In the first days of the 2009 legislative session, Oregon State
Senator Bill Morrisette, a representative from the small town of
Springfield, proposed amending the Oregon Constitution to allow cities
and counties to regulate where “sexually oriented businesses” can set
up shop.
Past attempts to exclude strip clubs and porn stores from Oregon’s
broad constitutional definition of “free speech” have fallen short, but
the new measure, Senate Joint Resolution Five, is getting some traction
in Portland. Some residents of the Montavilla neighborhood see a link
between the abundant porn stores along 82nd Avenue and the prostitutes
who walk the same street.
“Many of the high number of ‘sex industries/businesses’—strip clubs, porn shops, and lingerie shops—in our communities are
fronts for prostitution,” reads the website of neighborhood activist
group Montavilla in Action below the headline, “Please Support Joint
Resolution Five—Call Your Senator NOW!”
During a crowded Montavilla neighborhood association meeting Monday
night, February 9, long-time local activist Carol Cima argued in
support of bringing the sex store regulation to a vote.
“Since we have zoning for slaughterhouses and hospitals, maybe
zoning is the answer here,” she said.
While planning experts and the police say they have no hard data to
show there is any link between the existence of adult businesses and
prostitution, many Montavilla residents came to this conclusion after
the community held two “Prostitution Town Hall” discussion meetings
last fall.
At the September meeting, former prostitute turned neighborhood
activist Jeri Williams said, “We have too many sex shops in this town.
If [a guy] goes into one of those places, and then goes out on the
street and sees a girl, you know what’s going to happen.” When Williams
announced that the city desperately needed to zone strip clubs out of
certain neighborhoods, she received loud applause.
If approved by the secretary of state, Senate Joint Resolution Five
could go before voters as a ballot measure later this year, or early
next year. Oregon’s definition of free speech treats all legal
businesses the same, whether they are a Christian daycare or a strip
club. The most recent attempt to regulate adult businesses, Measure 87,
fell short of passing by less than five percent of the vote in
2000.
“Adult businesses can’t be regulated more harshly just because of
the content that takes place inside their business,” says Oregon
American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director David Fidanque. “If
there are problems associated with that business, whether it’s crime or
littering or any other kind of nuisance, the city and police can
regulate that.”
Fidanque points out that while porn stores and strip clubs are
heavily regulated in some states, they can’t be rezoned out of
existence.
“You can check with any state and there’s going to be more adult
businesses there than some people want,” Fidanque says.
Exotic magazine owner Bryan Bybee says the implied link
between prostitution and adult businesses is just a “scare tactic” by
anti-sex industry activists. “There is absolutely no valid study that
shows any link between adult businesses and prostitution in a
neighborhood,” says Bybee.
According to city planners, Oregon is relatively unique in the US
because it does not allow cities to control where adult businesses can
operate.
“The difficulty is how do you distinguish between Blockbuster and
Fantasy Video?” says Senior Planner Jessica Richman, discussing a
failed regulation measure from the 1980s. “Because of that gray area,
people were afraid it would go too far and voted it down.”
While the idea of getting sex stores out of the area in order to
combat prostitution has ignited discussion in Montavilla, neighborhood
opinion is still divided. Neighborhood resident Justin Cutler thinks
ousting adult businesses would improve the area’s feel, but that
prostitution can only be tackled with more city services and help for
sex workers.
“To think that zoning [adult stores] into a certain area will solve
the problem of prostitution is ridiculous,” says Cutler. “We need to
engage with the problem on a more holistic level.”
Sarah –
once again you are not being a true reporter by doing the basic research of reviewing & including the vast span of info out there on this subject. Even your opening “quote” from Montavilla In Action’s blog is inaccurate and you specifically edited it – setting a tone that is incorrect – the correct quote from their website is:
“We have talked with many people and we realize that MANY of the high number of “sex industries/businesses” – strip clubs, porn shops, lingerie shops in our communities are fronts for prostitution and draws in other types of crime and greatly impacts the neighborhood.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca…“
They went onto link to an article from Seattle Times titled: “FEDS SAY PROSTITUTION RAMPANT AT STRIP CLUBS”. That’s not Montavilla in Action’s words but Federal prosecutors. Do your research Sarah please.
How come you didn’t include Montavilla In Action’s url http://www.MontavillaInAction.Blogspot.com so readers can read for themselves the groups words and not edited clips for you to once again misrepresent this group.
Back in 2000 there was a measure for the regulation of adult businesses in Oregon. Neighborhood activists placed three measures on the ballot allowing the government to regulate such businesses. All three were defeated by the voters after being opposed by free speech advocates and adult business owners. The most recent attempt was Measure 87, which appeared on the 2000 general election ballot. It lost by a vote of 771,901 to 694,410.
The measure’s supporters were outspent nearly 20-to-1 during the campaign. The campaign against Measure 87 received big contributions from a range of adult businesses and free speech advocates. http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.…
http://www.oregonvotes.org/nov72000/guide/…
Info from Measure 87 Supporters:
There are seven adult businesses along a three-mile stretch of the commercial strip by our neighborhood. About two years ago a sex superstore located at a neighborhood access point — directly across the street from homes — a couple blocks from an elementary school.
The Portland City Council wanted to help with zoning, so did the state legislature. They could do absolutely nothing.
Cities can zone gas stations, liquor stores and farms.
Why do sex shops have special protections from zoning?
Our group ranges from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans. We have rejected offers of help from the Christian Coalition. We are not a religious group.
We are average citizens who are fighting for our neighborhood. Will you help us?
Adult Business Effect Neighborhoods
Austin: a study documents sex crimes occurring at a 66% higher rate where there are multiple sexually oriented businesses.
Los Angeles: responses to a property owner survey find that when adult oriented businesses locate near business – female patrons decrease and attracting employees is harder.
Indianapolis: appraisers find homes within 1,000 feet of a new adult business devalue an average of 20%.
BM 87 is already law in 48 states.
In 48 states — city and state governments have the authority to zone adult businesses.
48 states (including Nevada, Louisiana and New York) — have laws similar to Measure 87, yet clearly adult business continue to satisfy customers.
Measure 87 allows smart planning
Some claim that they wouldn’t mind if a sex shop opened across from their school, home or community center.
This is elitism.
If they shared the experience of effected neighborhoods they would care. Poorer communities shouldn’t be dumping grounds for the secondary effects of sex shop clusters.
I’ve lived in Portland all my life, nearly 40 years, and I lived in the Montavilla neighborhood for 4 of them, so I feel that I have an informed opionion here. 82nd Avenue was a center for prostituion long before any of the current adult businesses opened along that avenue. If there is any correlation between the level of prostitution on 82nd and the adult businesses there, it is that these businesses opened up because of the sex trade that already existed, not the other way around. In my experience, the same can be said of West Burnside, Sandy Blvd, and MLK Blvd. If the Montavilla Neighborhood Assn. wants to clean up the area through legislation and zoning, they should focus on urban renewal, beautification, lighting, and increasing the police presence.
Sarah – as the first commentator pointed out you edited a qupte from our blog that implies we think all of these businesses are fronts for crime. This is misleading and sets up your tone & opinion of our group to your readership.
Please retract or revise this immediately.
JBruner 97 –
Chicken or egg scenarios unfortunately don’t matter when it comes to the safety & livability of the neighborhoods surround 82nd Ave. This past summer the crime of prostitution escalating to a dangerous level that a 19yr old had to stab to death a pimp on an adjacent residential street at 7pm at night due to the Avenue has now turned into a turf war.
Also at the same time neighborhood women & young girls were now being harrassed by johns since if you are a single women walking in the radius of the Avenue you must be a prostitute. Their safety is now compromised.
You speak of growth – but well needed businesses are not moving into the area due to these sex shops and the crime along the Avenue. The City IS targeting adult businesses downtown that are deemed problem businesses due to the documented crime & number of police calls to these businesses. Since those sex shops are standing in the way of development in highly valued real estate.
You speak of increasing the police presence – unfortunately that is not a reality due to the Police Bureau having to cut $3M from it’s current budget.
This is a very layered problem and at the heart of it is zoning, like in 48 other states.
e are raising the discussion – there’s tons of info and research on the matter it warrants a real dialogue.
Thank you,
Montavilla In Action
http://www.MontavillaInAction.blogspot.com
I checked out the MontavillaInAction.blogspot as suggested by MontavillaInAction and I don’t understand why you’re upset about the quote that’s being used in this article. Clearly, as an organization, you do think there is a link between sex shops and prostitution. If you get rid of the sex shops, it will reduce or help reduce prostitution in the neighborhood, right? Maybe I’m missing something. Also, I don’t see any mention of ‘increasing police presence’ in the Merc article. Again, am I missing something? I wouldn’t want a lot of sex shops in my neighborhood either and I would work to change the zoning regulations. So, I fundamentally agree with what I think you’re fighting for. I do wonder, however, if you want a real dialogue? It seems to me you only want your (our) side of the argument presented and are attacking this article because it presents several other points a view.
If you want to control the sex trade in this town you need to look outside of our country at places that do it effectively and well. The Netherlands, Germany are good models to follow. Zoning and strict licensing is the key. However having lived in NYC who tried to just zone everything out of existence, they also succeeded in opening the pandora’s box for overzealous prudes to begin eliminating nightclubs, eateries, and other businesses that fell well outside of the original intent of the zoning measures, and in the end the city was left a dull lifeless husk of its former self.
So proceed carefully before rushing in to reign in sex shops because you might find yourselves in league with people morally far worse than prostitutes or strippers: and that would be hypocrites and demagogues.
BWAH,
“the city was left a dull lifeless husk of its former self” – sorry to hear that. I always wanted to see NYC. Now I wont bother.
“So proceed carefully before rushing in to reign in sex shops because you might find yourselves in league with people morally far worse than prostitutes or strippers: and that would be hypocrites and demagogues” – that can be true. In Overlook they tried to stop a sex shop from moving in across the street from a school playground & got an offer of legal aid from ACLJ. Then they googled ACLJ – way-out-there christian defense lawyers… supposedly ACLJ reps wouldnt agree to keep jesus out of it so there was no deal as OKNA wanted to keep the campaign secular. (also was a panel discussion open to public – a vice cop, a psychologist, a former sex shop manager, & a RN who works with “johns”. They made a pretty good secular case for keeping shops away from schools & naborhoods as I recall.)
I would like to see content-based restrictions on churches, especially megachurches with their traffic problems and wingnut congregations, instead of vague restrictions on “sexually-oriented businesses”.
Is it safe for a single woman to live in Montavilla?