LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The city that is home to the Kentucky Derby is trying to put a fresh face on its $600 million tourist economy by buying up a downtown pornography and bar zone and evicting the occupant.
Mayor Jerry Abramson, weary of complaints from hotels, tourists and some of the city's 500,000 annual conventioneers, directed his legal staff to move against the square block that includes saloons, an adult-movie theater and adult book stores.
The strategy meshed nicely with a plan to aid an office tower development by making a block available for a parking garage.
'I get the best of both worlds,' said Abramson, who said he had watched as the affected neighborhood went 'from a stable, mixed use business area to a porno magazine, movies and bar block.'
C. Tom Hectus, a lawyer representing Envy Ltd. Inc., which runs a bar evicted by the city, called the tactic 'a back-door condemnation' of the adult entertainment properties.
'There are First Amendment overtones,' said Hectus, who indicated any legal action against the city likely would attack the zoning law limiting the relocation opportunities of the porn district businesses.
But David A. Friedman, general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said the city would be on safe ground evicting the porn businesses if the parking garage idea is authentic.
'If the purchase of the land winds up being a sham to evict them, it's a constitutional issue,' he said.
Since Christmas the city has paid more than $3 million for virtually all of the block between two major hotels and the state-run Commonwealth Convention Center. The rest of the block is already owned by developers and the public transit system.
The mayor described the path between the hotels and the center as 'not only an eyesore but a real problem for conventioneers passing through the city.'
The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, which helps coordinate 600 annual conventions and the $200 million in spending they attract, is delighted with the purge of the porno district.
'It will enhance the downtown area,' said bureau spokeswoman Marcheta Sparrow. 'The average conventioneer was turned off by it.'
Walking along the stretch -- sometimes at night after an evening convention program -- 'makes people uncomfortable and they feel unsafe,' Sparrow said.
While the area may not have been markedly less safe than other city blocks, 'In this industry we deal 80 percent in perceptions,' she said.
Abramson said he was aware of the threat the evicted tenants might relocate within the city, but said he was confident an ordinance prohibiting porno shops near schools, parks, homes and churches -- and other X-rated businesses -- would prevent another concentration of adult-oriented outlets.
'I think I can say there probably will never be such a concentrated area for pornography operations,' he said.
The owner of a motel near the porno district, Albert L. Entwistle Sr., said he has received letters from guests who complimented the city and the accommodations but complained about the neighborhood.
'I don't think they should operate such a dirty, filthy place right in the middle of the city,' said Entwistle, who had tried unsuccessfully to gain support from fellow business leaders to buy the block and make it a park.
Louisville's anti-porn crusader, Lily Bifone, attributed the city's efforts to increased public distaste for pornography and the Meese Commission's pornography report, which was drafted under the direction of Louisville prosecutor Alan Sears.
