WICHITA, KS – Mayor Carlos Mayans and a group of outraged Wichita residents are determined to run the15 adult businesses out of their city, come hell or high water. Having already accused local porn shops of obscenity and violations of community standards, the city is proposing new zoning regulations in an attempt to move the businesses to more obscure areas of the city while the cases are still being considered by a grand jury.Not unexpectedly, business owners are none too pleased with the latest move, and Mayans, who admits he has never entered an adult business, expects lawsuits will result.
Robert Floyd is an Oklahoma City man who owns 13 Priscilla shops, with two located in Wichita. He finds the hubbub confusing. Like other business owners, he feels his wares are protected by the First Amendment, easily available online, and contribute to stronger, healthier, more intimate adult relationships. “We don’t want, nor do we try, to force anybody through our doors into our stores,” he points out. “We only want our good customers in Wichita, which we have many of, to frequent our stores.”
But the anti-adult squad isn’t interested in what out-of-towners like Floyd and seven other shop owners want. They insist that the existence of such shops as Priscilla’s lowers property values, increases crime, encourages addiction to porn, and damages otherwise healthy families. Although he does not provide any examples, City Council member Jim Skelton sums up the opposition’s view when he insists that the “quality of life and standard of living in the areas surrounding these businesses” are harmed by the presence of the shops.
Currently, the application process of opening an adult business is fairly simple. Applicants who are 18 years of age or older must be felony-free for five years and pay a $100 fee. The business operator doesn’t have to be the owner, but she or he does need to be licensed. Additionally, all business directors, officers, and stockholders with more than five-percent of corporate stock must also meet these requirements. Currently, only one business – with three locations – lists an officer other than the director, which has caused business opponents to wonder how well the city is abiding by its regulations. As Captain Ken Atnip, supervisor of special investigations for the Wichita Police Department sees it, this is a concern that citizens should have about all licensed businesses, not just those that provide adult entertainment.
“The whole purpose of the application process is to be above-board,” he explains. “If we found out that that was not the case on any license, we would certainly act upon that.”
Some who would prefer to see Wichita’s erotic venues closed want to know why national criminal checks aren’t run on owners, but the police department only runs such checks during criminal investigations, not business license application reviews. Of the business owners currently with establishments in the city, two have felony convictions from the 1980s porn crackdown period, and one owner/operator faced charges during the same decade.
Floyd, who has already had one of his shops relocated by the city, has been open for more than a decade in Wichita, with his most recent store opening four years ago. He believes that his operations, which are popular with bachelor and bachelorette party planners and which feature employees who are educated about the company’s products, contribute to the overall economic health and well-being of the area. As proof, he points to the fact that his employees all receive above minimum wage and his managers receive full medical benefits and a company-funded retirement plan. All Priscilla employees must pass a criminal and financial background check. “If they have a criminal background, they’re not hired,” Floyd promises. Unfortunately for Floyd, his business is still one of those that “Operation SouthWind” and its supporter in the mayor’s office want to see run out of town.
Jan Beemer, president of the group that gathered enough signatures to launch a grand jury investigation into possible obscenity violations by the city’s businesses, is offended by the presence of sexually graphic videos that she claims depict violence, group sex, sodomy, and youthful looking performers in the majority of stores, including Priscilla’s. Further, Beemer and her companions believe that private viewing rooms at some stores promote illegal sexual activities and attract a bad crowd.
If the proposed zoning regulations, which would limit businesses to general commercial, general industrial, and limited industrial parks pass, some stores would be required by law to move. No adult entities would be allowed within 500 feet of schools, public parks, churches, residential areas, or other adult businesses. If the grand jury finds the businesses guilty of obscenity, their owners could face fines – or jail time.
Business patrons and employees are stunned and angry by the moves. As they see it, the businesses are well-kept, properly lit, clean, and often easier on the eyes than surrounding, mainstream businesses. While nearby Christian Chapel Foursquare Church complains about pornographic parking lot litter blown onto its property, Candi Peters, a bartender whose place of employment is near an Adult Super Store location, thinks the true obscenity is served up by the opposing side, which often sports trucks with photos of aborted fetuses and other anti-abortion imagery. “Now that’s lewd,” Peters concludes.
Meanwhile, although Mayans admits that he’d like to see all adult stores closed, he also admits that the chance of that is unlikely.
“There’s a lot of money in this business,” he complains.
