RICHMOND, IN – Officials in Richmond, Indiana are considering stricter guidelines for operating adult businesses in the city – of which there are precisely two.Despite the limited presence of such businesses in the area, members of the Richmond Common Council found themselves Monday discussing an ordinance requiring local adult businesses to purchase an annual license to operate and accommodate both announced and unannounced inspections of their premises.
“What [the proposed ordinance] does is require a license and set certain regulations for what can be done and can’t be done on the premises,” Kenyatta Cox, assistant city attorney said, according to the Richmond-based Palladium-Item.
Cox said, in contrast to other communities in Indiana, “there is very little in our code regulating these businesses.”
Richmond currently has only two local adult businesses, Exotic Fantasies of Richmond and Fantasy Playground. Attorney Louis Sirkin, of the Cincinnati firm Sirkin, Panales and Schwartz, represents Exotic Fantasies, which is owned by Today’s Bookstore, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio.
Sirkin told the Palladium-Item that he can’t fathom the city’s decision to impose new restrictions on his client’s business.
“I don’t know why Richmond, Indiana is wasting its time passing a law like this,” said Sirkin. “This business has been there for probably 35 years and I don’t think there are a bunch of sex maniacs running around.”
Sirkin is also handling the defense of Extreme Associates in the federal obscenity case brought against them and has also been retained by the Free Speech Coalition to assist in its challenge to federal record keeping statutes for producers of sexually explicit materials.
Local officials cite the usual spate of supposed “secondary effects” caused by the presence of adult businesses and say that the new ordinance is necessary to prevent more adult businesses from moving in to the area.
“I feel it’s important to put some type of ordinance in place,” said Councilwoman Diana Pappin, who sponsored measure. “On the whole I think it will be important in accomplishing the things we want to accomplish and protect the community.”
Pappin said that she proposed the ordinance after being approached by citizens in the community, but declined to identify said concerned citizens, according to the Palladium-Item.
The citizens who expressed concern to Pappin are worried about “an expansion” of adult businesses in the area. Pappin noted that the ordinance would forbid adult businesses from operating within 1000 feet of a church or school.
“The issues are that these businesses could cause a decrease in property values around the site and an increase in crime,” said Pappin.
The Common Council will debate the ordinance again when the group meets for its next scheduled session on August 7th.
