Depending on who you talk to, you may get varying answers about the number of stores selling sexually explicit materials in the area.
“The reality is that we have 16 sex-related storefronts in Times Square; in the 1970s we had more than 140,” David Bilotti, a spokesman for the Times Square Alliance, told XBiz.
Bilotti, defending Times Square and his organization from a New York Times story on Tuesday that construed adult businesses are creeping back into the area, said all the hoopla is over loopholes.
“Most of the existing adult businesses are actually adult video stores that pose as mainstream video stores,” Bilotti said. “Any storefront that has 60 percent or more nonadult merchandise isn’t considered an ‘adult business’ under New York City laws.
“We only have one or two strip clubs in the area,” he said. “But other areas are seeing an influx of adult-related entertainment in other parts of Manhattan, such as Chelsea, lower 6th [Avenue] and the Garment District.”
Ten years ago, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani declared war on Times Square's adult entertainment as developers mapped out a plan to make the area a family-friendly tourist destination. The bulk of the peep shows, strip joints and video stores vanished with new zoning laws.
Now, Bilotti said that the city is handcuffed with current zoning laws that allow the so-called “Bambi” or “60/40” defense.
“The ‘Bambi’ rule not only lets these video stores operate, but they can cluster within 500 feet of each other, as well,” he said.
“Certainly we see an increase, percentage-wise, with adult businesses in Times Square,” Bilotti said. “But it is nowhere near what it was in the 1970s. It’s just more of these video stores operating with ‘Bambi’ in the front of the store, with adult [videos] in the back.”
