Hiding Behind the First Amendment
Adult Entertainment Purveyors
Indifferent to Neighborhood Concerns
 Strip club entrepreneur Kenneth Lee (l), attorney Kenneth Tatarian, and strip club manager Anthony Russo (r) at the Nov. 23 hearing. |
Lucy Chin remembers what it was like to walk down Washington Street during the heyday of the Combat Zone. A long-time resident of Chinatown, Chin remembers the offensive sexual and racial remarks that Chinese women were often subjected to as they made their way through the area to a train station or shop.
In recent years, however, much has changed on Washington Street. The Naked i and the Pilgrim Theater were closed several years ago and several new Asian restaurants and a bank were opened. Construction has began on Millennium Place and the Playland Cafe and Essex Liquors were closed. Gone now are groups of men loitering at the corner of Beach and Washington Streets and gone are the prostitutes and drug dealers plying their trade along Washington Street during the day.
"Right now we have a better way of life," said Chin, a member of the Chinatown Neighborhood Council who aimed her remarks at Kenneth Lee, the owner of an adult entertainment business attending a recent Neighborhood Council meeting. For once Chinatown residents and visitors can walk down Washington Street without being harassed or accosted, said Chin.
But Chin and other Chinatown residents are worried that the dramatic changes the community has witnessed along Washington Street will be reversed if Jay-Kay Boston Inc. is issued a license to open a strip club above Liberty Book II on Washington Street. Last month members of the Chinatown community appeared at a Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing hearing to oppose the issuance of a license to Jay-Kay Boston Inc. to operate a strip club in the former Royal Hotel at 640-644 Washington St.
Chinatown residents and workers told the city's licensing director, Nancy Lo, and other members of the licensing panel that they do not want to see a return to the high-flying days of adult entertainment on the doorstep of Chinatown. Adult entertainment, they argued, leads to more prostitution, drug dealing, and harassment of neighborhood residents. Issuing a license to Jay-Kay would lead to a revival of the adult entertainment district that now has only a handful of establishments, they argued.
Jay-Kay's proposed strip club would be located in the same building as Liberty Book II, an adult bookstore and strip show establishment. Located above the adult book store on the second floor, the new club would have two stages and seat 236 people.
The former Royal Hotel is owned through a trust by Kenneth Lee, who would also be an owner of the new venture. Anthony Russo, of Conway N.H. would manage the club, and Lee would be its assistant manager. Lee and Russo also operate Liberty Book II and have been working in various adult entertainment establishments in the Washington Street area for more than 20 years. Neither Lee nor his lawyer would reveal the names of the shareholders of Jay-Kay Boston.
Jay-Kay attorney Kenneth Tatarian said Jay-Kay would likely apply for a liquor license if the club receives an entertainment license. The club would initially serve non-alcoholic beverages to patrons 21 years or older, he said.
Last year the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing rejected a similar request by Deja Vu Showgirls to open a strip club at the same site. That license was rejected after the licensing office learned that a Deja Vu shareholder had a criminal record. Following its rejection, Deja Vu filed a suit against the city in Superior Court. Tatarian, who has also served as Deja Vu's attorney, said the Deja Vu suit would be withdrawn if Jay-Kay receives a license to open the new club. He said there is no connection between the two corporations.
Many people associated with the Chinese community and other area organizations attended last month's hearing at St. James the Greater Church to speak out against the license. Chinatown residents appeared especially incensed that Lee, a resident of Wilmington, was trying to force his adult entertainment business on a city neighborhood far removed from his own suburban one.
Thomas Lee, assistant pastor of the Chinese Evangelical Church of Boston, emphasized the negative side effects of adult entertainment, including prostitution, drug dealing, and diminished property values. "You may have the Constitutional right to free speech but we also have a Constitutional right to a quality of life we'd like to preserve," said Lee, who argued that the owners of adult entertainment establishments should be required to prove they "can mitigate all these negative effects" before being allowed to open businesses in the neighborhood.
Gerald Heng, who often appears at hearings to air his views on Chinese community issues, argued that the real issue is the effect that the applicant's First Amendment rights have on the rights of residents to live free of the crime, drugs, and prostitution that accompany adult entertainment. "They will be subjected to limits because of the impact it will have on community activity," he said.
Paul Gagnon, president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, argued that the city was facing a "major decision" and should stand up for the area's residents and not be intimidated by the applicants' First Amendment arguments. "We are drawing a line in the sand based on this decision," said Gagnon, who added that any growth in adult entertainment will have an impact on nearby Bay Village residents.
Also speaking out in opposition to the license was a Boston Police Department detective, who cited statistics that appear to buttress community contentions that more adult entertainment means more crime and social problems. The detective said there has been an 82 percent drop in serious crimes in the Washington Street area between 1994 and 1997, a period in which several major adult entertainment businesses closed their doors. He argued that the clubs are a magnet for prostitutes and drug dealers, who often seek out club patrons on nearby streets. Before the Naked i closed several years ago prostitutes and drug dealers regularly congregated outside the Washington Street club.
A number of politicians were also on hand to argue against the license. Boston City Council President James Kelly said no other neighborhood in the city must contend with an adult entertainment district in its midst. "We are trying to find a legal way to eliminate the adult entertainment district," said Kelly, who declined to say if steps were being taken to rezone the district.
State Sen. Stephen Lynch said the Washington Street area has changed significantly since Boston Mayor Kevin White moved the adult entertainment district from Scollay Square to lower Washington Street in 1974. Lynch noted that Millennium Place, a residential and commercial complex, is currently under construction near the proposed club and that Emerson College now has dormitories and offices a block away. Lynch argued that adult entertainment zones should not be located in neighborhoods and that the trend now is to site them on highways. "These people are going down the wrong road," he said of Jay-Kay. "Don't let them take Chinatown away from us again."
State Rep. Sal DiMasi noted that Mayor White succeeded in moving the adult entertainment district to Chinatown in the 1970s because there wasn't a vocal group of neighborhood activists to stop it at the time. "That is a mistake that should be corrected," he said of the move, adding that the city should rezone the area for a more appropriate use.
DiMasi also criticized Tatarian for raising questions about the appropriateness of holding the hearing in a church, arguing that a church also has First Amendment rights. "If you're going to stand up for the First Amendment don't hide behind it," he told the applicants. DiMasi also argued that issuing Jay-Kay a license would lead to more crime in the area.
City Councilor Francis "Mickey" Roache criticized Jay-Kay's indifference to community concerns, saying the applicant was trying to muzzle the views of neighborhood residents by criticizing the city for allowing the hearing to be held in a neighborhood church. "What I hear tonight is a lack of respect, a lack of community process," said Roache, who added that adult entertainment businesses "do not belong in neighborhoods in this city."
In his opening remarks, Tatarian had taken issue with the city's decision to hold the hearing in a church, charging that churches have historically been morally opposed to nude dancing. He argued that licensing hearings should be held in civil rather than religious settings. Holding the hearing in a church provides a "clear appearance of bias and prejudice," and confuses government and religion, he argued. Tatarian said the adult entertainment district was set aside for the entire city and as a result was a citywide, not just a Chinatown, concern. He added that his client has a legal right to open such a business in the adult entertainment zone.
Last month's hearing put at odds neighborhood concerns that adult entertainment reduces the quality of life in Chinatown and leads to an increase in criminal activity, and the Supreme Court's ruling that adult entertainment is a form of free speech and is allowable under the Constitution. To reduce the impact such businesses have on neighborhoods, many cities, including Boston, have created special zoning districts for adult entertainment. While the Washington Street area is the only city district zoned for adult entertainment, that area has gradually become part of Chinatown. At last month's meeting, many members of the Chinese community held signs calling upon the City of Boston to rezone the area to ensure that Chinatown isn't permanently confronted by the opening of adult entertainment establishments.
Members of the Chinatown community note that the Naked i is currently renovating a LaGrange Street building where it plans to reopen, while the Glass Slipper, another adult entertainment club, sought unsuccessfully this week to expand its liquor license to include almost twice the size of its current club. Members of the Chinatown community were also on hand to oppose that expansion. Chinatown residents and others have for some time now been seeking to have the area rezoned, but the City has so far been reluctant to take action. If the adult entertainment district were to be moved from the Chinatown area, the City would be forced to find an alternative site.
About the only person who appeared at the hearing to offer support for the proposed club was Giovanni De Francisci, an Emerson College student who said he has visited Liberty Book II. De Francisci infuriated many members of the Chinese community when he called Chinatown "a modern-day ghetto." Several police officers ordered De Francisci back to his seat after he refused to conclude his remarks.
The Licensing Office has 30 days to make a decision. An applicant can be denied a license if the licensing office believes it will endanger the health and safety of a community by generating illegal conduct, excessive traffic, or excessive noise.