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having similar land-use and traffic patterns and containing a high concentration of sexually <br /> oriented businesses. The Malin Group also interviewed property owners, real estate brokers <br /> and agents who are actively leasing, listing, managing, buying or selling properties in the study <br /> and control areas. The Malin Group also collected and analyzed crime statistics within the <br /> study areas and the two control areas. <br /> The study revealed that the number of sex-crime arrests in the study area containing <br /> sexually oriented businesses was five times higher than in the control area with no sexually <br /> oriented businesses, and nearly three times higher than in the control area with two isolated <br /> sexually oriented businesses. <br /> The study determined that in areas with sexually oriented businesses, crime rates are <br /> higher, property values are lower, or the properties take longer to lease or sell. Heightened <br /> concentrations of these businesses correlate to heightened impact on their neighborhoods. <br /> Negative public attitudes toward areas of concentrated sex-related land uses create "dead <br /> zones" unattractive to shoppers, store owners, and investors, and greatly decrease property <br /> marketability and values in the vicinity of the sexually oriented businesses. Several <br /> interviewees indicated concern for the safety of children and other pedestrians in the area. <br /> The study indicated that the location of multiple sexually oriented businesses in one <br /> neighborhood can have a major impact on the neighborhood by contributing to crime, driving <br /> away family oriented businesses and impacting nearby residential neighborhoods. When <br /> concentrated, sexually oriented businesses typically compete with one another for customers <br /> through larger, more visible signs and graphic advertising. They tend to be magnets for certain <br /> types of businesses such as pawnshops, gun stores, liquor stores, check-cashing storefronts <br /> and late-night restaurants. Even residences in the vicinity of concentrated sexually oriented <br /> businesses tend to be relegated to rental use, as families move out of them but find them <br /> difficult to market due to diminished resale value. <br /> The study indicated that sex-related crimes occurred five times more frequently in the <br /> study areas than in the area without sexually oriented businesses, and nearly three times more <br /> frequent than in the area with widely separated sexually oriented businesses. <br /> The Milan Group reviewed records of police calls emanating from 10 different sexually <br /> oriented businesses over a four-year period from 1993 through 1996 and found that such <br /> businesses were a major source of police calls. The seven sexually oriented businesses in the <br /> study area collectively averaged more than one call to the police per day. Those performing the <br /> study also reviewed records of sex-related arrests from the four-year period ending in March, <br /> 1997. The number of arrests for sex crimes—including rape, prostitution and other sex <br /> offenses—was 396 in the study area including the concentration of seven sexually oriented <br /> businesses. By contrast, the control area without sexually oriented businesses had 77 sex crime <br /> arrests during the study period, and the control area with two widely spaced sexually oriented <br /> businesses had 133. The evidence demonstrated that there were increased arrests for sex <br /> crimes, other criminal acts, and disturbances that required increased police presence in the <br /> vicinity of sexually oriented businesses. <br /> In most cases, the other localities considered in the study had prohibited sexually <br /> oriented businesses from locating in all but a few zoning districts. They set minimum distances <br /> between sexually oriented businesses and residential, religious, educational and recreational <br /> uses. These distances were generally 500 or 1,000 feet. Most localities established <br /> amortization periods after the enactment of their ordinances. In most cases, local authorities <br /> 3 <br /> 000016 <br />