and the property values in this upscale area of North Fulton County. The AJC states:

Cynthia Wicker, a Realtor with Harry Norman Realtors, supports the city’s efforts to tightly regulate the two industries, especially adult entertainment.

“Both of them can devalue the area,” Wicker said. “If an area is in decline, it could be harder to sell at the prices things are going for. Johns Creek is a family-oriented bedroom community. That [billboards and adult businesses] is not what Johns Creek has in mind. I hate that they’re having to spend money on such garbage as the Love Shack when they could spend money on other things like parks, but they have to do it.”

A ruling from the 11th Circuit upheld the regulation of adult sex toys sales in Alabama. This is great news and will now allow Georgia to proceed with their updated obscenity ordinance. In addition, the Court stated that the State of Alabama had the right to regulate sex toy sales on the basis of public morality.

From the blog HowAppealing.com:

On Valentine’s Day, the last gasp for Alabama sex toy litigation? A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit today ruled that public morality remains a sufficient rational basis, even in the aftermath of Lawrence v. Texas, for upholding the constitutionality of an Alabama statute prohibiting the commercial distribution of devices “primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.” You can access today’s decision at this link. In March 2006, law.com published an installment of my weekly “On Appeal” column headlined “11th Circuit’s Abuzz With Sex Toy Litigation.”

According to an article in the Johns Creek Hearld, a court ordered mediation session was held between Mr. Cornetta, Fulton County and Johns Creek. No details of the session were made public, so it hard to tell if this actually means anything.

John Cornetta, owner of the adult-oriented Love Shack superstore, along with Fulton County and Johns Creek officials met Feb. 5 in a closed mediation session.

The session was ordered by the Federal Court of Appeals in hopes to resolve the litigation surrounding the controversial store.

However, all who were present at this session have been put on a gag order by Judge Caleb Davies of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cornetta opened his store without a business license under a Fulton County ordinance, which states a business may open without a license but must get one within 30 days. That was three months ago.

The issue then became Johns Creek’s problem Jan. 5 when it took over planning and zoning responsibilities from Fulton County. But Cornetta already had his doors open and has continued to keep them open.

The city has worked on what it calls an ironclad zoning ordinance that would force the Love Shack to move to a more restrictive zoning site or shut down. Those ordinances are expected to have a first reading at the Feb. 12 council meeting.

According to an article in the Johns Creek Herald, Mr. Cornetta (of the Love Shack fame) is planning to open an upscale restaurant in the Johns Creek Tech Park. The only thing holding up the opening is getting a liquor license. According to the article:

Cornetta touts Equity Bar and Grille in his typically brash manner as “a very high-end sports and cigar bar with no children allowed.”

“There will be very, very, very expensive drinks and very, very, very expensive food,” he said.

The menu will include high-priced items, such as caviar, carpaccio, Kobe beef burgers and pastries, prepared by chefs brought in from New York and New Orleans.

Equity Bar and Grille will be a place where men and women in high-stress jobs can come and enjoy big screen TVs and lavish comforts and drink bottles of Opus and have black beluga caviar, all while enjoying the fruits of their work, said Cornetta.

It remainds to be seen how the latest venture of Mr. Cornetta will be recieved by the residents of the City of Johns Creek. Mr. Cornetta acknowledges this and says:

“Hopefully people will come and eat and drink and not be so concerned that the devil himself is serving,” said Cornetta.

It looks like the residents of Sandy Springs will have one less sexually oriented business to deal with in their community, thanks to the redevelopment of Roswell Road.  Keep up the good work developers!!!

Coronet Club may fall prey to developer
Residences, offices included in new complex

The score in this round? City of Sandy Springs: 1. Strip clubs: 0.

An Atlanta developer has plans to transform the Coronet Club and the four acres behind it into a mixed-use complex, complete with a five-story luxury residential building and a four-story office building. “This is an opportunity for the community and the city to make good on ridding the city of property types that they wanted to get rid of,” said Tom Kirbo, principal of Kirbo Property Services, which has teamed up with Childress Klein Properties to execute the deal. “We know what we’re doing would be nothing but an improvement.”The Coronet Club, formerly Maxim Cabaret, has stood at 5275 Roswell Road for 15 years. It’s one of the few clubs in the area that caters to both men and women searching for a scantily clad good time.

“It’s a sad day for me,” said the club’s attorney, Alan Begner, upon hearing about the proposed plans.Begner said business at the Coronet Club had been slow since the day Sandy Springs became a city.

That’s when the council members made known their feelings about adult entertainment establishments — voting less than a month after the city’s incorporation to create an adult entertainment ordinance that included a ban on alcohol sales at nude clubs.

Ironically enough, it was the Coronet Club that first filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court, contending the city’s new law was unconstitutional.

The club’s closure, Begner said, “will make the case moot” and bring “an end to Sandy Springs residents’ choices on where to visit.

“The purchase of the property is not final until the City Council approves a request to rezone the area from commercial to mixed use. That decision could come as early as April and translate into a summer groundbreaking.“We have been anxious to eliminate the drinking and adult entertainment combination along the Roswell Road corridor,” Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos said.

“To the extent we have one less [combination], I think we’re moving towards our objective.

“Does this announcement mean the beginning of the end for strip clubs in Sandy Springs?

“I don’t know,” Galambos said.

“I’m not a fortune teller.”But, she added, “it’s going in the right direction.” 

Those who believe that pornography is harmless fun should explain the consistently negative impact that sexually-oriented businesses have on their surrounding neighborhoods:

Garden Grove, CA — 1981-1990 – On Garden Grove Blvd., seven adult businesses accounted for 36% of all crime in the area. In one case, a bar opened within 500 feet of an SOBs and serious crime within 1000 feet of that business rose 300% during the next year. 

Oklahoma City — 1986 – In closing 150 out of 163 adult sexually oriented businesses over a 5-year period, the rape rate declined 26.5% in Oklahoma City. During that period, the rape rate rose 20.5% in the rest of the state. Since November, 1992, eight Sobs have reopened in Oklahoma City, and the rape rate has started to climb. The District Attorney is reviewing his efforts to prosecute once again. 

Austin, TX — 1986 – in four study areas, sexually related crimes were between 177-482% higher than the city’s average. In tracing 81 license plates at Sobs, 44% were from outside Austin. (Adult businesses tend to attract outsiders; law enforcement in cities with Sobs are often burdened with enforcing laws on nonresidents, with the expense incurred by the city where the SOB is located.) 

Indianapolis, IN — 1984-1986 – Between 1978-1982, crime in study areas with Sobs were 46% higher than for the city as a whole. Sex related crimes were four times greater when Sobs were located near residential areas vs. commercial areas. The study concluded that: “Even a relatively passive use such as an adult book store [has] a serious negative effect on their immediate environs.” 

Phoenix, AZ — 1978 – Sex offenses, including indecent exposure, were 506% greater in neighborhoods with Sobs Even excluding indecent exposure, the sex offenses were still 132% greater in those neighborhoods. Property crimes were 43% higher and violent crimes were 4% higher. 

Whittier, CA — In comparison studies of two residential areas taken between 1970-1973 before Sobs, and 1974-1977 after Sobs, crimes increased 102% in the two study areas, compared to overall crime increase in the city of only 8.3% (In the two target areas: Malicious mischief increased 700%, assault increased 387%, prostitution increased 300%, and all theft increased 120%).

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Thanks again for your support and prayers.