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INTRODUCTION <br />As Is the case in most large cities, Indianapolis has experienced <br />a raoid growth in the number and variety of adult entertainment <br />businesses over the past ten years. As of June, 1983 there were <br />sixty-eight such businesses located singly and in clusters through- <br />out Marion County. <br />For the purpose of this study, the term "adult entertainment busi- <br />ness" is a general term utilized to collectively designate busi- <br />nesses which primarily feature sexually stimulating material and/ <br />or performances. These non -exclusively include adult bookstores, <br />adult cabarets, adult drive-in [heaters, adult mini motion picture <br />theaters and arcades, adult entertainment arcades and adult ser- <br />vice establishments. <br />These enterprises have posed a particular problem due, in part, to <br />the moral implications attendant upon such businesses in the minds <br />of many members of the community. While this is, perhaps, the view <br />of the majority, case law on the subject has clearly established <br />that the exclusion of such businesses from a community is an in- <br />fringement of First Amendment rights. The proliferation of such <br />businesses providing various forms of adult entertainment in Mar- <br />ion County has exacerbated this dilemma and given rise to addition- <br />al charges of negative impacts on neighborhoods in proximity to <br />their location. <br />Through the use of their zoning power, cities have within the past <br />ha.l F century directed the physical growth of communities in order <br />Cc assure a harmonio,,s blend of land uses which foster the general <br />-elfare of the population. This power has been applied more recent- <br />ly cc adult entertainment businesses in many communities and has <br />served as a prime means of controlling possible negative impacts <br />on neighborhoods. <br />This study was undertaken to examine these alleged negative impacts <br />with the purpose of empirically establishing, to the extent poss- <br />ible, their existence or non-existence as well as their real di- <br />mensions in Indianapolis. The possible relationships between these <br />impacts and the land use characteristics of the sites in which they <br />are offered were also examined to as=ertain whether certain land <br />use classiFications were better suited than others for the loca- <br />Cion of adult entertainment businesses. <br />E VER00006 <br />8 <br />