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allowing the management to observe and control the booths to ensure use by paying customers <br /> only. <br /> The police also made arrests for illegal sexual performances and acts of prostitution. <br /> The police also determined that underage females (including one who was 15 years old) were <br /> being employed as nude dancers with the full knowledge and support of management and <br /> required to perform nude, engaging in masturbatory acts several times an hour on stage. <br /> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA <br /> June, 1977 <br /> The Department of City Planning studied the effects of the concentration of sexually <br /> oriented businesses on surrounding properties for the years 1969-75 (a time of proliferation for <br /> such businesses). The report focuses on five areas with the greatest concentration of these <br /> businesses (compared to five "control" areas free of them), and cites data from property <br /> assessments/sales, public meeting testimony, and responses from two questionnaires (one to <br /> business/residential owners within a 500 foot radius of the five study areas and a second to <br /> realtors/real estate appraisers and lenders). Crime statistics in the study areas were compared <br /> to the city as a whole. Also included: a chart of sexually oriented business regulations in 11 <br /> major cities, details of current regulations available under state/municipal law, and appendices <br /> with samples of questionnaires, letters and other study materials. <br /> While empirical data for 1969-75 did not conclusively show the relation of property <br /> valuations to the concentration of sexually oriented businesses, more than 90 percent of <br /> realtors, real estate appraisers and lenders responding to the city questionnaires said that a <br /> grouping of such businesses within 500-1,000 feet of residential property decreases the market <br /> value of the homes. Also residents and business people at two public meetings spoke <br /> overwhelmingly against the presence of sexually oriented businesses, citing fear, concern for <br /> children, loss o f customers and difficulty ty in hiring employees at non-adult businesses, and the <br /> necessity for churches to provide guards for their parking lots. <br /> More crime occurred where sexually oriented businesses were concentrated. Compared <br /> to city-wide statistics for 1969-75, areas with several such businesses experienced greater <br /> increases in pandering (340 percent), murder (42.3 percent), aggravated assault (45.2 percent), <br /> robbery (52.6 percent), and purse snatching (17 percent). Street robberies, where the criminal <br /> has face-to-face contact with his victim, increased almost 70 percent more in the study areas. A <br /> second category of crime, including other assaults, forgery, fraud, counterfeiting, <br /> embezzlement, stolen property, prostitution, narcotics, liquor laws and gambling increased 42 <br /> percent more in the study areas over the city as a whole. <br /> The study recommended distances of 1,000 feet between separate sexually oriented <br /> businesses, and a minimum of 500 feet separation of such businesses from schools, parks, <br /> churches and residential areas. <br /> 6 <br /> 000019 <br />