2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

Block Associations Of eight known block associations in the area west of Eighth Avenue, we interviewed representatives of five. All the respondents described the negative impact of the concentration of adult use businesses for both the residential and commercial communities. They all said that they believed and observed that these uses are negative in their effects because they attract loiterers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and their customers. Four of the block association leaders said that adult use establishments drive out legitimate businesses, and they deplored the recent loss of a stationery store and a drycleaners which had been replaced by adult entertainment businesses. All five representatives said they had been directly affected by the presence of adult use establishments on their.blocks; and: Indirectly,:byahe presence of groups of prostitutes who congregate In front of the establishments on .Eightfi Avenue, and also onto the side streets. -They linked this prostitution activity to Eighth Avenue itself, but they acknowledge the presence of prostitution and drug dealing on other avenues to the west. F=our of these respondents had made complaints to owners or operators of adult use establishments about their displays and about loitering. One had not. The same four had also complained to the Police, Midtown Enforcement, and .the Community Board. On the question of the scope of the area imps ted by an adult use business, four of the respondents believed that the impact waseighborhood-wide, by, which they mean that the image of the entire area is tarred: "It erodes the neighborhood's self-esteem." In terms of the impact of any single adult entertainment location, two believed that such Impact extends 'across a street or avenue, and one believed that It extended more than::five :hundred -feet. All respondents commented on the appearance of .the , stores; some called them aesthetically unpleasing and garish,.. obtrusive and tawdry,- and disturbing to children. Some felt that the appearance of - adutt movie theatres was somewhat less disturbing than ' that of. other adult businesses, and others complained that the covered; blanked�ut-windows of adult bookstores were. forbidding and repellent. These community Interviewees :believe that drugs and drug-related ..criminal activities constitute the number one Issue for neighborhood residents, prostitution, activity a close second, and the presence of pomography establishments was rated as third. Another -theme for longer -time residents was the belief that there had been many signs of renewal and community health in the Times Square area in recent years, but that the arrival of new adult use businesses, vacant stores, and resultant increases in drug activity were now posing new threats to community stability. These respondents viewed themselves as part of a working- and middle-class community in Clinton, adjacent to the commercial Times Square, Ind fighting to preserve the residential character of their home blocks. 4.4 EVER00230