PALM BAY, FL — Mayor John Mazziotti isn’t interested in social or legal tolerance when it comes to deciding what kinds of businesses should be allowed to operate in his city. Or, at least that’s the case when the businesses in question deal with adult sexuality. If Mazziotti has his way, there will never be a shop offering adult entertainment within the limits of Palm Beach, FL – and those that currently do so will vanish entirely. In order to ensure that this happens, the mayor has vowed to support a proposed ban on adult businesses.
According to WESH TV, Mazziotti’s sex-biz negative views are widely held and supported by the citizens of Palm Bay.
Although the City Council is debating whether such establishments should be allowed in specific areas of the city, council member Ed Geier insists that “They should not go anywhere in this city. That’s where they should not go.”
Geier, like Mazziotti, wants to see an absolute ban on all topless bars and other adult entertainment venues.
Currently Palm Bay only has one adult business, although an adult entertainment district was once proposed by the city – and attorney Michael Kahn insists that making it illegal is illegal. Kahn has proposed 21 areas that he believes would be appropriate for such businesses if they are allowed to exist.
Kahn, who is billed by WESH TV as “a legal expert on adult businesses” opines that an outright ban would be unconstitutional, but ominously cautions that Palm Bay needs to “Keep ahead of any possible incursion because, if they do not, they can literally locate wherever they want to throughout the city.”
Given that the Palm Bay City Council considers 21 areas to be too many, chances are good that it will do its best to create zoning limitations, although Kahn insists that the areas he has proposed and believes are legally necessary. In fact, WESH TV reports that Kahn views the City Council’s actions as legally risky.
Regardless of Kahn’s warning, chances seem good that the city will find itself dealing with the issue in court, especially if others on the City Council follow Geier’s lead, when he promises that “My motion is to ban them from the city.”
