Conducted by:

PLANNING DEPARTMENT

CITY OF PHOENIX May 25, 1979

ADULT BUSINESS STUDY

INTRODUCTION

 

A necessary premise for regulating adult businesses by zoning is that a land use relation or impact results from this form of business. Many zoning ordinances throughout the nation now have provisions based on one of two basic approaches control the location of adult businesses. One approach, sometimes known as the Detroit Model, divides or prevents the concentration of adult businesses in an area. A certain distance from residential neighborhoods, churches, and schools is also maintained. Another approach, or the Boston Model, fosters the concentration or- adult businesses in one area of the City.

 

The Latter approach has resulted in the mart noteworthy problems. For instance, in Boston's concentrated adult business area there is control of signs, upgrading of streets and sidewalks, renovation of storefronts, and even the construction of a new park. This scheme has not affected the high number of stabbing, murders, and muggings that take place in the district.

 

Also, at one time, New York City had concentrated adult business districts. However, the police department reported that crime complaints were almost 70% higher on police posts with adult businesses, as opposed to posts without them. The reports showed higher rates of rape, robbery, and assault. In one adult business concentration around Times Square, sales taxes dropped by 43% in a two-year period, due to the loss of 2.5 times as many retail jobs as the rest of the City.

 

New York soon dropped its original adult business ordinance and adopted an amendment that was patterned after the Detroit model. The new ordinance also went one step further

than any other in the nation when suggestion was made to amortize all nonconforming adult businesses within one year. Thus, up to 80% of the existing sex businesses were terminated.

 

In the Phoenix Zoning Ordinance an amendment concerning adult business became effective on November 8, 1977. It too is patterned after the Detroit model.

Briefly, the amendment in Section 417 states that:

 

1. No adult business is to be within 1,000 feet of any use in the same category.

2. An adult business is not permitted within 500 feet of a school or a residential zone unless approved by City Council and area residents. A petition which is signed by 51% of the residents in the 500-foot radius who do not object must be filed and be verified by the Planning Director. After the petition is completed the City Council may consider waiving the 500-foot requirement.

 

Adult businesses are being treated as a land use issue by their relationship to impacts on their surrounding properties and on adjacent neighborhoods. Are the crime impacts noted La Boston and New York’s districts directly related to the adult business being there, or to same other societal variables in the neighborhood? Are they identifiable and thus a probable cause rot negative neighborhood reactions to nearby adult businesses?

 

The Phoenix Ordinance was based on two hypotheses: first, that there are direct impacts which uniquely relate to this class of land use, and second, that there are indirect, but equally potent, attitudinal concerns which result from proximity to an adult business. Examples of the former are possible traffic congestion, unusual hours of operation, litter, noise, and criminal activity. illustrating the latter is substantial testimony that has indicated that many neighborhood residents dislike living near an aria containing an adult business. Also, financial institutions take nearby adult businesses into account when financing residential properties. Finally, people’s perception o£ criminal activity is reinforced by a greater incidence of sexual cries in areas or commercial districts containing adult businesses.

 

In this study a wilt show chat chars is a relationship between arrests for sexual crimes and locations of adult businesses. This relation will correlate with concerns which have been expressed by residents of nearby residential neighbor-hoods at the nature of crimes associated with adult businesses. Sex crimes appear to generate substantial fears for the safety at children, women, and neighborhoods in general. Their association with adult businesses generates negative images (as welt as real or potential hazards) and results in a lowering of the desirability and livability of an impacted neighborhood.

 

This study specifically shows that there is a higher amount of sex offenses committed in neighborhoods in phoenix containing adult businesses as opposed to neighborhoods without them. In this project three study areas were chosen – neighborhoods with adult businesses, and three control areas -- neighborhoods without adult businesses which were paired to certain population and land use characteristics. The amount at property crimes, violent crimes, and sex offenses from the year 1978 are compared in each study and control area.

 

THE STUDY AND CONTROLS AREAS

 

Three different study areas containing adult businesses were selected to collect crime data. The east side of Central Avenue was chosen for the location of two study areas, while the vest side has the third study area. Appendix I describes a more detailed process of how each study area was derived.

 

A control area has no adult business, but generally speaking, has similar population characteristics of a matched study area in terms of:

 

1. Number of residents

2. Median family income

3. Percentage of non-white population

4. Median age of the population

5. Percentage of dwelling units built since 1950

6. Percentage of acreage used residentially and non-residentially

 

Appendix II states a more detailed process of how each control area Adult business locations are

based on information furnished by the Department and verified by the Planning Department.

 

 

 

TABLE I

 

 

THE STUDY AND CONTROL AREA LOCATIONS

 

STUDY AREA I CONTROL AREA I

 

Roosevelt Street - Oak Street Starting at 75th Ave, east on Osborn Road

16th Street - 32nd Street South on 35th Ave, west on Thomas Road,

South on 39th Ave, west on Roosevelt Street,

North on 43rd Avenue, west on McDowell

Rd, and North on 47th Ave, to the point of

Beginning.

 

 

STUDY AREA II CONTROL AREA II

 

Oak Street. - Osborn Road Osborn Road – Campbell Avenue

32nd Street - 40th Street 32nd Street – 40th Street

 

 

STUDY AREA III CONTROL AREA III

 

Missouri Avenue - Campbell Avenue Missouri Avenue – Campbell Avenue

19th Avenue -~ 27th Avenue 27th Avenue – 35th Avenue

 

Figure: 1, shows the boundaries of the three study and control areas.

 

 

Study Area I contains two square miles and one of the City’s larger concentrations of adult businesses. These locations are: 1702 E. McDowell Road; 2339 E. McDowell Road; 2438 E. McDowell Road, and 3155 E. McDowell Road.

 

The matching population characteristics of Study and Control Area I are listed below in Table II. (Appendix III provides a more detailed process of how this data was derived.)

 

TABLE II

 

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY AND

CONTROL AREA I

 

% Non-White

Building/

1950-1970

Income

Media Age

Land Use

Commercial/Residential

Study I

Control I

24%

24%

57%

93%

$7,675

$9,885

29

26

31%

38%

69%

62%

 

The only substantial population characteristic differences in these two areas are in the age of homes built between 1950 and 1970. The concentrated adult business district has a little over half of its homes built after 1950. Whereas the control area has almost 93% of its housing built altar 1950.

 

Study Area II is one square mile on the east side of the city, and contains only one adult business within the square mile, at 3640 East Thomas Road. Its control area is to the north side at the Study Area.

 

The comparison of population characteristics are shown in Table III.

 

 

 

TABLE III

 

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY AND

CONTROL AREA II

 

% Non-White

Building/

1950-1970

Income

Media Age

Land Use

Commercial/Residential

Study II

Control II

7.4

4.4

88.0

92.5

$10,779

$12,013

36

38

18%

11%

82%

89%

 

Study Area III also contains one adult business at 2103 W. Camelback Road. It is one square mile

located on the west side of the City. Its Control Area is directly to the west. The comparison of

population characteristics are shown below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE IV

 

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY AND

CONTROL AREA III

 

% Non-White

Building/

1950-1970

Income

Media Age

Land Use

Commercial/Residential

Study III

Control III

8.2

8.8

83%

93%

$9,829

$10,559

29

28

29%

28%

71%

72%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

Table V Property, Violent, and Sex Crime in Selected Study Areas - 19781 is a tabulation of the

number of crimes committed and the rate of chose crimes per 1,000 people living in each area.

This table is on the following page.

 

There appears to be a significantly greater difference between the study and control areas for sex

crimes than for either property or violent crimes. The following table illustrates a comparison of

the ratio of the crime rate off the study area to the control area:

 

TABLE VI

CRIME RATES AS A PERCENTAGE OF STUDY AREA TO CONTROL AREA

Study Area

Property Crime

Violent Crimes

Sex Crimes

Sex Crimes - (Less Indecent Exposure)

I

II

III

147%

173

108

144%

83

86

1135%

277

405

358%

160

178

Average

143%

104%

606%

232%

 

It is observed that there are about 40% more property crimes and about the same rate of violent

crimes per 1,000 persons in the study Areas as compared to the Control Areas.

 

On the other hand there is an average of six times the sex crime rates in the Study Areas as

compared with the Control Areas. Although the majority of sex

 

 

 

Table V Property, Violent, and Sex Crimes in Selected Study Areas—19781

was derived from information provided by the City of Phoenix Police Department' a Crime Ana1r~~ unit and Planning and Research Bureau. The data from these two sections is compiled by adding the number type of crimes committed in police grids, which are quarter mile neighborhoods. Crimes are based on arrest records and do not reflect ultimate convictions. It has been assumed that conviction rates will be proportional to arrest rates

 

 

 

 

 

crimes are Indecent Exposure, the fourth column illustrates that the remainder of the sex crimes also exhibit a significantly higher rates in the study areas. A detective from the police department stated that most indecent exposure crimes were committed on adult business premises. An example of this finding is in Study Area I. In that location, 89% of the reported indecent exposure crimes were committed at the addresses of adult businesses.

 

Where there is a concentration of adult businesses, such as in Study Area I, the difference in sex offense rates is most significant. As stated earlier in the report this location has four adult businesses which are less than 1000 feet away from each other and less than 500 feet away from a residential district. There is also a higher number of sex offenses committed - 84 more crimes than in Study Area II, and 56 more crimes than in Study Area III. Similarly, when compared to its Control Area, the sex crime rate, per 1,000 residences is over 11 times as great in Study Area I. In the remaining study areas, which each contain a single adult business, their rates are four and almost three times as great.

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX I

 

ESTABLISHMENT OF STUDY AREA BOUNDARIES

 

The process of defining the Study Area Boundaries was conducted in the following manner:

1. Locations of adult businesses in Phoenix were plotted.

2. The primary concentration of adult businesses an identified.

3. Preliminary decision was made to choose three study areas based on concentration and

geographic isolation from each ocher.

 

4. Establishment of boundaries for each Study Area so that the adult businesses were approximately centered in each study area, and so that each study Area had an area of at least one square mile, but not more than two square miles.

 

 

APPENDIX II

ESTABLISHMENT OF CONTROL AREA BOUNDARIES

 

The process of defining the Control Area boundaries was conducted in the following manner:

1. Identification of potential control areas based on the absence of adult businesses.

2. Delineation of possible Control Areas equal in size to the Study Areas.

3. Determinative of population and. land use characteristics of each possible control area using the same weighted proportionality method used for the Study Areas (See Appendix III for Population Characteristics and methodology).

4. Selection of a Control Area to match each Study Area as closely as possible in size, number

of residents, and. all other selected characteristics listed in Appendix III.

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX III

METHODOLOGY OF WEIGHTING POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDY AND CONTROL AREA

 

 

The characteristics used in weighting the similarities between the Study and control areas were:

1. Percentage non-white population

2. Percentage of dwelling units built since 1950

3. Median income

4. Median age of the population

5. Percentage of acreage used residentially

 

Information about the above characteristics was available at the Census Tract Level. Since the study Area boundaries did not always align with Census Tract boundaries, it was necessary to "average" Census Tract values to simulate the characteristics of the Study Areas. The contribution of each Census Tract characteristic value was mathematically weighted, proportional to the amount of population chat the Census Tract contributed en the Study Area population. Number 5, or the percentage of acreage used residentially, was attributed proportionally to the geographic area rather than the population.

The weighting of each Study and Control Area is tabulated in the following table: (see next page)