Community input key in decision

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 7, 2002

The city council has finally approved what they have been debating for four years -- adult business ordinances.

But the controversy is far from over.

Owners of Hey Rube and The Brown Derby, two topless bars in downtown

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Austin, are planning to sue the city because they find the ordinances are unconstitutional.

Others say the rules do not go far enough. Gloria Nordin, 3rd Ward council member, said there should be less nudity in the bars. First Ward council member Wayne Goodnature said he would like another ordinance that requires dancers to obtain licenses.

The ordinance allows new adult businesses to be constructed only in an industrial zone --away from neighborhoods, retail areas and schools.

The businesses will also be under more regulation because they have to pay an annual fee of $150 and obtain a license. Whether this will affect the number of times the police are called to the downtown establishments is yet to be seen, but hopefully owners will consider the requirements they will have to meet to keep their licenses.

The ordinance is probably the best one that could be made without violating the adult business' right to operate and at the same time accounting for the concerns of the community.

Such enterprises as topless bars may not be best for a community, but such businesses do have a right to exist within the standards set by the community they choose to operate in.

In the end, if Austin residents do not feel the ordinance goes far enough to protect the interests of the community, then those concerns need to be made known and residents need to be ready for a lengthy and perhaps expensive legal battle.

Again, the council's decision appears to be the best the community could have hoped for.