PITTSBURGH, PA — City zoning standards can be bizarre. Although a wild array of largely fictional “secondary effects” are frequently conjured up to keep adult businesses in the worst parts of town, other vice industries do not suffer the same zoning restrictions. A federal lawsuit against the city of Pittsburgh hopes to change that.According to the Tribune-Review, two companies that hope to open a strip club in the North Shore area have filed a federal lawsuit in the hopes of seeing the Pittsburgh adult entertainment ordinance change in their favor.

Both HDV-Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Ave. Pittsburgh Properties contend that the city’s zoning ordinance is unconstitutionally overbroad and allows city officials to legislate based on whim.

At issue is a desire by the companies to open an exotic dance club near the North Short casino in the Chateau neighborhood. Unfortunately, although gambling during a recession is perfectly legal in the region, watching fully or partially naked women dance is not.

In fact, the lawsuit contends that city officials are so capricious with doling out permits that there are no areas where adult businesses can safely assume they can open “by-right.”

U.S. District Judge David S. Corcone is slated to oversee the case, which seeks unspecified damages in addition to a declaration that the ordinance is illegal.