Sandy Springs, Georgia- The owner of the Love Shack adult video store isn't getting much love from Sandy Springs.
A day after John Cornetta publicly offered to negotiate a truce between the city and adult businesses, he was cited for having an illegal sign at his Roswell Road shop, and the mayor says she isn't very interested in a face-to-face chat.
"Tell him to talk to our attorneys," said Mayor Eva Galambos, who filed the complaint last week that resulted in Cornetta's citation.
"I complained about the sign being too tall [when Sandy Springs was in unincorporated Fulton County]. And I wasn't the first one to complain about it."
Since the ordinance is still being challenged in State Court, it's unclear how much Cornetta's fine will be.
In a guest column that appeared in Sunday's NorthSide section, Cornetta offered to mediate a looming court battle between the city and three nude dance clubs and some adult video stores in the newly created city. In December, the City Council approved an adult entertainment ordinance with tougher regulations.
"This situation could be over tomorrow, meaning the city would save the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would otherwise lose to fight this cause," Cornetta wrote in the column.
City leaders say they're not moved by Cornetta's offer.
The only reason an adult business owner would make an offer to negotiate would be because the owner is nervous, said Fred Bentley Jr., the assistant city attorney who took the lead in drafting the adult entertainment ordinance.
Cornetta scoffed at that, saying while he owns about a dozen adult stores in metro Atlanta, he has only one in Sandy Springs, and it's his smallest store.
"I've been through this a lot," Cornetta said Tuesday. "Usually it gets down to one or two issues. If we can get to those, and address what's really bothering the politicians, and the club owners are willing to sacrifice, we can resolve this."
Cornetta said the legal bills could go as high as $5 million for each side over the course of what he anticipates will be a five-year battle.
He also said he hasn't broached the idea of being the go-between with the other business owners. "We have two armies on the battlefield and no one is going home," Cornetta said. "Let's talk before the bullets start flying."
