2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

establishments have illuminated signs. Also, in half of the study areas graphic material was noted for adult use signage. It is also significant that more than 80 percent of the real estate brokers responding to DCP's survey reported that an adult entertainment establishment tends to decrease the market value of property within 500 feet. When the distance is increased from between 500 to 1,000 feet of an adult use, a majority of brokers indicated that the same phenomenon would occur. The pattern of response was basically unchanged when the question referred to two adult uses instead of one. In addition, approximately two-thirds of the brokers expressing an opinion stated that the presence of an adult entertainment establishment lengthens the time it takes to sell or lease nearby property, or the turnover rate of nearby properties. This is consistent with general principles of determining market value of real property; value reflects and is affected by forces that motivate the activities of people, including social ideals and standards. In surreys of community organizations, more than 80 percent responded that adult entertainment establishments negatively impact the community in some way. Nearly half of the businesses believe that their business would be negatively affected if more adult establish- ments were to locate near them. Where respondents indicated that their businesses or neighborhoods were not adversely affected by adult uses, the uses were not typically found in concentration; however, the respondents expressed a fear of the consequences of the potential proliferation and concentration of adult establishments in traditionally neighborhood - oriented shopping areas, along with a deterioration in the quality of urban life. These perceptions are bolstered by the findings in the TSBID Study and the Chelsea Business Survey, along with other studies described in more detail in this report. Years of urban planning experience confirm that these perceptions of negative impacts are important because people act on their perceptions. As Deputy Commander Peter J. Buccino of the New York Police Department stated in a recent unrelated newspaper article on privately funded community patrols: "Residents ....tell me they feel safer ... To tell you the truth, perception Often becomes reality."65 As cited in a legal case on adult uses, "urban sociologist Mel Ravitz stated a sociological axiom: If people believe something to be true, even if it not originally, they will tend to act as if it were true and, in so doing, help produce the condition originally believed. ,66 as "Hiring Private Security Guards to Cut Neighborhood Crime," The New York Times, August 18, 1994, p. C6. °n Gibbs vs. American Mini -Theatres, as cited in "Adult Entertainment, A 40 Acre Study," Plannins Division, Department of Planning & Economic Development, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1983. 64 EVER00162