JUDGE RULES CITY HAS RIGHT TO REGULATE ADULT VIDEO ARCADES LAW FORCING DOOR REMOVAL CONSTITUTIONAL

Section: SPOKANE-STATE, July 2, 1994
Page: B8
Author: Mike Prager Staff writer

A federal judge in Spokane says a city law regulating adult video arcades is constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen ruled on Thursday that the city can force the shops to remove doors on viewing booths.

The law also requires the shops to remodel their floor plans so customers can be seen from a single spot near the front of the shop. The arcades, devices inside them and their managers must obtain licenses under the law.
The judge struck down four provisions largely dealing with administrative aspects of the new law.

Nielsen said the city cannot strip arcade owners of their right to appeal the city's interpretation of what constitutes a legal layout inside the shops.

Also, the city cannot require the adult arcades to disclose the names of shareholders in the business, and the city cannot prohibit licensing of arcade managers because they had a sex crime conviction many years earlier.

The judge found those provisions unconstitutional.

Even so, city officials Friday said the decision is a victory for their efforts to clean up the adult arcades.

``We feel comfortable with his decision,'' said Patti Connolly Walker, assistant city attorney who argued the case last month.

``It doesn't hamper our ability to do our job in any way,'' she said.

Gilbert Levy, attorney for the arcade owners, said Friday he could not comment on the decision until he's had a chance to read it.

``How this will all shake out, I don't know,'' he said.

But he said he was pleased the judge strengthened the right of arcade owners to appeal decisions by the city about what constitutes a legal floor plan.

``We have the right to stay open during the appeal,'' Levy said.

``We are thankful that decent community standards have been upheld by the federal court,'' Penny Lancaster of the Coalition for Better Community Standards in Spokane said in a prepared statement.

The city has been trying to get the doors off viewing booths for years. In 1988, the council adopted a law ordering removal of the doors, but it was rendered unenforceable by subsequent court decisions.

The law upheld this week was written under the guidance of those court decisions.

Patrons to the adult arcades are given private booths from which they can watch various types of erotic entertainment, including live strip shows.

City officials have argued the arcades attract criminal behavior and contribute to deterioration in surrounding neighborhoods.

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