Judge Upholds Adult Store Zoning Rules

A judge has sided with the city in its efforts to regulate adult book and video stores. The Manhattan judge's ruling Tuesday allows the city to enforce 2001 zoning rules, which adult stores have been fighting. City zoning regulations limit where many sex-oriented businesses can operate. The rules don't apply if at least 60 percent of the business is non-adult. A lawyer for the city said many businesses made sham efforts to comply with that rule by stocking their shelves with non-adult videos. "If you've got a peep show in your store, no matter how many copies of Disney movies you have, you're an adult video store, and so what this really means is that we can continue to enforce the law, and it makes a difference to parents who are walking their kids to school in the morning, and it makes a difference to the police chief who's trying to make sure that the criminal element stay out of their neighborhood. It makes a difference to the quality of life of New Yorkers," said city attorney John Feinblatt. City officials say an unknown number of businesses could be forced to move.