CIVIL LIBERTIES
Giuliani’s Adult Zoning Regs Face Injunction
Federal judge revisits unending war over ex-mayor’s crusade against bookstores, nightspots
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
Continuing litigation efforts
that date back a
quarter of a century, a
group of “gentlemen’s
cabarets” — which the court alternatively
describes as “strip clubs”
— and adult bookstores located in
Manhattan have brought suit to
challenge the constitutionality of
the 2001 Amendments to the city’s
Zoning Resolution as they apply to
“adult establishments.”
Numerous prior assaults on the
zoning measure, adopted during
the mayoralty of Rudy Giuliani in
an attempt to sharply reduce the
number of adult establishments
and relocate them away from residential
districts or close proximity
to religious institutions, schools,
and other places where minors
tend to congregate, were largely
unsuccessful once they proceeded
GAGE SKIDMORE/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Rudy Giuliani, whose mayoralty focused considerable
attention on the eradication of adult
establishments across New York CIty.
to the appellate level.
Surprisingly, however, given
the city’s earnest attempts to beat
back all these challenges, US District
Judge William H. Pauley III, in
a September 30 ruling, noted that
the city has not actively enforced
the zoning regulations for the 18
years since Giuliani left offi ce.
Mayors Michael Bloomberg and
Bill de Blasio turned their attentions
elsewhere.
But the plaintiffs are concerned
with the measure still on the books
and the possibility it might be enforced
against them in the future.
That concern motivated this latest
lawsuit.
In this ruling, Pauley granted
the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary
injunction against the measure’s
enforcement while the litigation
goes forward on the merits.
The list of counsel accompanying
the opinion goes on for two
pages, and the judge mentions
that in connection with the pending
motions, “the parties have offered
a Homeric record of affi davits,
documentary evidence, and
stipulations.”
Most signifi cant among the objections
to zoning regulations, perhaps,
is that they were premised
on a 1995 study of “secondary effects”
attributable to the presence
of adult establishments, especially
when several were located close together.
The reality, however, is that
given enforcement efforts during
the early years of the Giuliani administration
as well as the residential
and commercial development
activity in the city over the past 20
years, the 1995 study is clearly out
of date and no longer easily supports
the Council’s conclusion that
the rather drastic restrictions on
the siting of adult establishments
are still necessary in terms of public
order and their impact on property
values. Enforcement under
Giuliani reduced the number of
➤ GIULIANI ZONING, continued on p.17
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