SPRINGFIELD, MA — Despite two legal setbacks in recent months, the City of Springfield, MA, plans to continue efforts to shutter viewing booths at a downtown adult store.The city began by revoking Amazing.net’s entertainment license last November, based on police and zoning reports indicating the booths encouraged crime and lewdness in 2006. Then the city declined to issue a new license in December. The store sued and in August won a preliminary injunction allowing it to continue operating the booths.

The city appealed in state court, only to have the court reject the petition because it was filed one day late.

Undeterred, the city’s attorney said he will file a petition seeking a final decision in Superior Court.

“I think the neighborhood is rightly concerned that the location is a source of nuisance activities and potentially a threat to public health and safety,” City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula told MassLive.com.

According to Thomas Lesser, attorney for the Capital Video Corp.-owned store, Amazing.net “always has been agreeable to placing conditions on the license.” However, the city seems unwilling to negotiate, even though city officials agree there have been no incidents at the store since the injunction was issued. The store has improved the way it monitors activity in the booths, Lesser said, in order to prevent future citations.

“I would hope at this point instead of the city spending more money on legal fees, and perhaps ultimately paying for Capital Video attorney fees, it would negotiate a resolution,” he told MassLive.com.

Pikula indicated that’s probably not going to happen. He said the city has no intention of approving an entertainment license for next year, either, and the current injunction will expire when the city’s fiscal year ends in December.