Being a liberal city is no guarantee that porn shops will be free of secondary effects, such as crime and drug use. This May 21 article in BeyondChron, “San Francisco’s Alternative Online Daily”, calls the replacement of a porn shop with an art gallery a “breakthrough” for the Tenderloin district:
When an art gallery moves to the worst block in the Tenderloin, times are clearly changing. This is particularly true when the prior use of the site was a large porno emporium that contributed mightily to the community’s negative image.
The SRO’s with the worse conditions tend to be those above porno shops. These businesses frequently have drug dealers doing business outside, and take no action to remove them…
Past experience shows that making the Tenderloin safer and more desirable requires these types of physical changes to sites, not more police. And eliminating such problem spots not only costs no taxpayer money, but it actually increases the city’s revenue when vacant and underutilized sites are developed.
See also:
Secondary Effects Across America: 1977-1999
Austin, TX, 1986: Eighty-eight percent said that a sexually oriented business within one block of a residential area decreases the value of the homes (33 percent said depreciation would be at least 20 percent). Respondents also said such a business is a sign of neighborhood decline, making underwriters hesitant to approve the 90 to 95 percent financing most home buyers require. They said commercial property is also negatively affected by such businesses…
A national survey of real estate appraisers and lenders revealed that the placement of a sexually oriented business is generally an indicator of the decline of a community…
The Evidence of Relationships Between Adult-Oriented Businesses and Community Crime and Disorder
Our opponents believe they are perceiving the Apremont Triangle situation more accurately than residents who live there, the police commissioner of Springfield, and the mayor
of Springfield. They make vague claims that ‘preexisting conditions’,
“corrupt politicians”, or problems with “education”, “housing
conditions”, “jobs” and “drugs” are to blame for Apremont Triangle’s
problems. These are all valid issues, but they don’t let Amazing.net
off the hook for the harms that can be traced to it, and they ignore evidence that “small things” matter
in urban revitalization, as Rudy Giuliani famously demonstrated in New
York City.
It is not politicians, education or housing that repel sought-after
grocery stores from locating in Apremont Triangle, it is Amazing.net,
and the “crowd that you see around it.”
Springfield
License Commission to Review Alleged Capital Video Violations for Drug
Sales and Lewd Activity On or Near the Premises
The hearing, allegedly for license violations regarding five counts of
illegal activity including drug sales on or near the premises and lewd
activity, was postponed early this week. The License Commission does
not invite public comment at its hearings, but residents can send
concerns about Amazing.net to: Springfield License Commission, Room
317, City Hall, Springfield, MA 01103.
Springfield Police Commissioner: “…it is fair to say that ‘Amazing’ constitutes an attractive nuisance that contributes to blighted conditions there”
We…would work with any group that has innovative ideas for dealing with this condition, particularly if they transcend the inherent limitations of an enforcement only approach.
Not All Happy with Porn Shops in Greenwich Village
At a recent community meeting in the Village, Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg was pelted for more than an hour with complaints from
residents about the proliferation of video stores with lewd windows…
“A lot of people think that anything goes in the Village,” said Marilyn
Dorato, an officer of the Greenwich Village Block Associations, a
consortium of block associations in the neighborhood. “I think our
virtues are being held against us…”
Courant: “‘Adult’ Businesses Add To Hartford’s Image Woes”
“We want to be known as a destination for that convention center, and
we want people to come here and visit and enjoy the heritage and
cultural richness that the city has, including its diversity in its
neighborhoods,” said Mayor Eddie A. Perez in a recent interview. “Adult
entertainment does nothing for any of those kinds of strategies…”
Thanks alot – your answer solved all my prbomels after several days struggling