NEWS RELEASE: Anti-Pornography Group Commends Meadville City Council

 

This is an additional example of why municipalities need to pass zoning and licensing ordinances prior to a sexually oriented business opening its doors.  If Meadville had heeded our advice last fall, Synn City would never have opened its doors! 

 

Are you protected – has your local municipality passed zoning and/or licensing ordinances to regulate sexually oriented businesses?  We are currently in the middle of our Municipalities Project.  This is an effort to contact all 2,570 municipalities in the state to advise them that they can legally pass these ordinances.  We are finding that many do not know this!  We have just completed contacting the municipalities in Cumberland County.  Click here to see if your county municipalities have been contacted yet.

 

If they have been contacted, please check to see if they have taken steps to pass such ordinances.  Even if your county has not been contacted yet, feel free to encourage them to start working on passing ordinances to regulate sexually oriented businesses.  If you need additional information, please contact the AFA of PA.

 

Diane Gramley

1.814.271.9078

 

 

 

 

American Family Association of Pennsylvania

http://www.afaofpa.org

 

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  October 7, 2005

CONTACT:  Diane Gramley  1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

 

Anti-Pornography Group Commends Meadville City Council

 

(Pittsburgh) – A statewide pro-family group applauded the initial steps to protect the community that the Meadville City Council took on Wednesday.  Since it had become public knowledge that Synn City, a bring your own bottle and exotic dance club, was to open in downtown Meadville on August 4^th, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) has encouraged the City Council to pass a licensing ordinance to regulate the business.  The AFA of PA provided the city with model zoning and licensing ordinances.

 

“Wednesday’s action by City Council is welcome news,” Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA said today.  “We’re pleased that Meadville City Council has given tentative approval of the ordinance on the first reading and that it did not have the more restrictive hours as some Council members had proposed.” 

 

The ordinance lists the hours of operation from noon until midnight.  The more restrictive hours proposed by some Council members could have let to a constitutional challenge.  Yesterday the AFA of PA faxed the Meadville City Council asking them to list the hours of operation as 8:00 a.m. till 10:00 p.m. as these hours have withstood court challenges by the owners of sexually oriented businesses.  Even though Meadville City Council did not change their proposed ordinance to list those hours, the twelve hours of operation allowed by sexually oriented businesses should withstand any challenge that may come in the future. 

 

“The courts permit municipalities to regulate these type businesses because they recognize the secondary adverse affects that these establishments bring to a community – increased illegal activity, increased sexually transmitted diseases, lowered property values name only a few.  For this reason the AFA of PA has started the Municipalities Project to contact all 2,570 municipalities in the state to make them aware of the legal steps they can take to regulate sexually oriented businesses,” continued Gramley.

 

Meadville could have avoided this problem if they had responded to the fax sent last fall to all municipalities in Crawford County encouraging them to pass zoning and licensing ordinances to regulate sexually oriented businesses.  Synn City would probably have never opened its doors as the owners of these type businesses normally look for a location that has no ordinances to regulate their operation.  Even though, more than likely, the ordinance will receive final approval on October 19^th, they still have a Synn City in their neighborhood. 

 

“What happened in Meadville is a perfect example of why municipalities must pass zoning and/or licensing ordinances to regulate sexually oriented businesses before such a business moves in.  There is no doubt that Synn City must comply with the ordinance as most recently the Pulaski Township, Lawrence County licensing ordinance was upheld in the courts even though it was passed three months after Adultland XXX opened its doors. Because action was not taken soon enough, Meadville, as in the Pulaski case, is now stuck with a sexually oriented business.  Municipalities must see the need to pass these ordinances before these businesses open their doors,” Gramley stated.

 

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