Sexually Oriented Businesses Could Be Leaving Laredo
By
KGNS News
Story Created:
Jan 22, 2013 at 10:15 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jan 23, 2013
Beer runs and other businesses have been around Laredo for years now.
But that could be changing soon.
Our Lauren Kendrick joins us now to explain.
City council members will be discussing those businesses at tonight's meeting in hopes to get them out of the city.
City Councilman Alex Perez says they are following in the footsteps of other cities and hope it will work.
"We want to get these types of businesses away from the neighborhoods, from the churches, from the schools, from the kids."
City Councilman Alex Perez is talking about the amendment the city wants to make on the current city ordinance regarding sexually oriented businesses in Laredo.
"We want to send these businesses to an m1 district which is outside of the city."
He says he's not looking to shut the businesses down, just let them away from children. One beer run is actually across the street from a church where young children that attend day care see the scantily clad women.
"They have their time and place, but in our neighborhoods, that's not the time and place."
If this amendment does go through, Perez says law enforcement will have more power against these businesses. The planning director of the city also talked to us.
"I think currently much of the activity that occurs there already violates some of the city ordinances as well as the state law when it comes to lewdness and obscenity."
Bratton goes on to say this new change to the ordinance will not tell the employees how to dress but it will tell them what to keep covered.
"They should not be in a residential neighborhood obviously. They really shouldn't even be in a community district."
