10-18-1999 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

and under the present circumstances becomes available to minors even though its sale to minors is prohibited. Testimony The Working Group heard testimony that a concentration of sexually oriented businesses has serious impacts upon the surrounding neighborhood. The Working Group heard that pornographic materials are left in adjacent lots. One person reported to the police that he had found 50 pieces of pornographic material in a church parking lot near a sexually oriented business. Neighbors report finding used condoms on their lawns and sidewalks and that sex acts with prostitutes occur on streets and alleys in plain view of fSamilies and children. The Working Group heard testimony that arrest rates understate the level of crime associated with sexually oriented businesses. Many' robberies and thefts from "Johns* and many assaults upon prostitutes are never reported to the police. Prostitution also results In harassment of neighborhood residents. Young girls on their way to school or young women on their way to work are often propositioned by Johns. The Rick theater caters to homosexual trade, and male prostitution has been noted in the area Neighborhood boys and men are also accosted on the street A police officer testified that one resident had informed him that he found used condoms in his yard all the time. Both his teenage son and daughter had been solicited on their way to school and to work. The Working Group heard testimony that in the Frogtown neighborhood, Immediately north of the University-Dale intersection in St Paul, there has been a change over time In the quality of life since the sexually oriented businesses moved into the area The Working Group heard that the neighborhood used to be primanly middle dass, did not have a high crime rate and did not have prostitution. St Paul police officers testified that they believed the sexually oriented businesses caused neighborhood problems, particularly the increase in prostitution and other crime rates. Property values were suffering, since the presence of high crime rates made the area •12*