Auburn, NY- Court will resume in April in Auburn, New York, when a judge takes up the case of a video rental store operating under the chain name “Family Video,” that’s been sued by the city for selling X-rated videos — in violation of its code regulating sexually oriented businesses — because the store is located within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood.
The Syracuse Post-Standard quotes corporate legal counsel John Rossi as saying the Auburn Family Video, which opened in October, is abutted to a residential zone on its south side, which the city alleges violates a 1998 city ordinance which specifies where sexually oriented businesses can operate. That report says the “adult” videos are kept in a separate room off the main display area, behind a door displaying the sign “Adults only. Must be 18.”
The city is seeking to have the sale of X-rated videos in the store barred by court order. But arguments on the matter were rescheduled on the first day of court, to allow the store to have its lawyer appear in court and in order for City Judge Michael McKeon to recuse himself.
Both the judge and one city attorney were reportedly involved in the policy-writing process of the city’s ordinance, or planning board hearings for approval of the store.
A spokesman for the Illinois-based chain of stores says the company does not think the sales of X-rated videos in one section of the Auburn outlet — a section amounting to less than five percent of the total floor space — should qualify it as a sexually oriented business. The city will likely try to argue otherwise on April 11.
City manager Mark Palesh told the Post-Standard he was shocked to learn the store rented X-rated films when he and his family were browsing the store for family-friendly fare last month. “The fact that they advertise it as a family store and then have something that really is degrading for our whole community — I think some changes will have to be made,” Palesh is quoted as saying. “The [store name] is a trap for families. My family’s never going to go there again.”