Insiders views of Strip bars

Strip Club Testimony by Kelly Holsopple about her experiences in stripping over the course of thirteen years.

Sexually Oriented Businesses - An Insider’s View by David Sherman, a Former Midwest Manager of Déjà Vu strip bars with 14 years experience in the adult entertainment industry

How do Sexually Oriented Businesses (SOBs) affect communities?
a. Land Use Studies from cities around the United States were cited in both U.S. Supreme Court cases and clearly document the harmful secondary effects caused by SOBs such as those listed above.
b. These harmful secondary effects the Court identified are:

1. Increased Crime - rape, sexual assault, prostitution and illegal drug sales
2. Decreased Property Values - both residential and commercial
3. Urban Blight - people and businesses fleeing the community

c. Facts cited in three of the Land Use Studies or view the summaries of 32 studies.

1. Indianapolis, Indiana: Crime increased 23% in the study areas containing SOBs versus study areas containing no SOBs. Sex related crimes were 4 times more common in residential study areas than commercial study areas with SOBs.
2. Cleveland, Ohio: In one study tract with 5 SOBs and 730 people, there were 136 robberies. In the city's largest tract (13,587 people and no SOBs) there were only 14 robberies. Of the three tracts with the highest incidence of rape, two had SOBs and the third bordered a tract with such businesses. In these three, there were 41 rapes - 14 per tract - nearly 7 times the city average of 2.4 rapes per census tract.
3. Phoenix, Arizona: On average, sex offenses were 506% greater and property crimes were 43% greater in neighborhoods where SOBs were located as opposed to neighborhoods containing no SOBs.
4. Click here for a more comprehensive list of key court cases, land use studies, and testimonies

What can a community do to protect itself from SOBs?

a. The U.S. Supreme Court, in two landmark decisions --Young v. American Mini Theaters, Inc., (1976) and Renton v. Playtime Inc. Theater, Inc., (1986) concluded "...that municipalities have a substantial interest in protecting and preserving the quality of life for its community against the adverse secondary effects of SOBs...." - regardless of the size of the community.
b. This means that legislative bodies - villages, cities, townships, counties - not only have the right but have the duty to protect its citizens from these harmful secondary effects.
c. Such legislative protection can be passed in the form of zoning ordinances, licensing procedures, permit requirements and operational regulations.
d. All these legislative tools are needed to make it extremely unattractive for SOBs to open in a community.

Source: www.ccv.org