Friday, February 19, 2010
News Fulton strip-club ruling a blow to local titty bars
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 10:31 PM
On Wednesday, the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta issued a ruling in a decade-old court case about nude dancing and, frankly, I'm perplexed by its decision.
First, a little background: About 15 years ago, Marietta passed an ordinance forcing its adult-entertainment establishments to choose between offering nude dancing and alcohol. Knowing it would end up in court, the city based its actions on studies conducted by municipalities in other states that showed a correlation between nudie bars and an increase in crime and a decrease in nearby property values.
The city ended up winning in court. Goodbye, Taj Mahal.
A few years later, Fulton County decided to follow suit, but reasoned that it could make an even stronger case by conducting its own local study showing the link between nude dancing, booze and crime. Problem is, the finished study showed precisely the opposite — namely, that there was less crime immediately around strip clubs because they typically have on-site security. Oops.
Fulton did a second study, which confirmed the findings of the first; then a third study, which county officials tried to bury because they didn't like those results, either.
For years now, the county has fought a winless battle in court — specifically, Fulton Superior and Georgia's Northern District federal — to have its own studies disregarded. Until now.
In its unanimous decision, the three-judge federal appeals panel wrote, as quoted by the AJC: "We are satisfied that Fulton County's concern for the health and safety of its communities is real and that its reliance on the evidence it offers is not unreasonable."
In other words, studies, schmudies.
"It's rare for an appeals court to ignore the findings of fact considered by the trial judge," notes Alan Begner, a prominent adult-entertainment barrister who is not involved in the Fulton case. "This is what I would call a 'results-driven' decision."
The ruling will have no immediate impact because it pertains to a narrow question to come out of the ongoing case, which will go back to the trial court. But it will likely embolden other metro governments — Sandy Springs, John's Creek, etc. — to try to shut down their existing strip clubs.
Says Begner: "This does not end the case, but it's certainly a blow."
Comments (1)
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Hey, at least Boomers is still alive and kickin' in Marietta. Without the booze, they can even let the 18-yr-old horny high school students in there. In all seriousness, though, I wonder which branch of the church paid to pass this through. This would be yet another reason to keep people from wanting to visit Atlanta.
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