THE 0 RIG IN.
DEVE LOP ME 1\1 T.
AND DEC L I 1, E 0 F B0 S TON I S
ft.. ~ UL TEN T E R T A I l~ ~~ EN: DIS T RIC T :
THE COM BAT Z 0 l~ E
by
Salvatore M.
B.A.,
J.D ••
Giorlandino
Broovlyn College.
Northea ..
(1982)
(Expectt:d 1986)
C.U.N.Y.,
ern University
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE
DEGREE OF
MASTER IN CITY PLANNING
at the
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Jan u a ry 15.
.~
Salvatore M.
Giorlandino 1986
The author hereby grants M.I.T.
to
dis t rib ute cop i'e S
in part
Signature of author
0
f
t
permission to reproduce and
his the sis doc um en t i n a whole
0
r
~part~;~t-~f-U~b;~-St~di;;-&-pi~~~i~g--
January 15.
Certified by
1986
1986
---------~T---------------------------·------
Gary T. Mst:JC
Thesis Supervisor
A P P r ov e d by
~~TI~::~:a~f:~-~::::~1e:--------------_._----Archives
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
MAR 201986
LIBRARIES
THE ORIGIN.
DEVELOPMENT~ AND DECLINE OF BOSTON'S
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT:
THE COMBAT ZONE
by
Salvatore M.
Giorlandino
Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on
January 15. 1986 in partial fullfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Master in City Planning
Abstract
This thesis has three goals.
The first goal is to describe
how
the
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has been
the
major force behind the origin.
development.
and decline of
Boston's official adult entertainment district kno~/n as "The
Combat
Zone."
The
second goal is to
analyze
the
BRA's
actions
towards
the
Combat Zone in
terms
of
two
major
theoretical
models.The
first
model.
a
gentrification
model.
attempts to explain the BRA's actions by focusing on
the
agency's
primary role as an agent in Boston's
gentrification
process.
This model
proposes
that
the BRA's
actions
towards
the
Combat Zone have
been
motivated
by
a desire to facilitate and protect the City's gentrification
process.
The
second model.
a constitutional law
roodel.
attempts
to
explain the BRA's actions by focusing
on
the
agency's
secondary rule as a regulator of
First
Amendment
Speech rights.
This model proposes that the BRA's land use
policies
towards
the
Combat
Zone
have
controlled
the
"expression" of commercial sex establishments by determining
where these businesses can operate in the City.
This model
describes how the BRA's actions in creating and legitimizing
the Combat Zone were constitutional. but calls into question
the
constitutionality
of the agency's present
efforts
to
eliminate the Combat Zone.
The final goal of thi~ thesis is
criticize the BRA's present policy and make
recommendations
as to what policies should be implemented in the future.
Thesis Supervisor:
Dr. Gary T. Marx
Title:
Professor of Sociology
TO MY FATHER
Giuseppe Giorlandino
(1919-1977)
A very
learned
man
who did not need a college
degree
to prove it.
PER MIO PADRE
Giuseppe Giorlandino
(1919-1977)
Un llomo di grande intel1igenza
chi non abbia bisogno di titoli
accademici per provarlo
"'I.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .
1
..
INTRODUCTION
7
Notes
PART
3
I
-
THE COMBAT ZONE'S HISTORY:
Chapter 1 A.
B.
9
The Combat Zone and Its Antecedents:
The Scol1ay Square Years: 1880-1962 .
9
From Scol1ay Square to Lower Washington
Street:
The 1960's.
Cha~ter
B.
.
15
2 - The Development of the Combat Zone
18
18
The BRA to the Rescue:
The Containment of
the Combat Zone and the 1974 Zoning
Ordinance .
20
•
Chapter 3 -
B.
12
The Combat Zone Threatens to Expand Beyond Lower
Washington Street: 1970-1974
Notes
A.
8
The Origins of the Combat Zone.
Notes
A.
18E'.O-1984
28
The Decline of
the Combat Zone.
The Rise and Fall of Liberty Tree Park:
1975-1976 •
35
35
1.
Upgrading the Combat Zone.
35
2.
Making the Combat Zone a
Neighborhood
36
Safe
The BRA's New Game Plan:
The Gradual
Eviction of the Combat Zone from Lower
Washington Street •
1•
The New Game Plan is Drafted:
1977-1978 .
41
2•
The Waiting Period:
3.
The Eviction Proceedings Begin With
8 Little Help from a New Mayor:
1984
Notes •
1979-1983
41
•
44
46
51
57
PART II - ANALYZING THE COMBAT ZONE'S HISTORY
Introductory Note
57a
Chapter 4 - The Gentrificati.on Model:
The
BRA as an Agent in the Gentrification Process .
58
A.
Introduction
B.
The Possible Analyses of Hartman.
Raymond.
c.
58
•
and Gens
Conclusion
59
62
•
63
Notes
Chap t e r
5 - The Con s t i t uti 0 n a 1 I.. a w Mod e 1 :
The
BRA as a Regulator of First Amendment Speech Rights
A.
Introduction.
B.
The
c.
The Constitutionality of
Actions
D.
!£~~~
68
69
Case.
the BRA's
71
Conclusion.
74
75
Notes
PART III -
68
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE COMBAT ZONE'S HISTORY
AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE .
Chapter 6 -
A.
Should the BRA's Present
Continue?
1.
2.
Effo~ts
78
The possible Illegality of the
BRA's Gradual Eviction Policy and
its Consequences •
78
The Inequitable Nature of
Gradual Eviction Policy
80
Summary and Recommendations
Notes
BIBLIOGRAPHY
78
The Legal and Equitable Arguments
Against the BRA's Present
B.
Policies
the BRA's
81
84
85
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the people who have made my joint
degree
venture
in
law
and
urban
studies
possible
and
worthwhile.
the members of my thesis committee.
First,
Wheeler,
Michael
Marx.
Gary'
respect and confidence
to
thanks
and
Richard Daynard for
they have shown in my
Brandeis
Professor
Professors
Susan
(Special
wo~k.
for
Silbey
the
her
contructive comments and advice).
my parents Giuseppe and Maria Gicrlandino
Second,
instilling
in
me the importance of higher
me "that we are all
reminding
education,
of God's children
for
but
matter
nu
how high or low our academic rank or title."
my brother Carmela Joseph who has given me much
Third.
support over the last four years.
Fourth.
"blazing
Mark Bressler -- my friend.
path
the
in
life" since our
for whom I've been
days
Brooklyn
at
College.
Rolf Engler for "financing my education":
Fifth.
Mary
Escrich.
Grenham
and
Cris
Nelson
for
Carol
emotional
support: and Maria Papalambros for typing my thesis.
Sixth.
Russians
with
and
the members of my "Massachusetts Family" -- the
Zartarians who welcomed me into
their
open arms and provided me with many a hot cooked
during this laborious effort.
1
homes
meal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (cant.)
And
Rhonda
lastly,
Lee
into my life.
but
first
in my
heart
and
thoughts
Russian who has brought much joy and
Tu sei meravigliosa e
anche hella.
happiness
Te
voglio
bene gioia.
Salvatore Michael Giorlandino
January
2
15.
1986
INTRODUCTION
THE ORIGIN. DEVELOPMENT. AND DECLINE OF BOSTON'S
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT:
THE COMBAT ZONE
A.
Overview of the Thesis
For almost
been
Street
in
the
popularly
sial
a four block area
in
based
city's
known as
history.
Boston's commercial
25 years.
downto\tJn
along
sex
Lower
trade has
Washington
This
section. (1)
the "Combat Zone." has had a
controver-
Some have labeled the Combat Zone as "Satan's
Playground." while others have concluded the area is
sentative
for
the
Boston
area.
of the reality that
there always will be a market
of "sexual goods and
sale
repre-
In
services."
adopted this reality &s policy and enacted a
1974.
zoning
ordinance which made the Combat Zone Boston's official adult
district.
entertainment
The city's goals were
the sex trade on Lower Washington
and
create
a
safe neighborhood.
achieve
Combat
its
Although
Zone
prostitution,
the
was
and
still
is
synonomous
and street violence. (2)
area's elimination.
trends continue.
the
city
residents.
with
the
crime.
Many have called for
which may in fact occur if
In recent years.
was
it was not able to
To many Boston
other goals.
contain
upgrade the area.
Stree~,
successful in containing the Combat Zone,
to
recent
Combat Zone patronage has
declined sharply and a number of sex businesses operating in
3
to speculate that Boston's
the area have closed causing many
commercial
trade will disappear
sex
from Boston in
a
few
years.
The
Zone's
Combat
history raises
several
important
questions for study:
1.
How did
the Combat Zone originate?
2.
Which city agency has played a major role in
the Combat Zonels origin. development. and
decline?
3.
What
4.
What motivated
has
this
agency done?
this agency to enact its
Are there theories ~r models
policies?
which help explain the agency's decisions?
5.
Should the agency's present policies continue?
If not. what policies should be pursued?
The
goal of this thesis is to attempt
questions.
First.
Redevelopment
Authority
goal
second
actions
towards
theoretical
attempts
(BRA)
primary
process.
This
protect
model.
BRA's
are
the
a
the
tile
city's
proposes
by a
that
desire
gentrification
constitutions'l
BRA's
two
major
focusing
model
on
t
the
in Boston's gentrification
role as an agent
motivated
of
the
a gentrification
The first.
model
and decline.
analyze
terms
Combat Zone in
force
major
development.
t
explain the BRA's actions by
agency's
decisions
has been
of this thesis is to
models.
to
these
the author will describe how the Boston
behind the Combat Zone's origin
The
to answer
the
to
BRA's
facilitate
process.
law model attempts
policy
The
second
to explain
the
actions by focusing on the agency's secondary role as
4
a
regulator of First Amendment speech rights.
proposes
Zone
that
have
the BRA's
land
use
policies
controlled "the expression"
establishments
determining where
by
the City.
sex
these
businesses
can
in creating and legitimizing the Combat
but
calls
'rhe
BRA's
goal of this
final
describes
how
Zone
to eliminate
we re
thesis
is
to
Combat
the
criticize
policy and make recommendations as
present
BRA's
the
into question the constitutional-
ity of the Agency's present efforts
Zone.
Combat
commercial
actions
constitutional,
the
of
in
model
model
towards
operate
This
This
to
the
what
policies should be implemented in the future.
B.
Methodology Used
In Part I.
the extent of the BRA's involvement in
the
Combat Zone's history was documented by:
1.
books and journal article on city planning
issues, land use and zoning controls,
police enforcement, and pornography
regulation;
2.
government
3.
newspaper articles written about
Zone from 1974 to 1984.
In
Part
documents such as BRA planning
reports, municipal newspapers, and city
council proceedings: and
II,
gentrification
the gentrification model
and
urban
renewal
Hartman,
George
planners
have not written about
theories
can
be
the
Raymond.
Co~bat
is based on
theories
and Herbert Gans.
used to analyze
5
and
explain
Chester
of
These
the Combat Zone.
the
but
the
urban
th~ir
BRA's
actions
model
in
the Combat Zone.
towC!rcis
Tbe constitutional
is based on the United States Supreme Court's
"adult-use zoning"
two
cases,
1 ay1
rulings
!~~Eg_~~_~~~Ei£~~_~~Ei=
!~!~!~E~(3)
and
these cases,
the Supreme Court sanctioned the implementation
of
~~~~~_~~_~2~~~gh_~!_~2~~!~Eh~£i~(4).
land use controls by city planning agencies
the
of commercial
expression
these
cases
actions
towards
the
Combat
cannot do to
regulate
regulate
to
establishments.
did not consider the propriety
established guidelines as
and
sex
Zone,
to what city
of
they
In
the
Whil e
BRA's
nevertheless
planning agencies can
the expression of commercial
sex
the conclusions and recommendations
are
establishments.
In
those
Part III.
of
the
responsibility
author who takes
content.
6
for
their
FOOT!'JOTE S
Introduct:ion
1.
"Commercial
sex
trade"
is
defined as
the
group
of
businesses which engage in the sale of sexually explicit
goods
and
services.
These
include
operating
pornographic
movie
theaters and
peep
shows;
selling
pornographic
books and magazines;
operating houses
of
prostitution;
and
estab-lishments
offering live
nude
entertainment,
whether in bars,
cabarets, or theaters.
See:
Arden H. Rathkopf, 1~~_1:~~__ .9i ~£!!i:~.8_~!!~_R1:~!!~iEg
(4th Edition) (New York:
Clark Boardman Company.
Ltd.,
1983),
Chapter
17B.02 "Zoning of Sex
Susinesses."
p.
17B-23.
2.
~£~!~~~l~p~,
3.
427 U. S.
50,
4.
452 U.S.
61,101
Decemter 24.
16 S.Ct.
S.Ct.
2440
2176
1984,
p.
(1976).
(1981).
7
25.
PART I
THE COMBAT ZONE'S HISTORY:
... t
!
B
1880-1984
CHAPTER 1
The Origins of the Combat Zone
A.
The Combat Zone and Its Antecedents:
Years: 1880-1962
Combat
The
urban
renewal
first
Boston'f3
Square.
present location is
Zone's
took
that
place
in Boston in the
and
S qua r e
had a
cultu~al
The
elite.
nation's
the
of
early 1960's.
"adult entertainment district"
1 0 n g and
Scollay
was
and
finest
~eve.E!.
the area was known as a
center for members of the
area
most
filled with
1;.1a6
From
d i v e r s e .11 i s tor y • (2)
the early 1800's to the late 1880's.
llorld's
the product
an area that is now known as Government Center. (1)
S c 011 a y
r(~sort
The Scollay Square
exclusive
city's
some
and
the
of
hotels. (3)
These
whose patrons included the Prince of Wales,
Grand Duke Alexis,
the
United States President Franklin Pierce.
Statesman Daniel Webster. (4)
the
home of famous opera houses and theatres which featured
performances
by
Wilkes.
Charles Kean,
Lola Montez,
Charlotte Cushman.
Cora
-city for
European
patronage.
Junius Brutus
MOW6tt.
E.L.
stars.
Booth.
Davenport.
and the "eminent" Macready. (5)
By the late 1800's. however,
the
was
some of the era's most famous stage
such as Matilda Heron,
John
Scol1ay Square
also
and
the suburbs.
immigrants.
led
the elite's abandonment of
combined with the new influx
to a change in Scollay
Square's
The elite hotels and theaters were replaced
9
of
by
low-rent
lodging
tonk" bars. (6)
World
Second
houses.
burlesque theaters.
These businesses increased as
Wars made Scollay Square
the United States Military.
caused
wars
battle
"was
the First
repair~d
The
filled
with
and
Square
Seal lay
refitted~
going overseas."(B)
before
of
particularly Navy men.(7)
perfect place for the Navy men to go have
a
and
port of call
Charlestown Navy Yard to be
the
ships to be
fling
the
"hanky
and
According
final
a
a
to
Boston
histori.an~
a penny arc.ade.
two
or
three dine-and-dance spots. a bowling alley. a
shooting
gallery,
and
several taverns
with
discreetly dim booths completed the picture of
what
'Jack Ashore' considered the
requisites
for a well spent evening. n (9)
"a burlesque theater.
Navy Men would frequently become drunk and
The
in
street
patrons
make
the
brawls with either
owners.
of Scol1ay Square businesses.
news.
engage
employees.
These brawls
causing the city's well-to--do to label
or
would
Scoliay
Square
the
listed
in any guidebooks:" and "an area bounded on one side
"cross
roads of hell:" "a
by vagrants and grubby bars.
slot
machine arcades.
aroma
of
sauerkraut
the
this
and
steam."(lD)
Journalist Stewart
phenomenon
not
and
and on a third by saloons exuding an
negative
These
given the fact
that many
"local devines" were some of Scollay Square's
customers. (ll)
upon
ground
on another by night clubs
depictions were quite interesting.
of
burial
in
H.
article
his
, \r,_
1,0
Holbrook
about
best
commented
the
Howard
Theatre.
one
of
Scol1ay
Square's most
burlesque
famous
houses:
"No rural yankee in my time. or in my father's
time.
had saen Boston until he had furtively
witnessed a performance at the Old Howard.
It
was the same at Harvard. and graduates of that
university like to relate how the eminent John
Fiske.
the
great philosopher. used to remark
that
the Harvard curriculum included
'Howard
Athenaeum I a
II.
III.
IV.' A similar remark
has
been
attributed by later generations
of
students
to
Charles
Townsend
Copeland.
to
Albert Bushnell Hart. and to practically every
other well known professor except Bliss Perry.
No
sea-faring
man who ever made the Port
of
Boston went away without paying a visit to
34
Howard
Street.
No traveling salesman missed
it,
and theLe is ample reason to believe that
no 0 u t - 0 f - to\o( 1"1 per son miss e d i t e i the r • " ( 1 2 )
During
often
The
its heyday . .
most
society
Watch
that was corrupting
officials
dow n. (14)
"a
to
Often,
take the law into its own hands by raiding
businesses and hauling off the managers and
At first..,
performers
Scollay Square businesses protested
but later realized that "such moral
was good for business."(16)
Police
Ward
the "morals" of Bostonians.
often pressured law enforcement
such harrassment.
and
that Scollay Square was
and shut Scol1ay Square businesses
to jail. (15)
the
Boston's
w~re
Society felt
The
the society would
the
of these
famous
sink of sin"
raid
groups.
the target of small but very vocal anti-vice
Society. (13)
The
the Scol1ay Square businesses were
ones)
it.
The Society's raids
turns
out.
had
the
hubbub
(as well as
unirltended
consequence
customers
~atronizing
the Scol1ay
11
Square
establishments.
This was due to "the lewd
rories that would circulate after
raid regarding the utter depravity going on inside the
each
In short.
businesses."(17)
the Society succeeded in getting
businesses shut down here and there.
the
sex
but
the most
for
part
trade went on undisturbed in Scallay Square
until
the early 1960's.
B.
Scol1ay Square to Lower Washington
From
Street:
The
1960's
early 1960's marked a new era in
The
Boston
Boston.
had a new mayor in John Collins and "Urban ·Renewal" was
of the town.
talk
Authority
was
(BRA)
The newly created Boston
the
Redevelopment
under the directorship of Edwarc
Logue
charged with drafting and implementing plans that would
reverse
Boston's
post World War II
economic
decline. (18)
With the aid of millions of dollars provided by the
government ..
the
to
program
BRA
make
embarked on a
"Boston
massive
center
a
Federal
urban
renewal
commerce
of
and
culture."(19)
Most
of
th~
BRA's efforts were concentrated
in
the
central business district in order to "stimulate large-scale
private
rebuilding,
coffers
of the city.
whites
the
add new tax revenues to the
and halt the exodus
to the suburbs."(20)
Scullay Square.
did not fit
central "business district.
. pI ana.
To the BRA.
.i
';
),r
houses.
middle-class
which abutted
into the
BRA's
Scollay Square was a symbol of Boston's
decline from its glory days. (21)
burlesque
of
dwindling
~he
hanky-tonk bars.
12
area's tattoo parlors.
and low
rent
lodging
houses
had
proposed
no
place in a "world
class"
The
city.
BRA
razing Scollay Square and spending $50 million
transform
the
into
area
a
civic
center
filled
with
government buildings and private office structures. (22)
"Government
project
Project was supposed to be a
would
that
boom. (23),
of a
Center"
spark
a
office
private
to
The
showcase
development
The focus of the master plan was the construction
new Boston city
hall.
designed by
be a striking and dramatic building.
I.M.
Pei
that
"would
surrounded by an eight
acre brick p1aza . "(24)
The
BRA
support.
The liberal
i t would
the
plan because.
and
once
plan
the
to
workers.
poor
and for
were
residents
the plan
all.
Sco11ay
requisition
funds~
would
The
real
destroy
only
Square's
who would be
Despite their opposition.
uprooted.
groups
businesses.
displaced
the BRA "using
took title to every
virt.ually
for
all
the buildings."(27)
Foundations
the new government structures.
The
and
early
building
Square by 1962 and within a matter of months
Scol1ay
laid
the monied interests
and the anti-vice groups supported
in their view.
sex-trade
Boston's
land
because
the plan because it would subsidize private
development:(26)
opposed
political
of
reformers supported the plan
replace a "blighted area;"(25)
supported
estate
plan attracted a cross section
were
in
razed
then
structures
were completed by the end of the 1960's. (28)
The
BRA's Government Center Project
accomplished
its
purpose of destroying Scol1ay Square. but it did not destroy
13
the
adult entertainment market.
closed up permanently.
businesses
others
present day Combat Zone.
relocated
This
residential
to a four
the
only were the rents low.
seven
and
there
middle
upper
class
office
growing
public
explicit
films,
growth of
the area's sex businesses."(31}
magazines.
14
to
the
customers:
short.
loeational advantages,
acceptance in the late 1960's
books,
"because
tourists.
workers.
In
Washington Street·'s "low rents.
England
Thus.
were close to the bulk of their best
and
Chinatown
but the area was only six
blocks from their previous location."(30)
businesses
the
the Boston Common
The businesses relocated
the West. (29)
of
New
the Tufts and
on the east.
area
Center complex on the South.
Medical
not
area's
two block area was bounded by
central business district on the north.
'the
the
of
~ost
area along Lower Washington Street--the site
block
on
Whil~
of
and
Lower
and a
sexually
and clubs assured
the
Footnotes
Chapter 1
1•
Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Study:
2.
Interim Repo"rt.
If
April.
"Entertainment District
1974.
p.
4.
Sco11ay
Square was
named after William
Scol1ay.
a
prominent
late 18th century
Boston
landowner.
See:
George F.
Weston. Jr., ~~~!~~_~~Y~~__ ~ig~_~Y_~EE_~~1~,
(Boston: Beacon Press. 1967). p. 192.
3•
We s ton.
£E._£i!.
4•
West 0 n.
££.:._~i!..
5.
Stewart
I
p.
195.
p.
1 95 •
"Boston I s
Vol. LVII.
H.
Holbrool':.;;
!~~ ~~~!i£~E_~~E~~EY.
pp.
411-416,
reprinted
in
Temple of Burlesque."
No. 144 (April 1944).
Howard Mumford Jones
and
Jones'!~~_~~~l_~£~£~~_~!_~~~~£~~
__ ~
~i!!~Ei~~!~~~!~~!~Z~'
1630-1975
(Boston:
Little,
Bessie
Zaban
1975)
pp.
386-392.
This
source
will
be
hereafter cited as Jones.
The source for this footnote
can be found in Jones, ££~~~!, p. 389.
Brown,
6.
"Hanky tonk" bars were bars where prostitutes tended to
The
new
patrons of Scollay Square
were
referred
to
as
"people
of
notoriety"
by
their
congr~gate.
7•
8.
r s. We s ton.
£.E~£i:.!..
pre dec e s
S 0
tel est 0 n.
£.E~.£i!..
p•
195 •
£.E~£.!~.'
p.
19 6 •
p•
1 95 •
Ibid.
9•
West 0 n.
10.
Jonathan
Kaufman.
"From Scol1ay Square Tattoo Parlors
to Combat Zone Porno Films." !!£!!~!!-.Ql.2~~J December 27,
1984. p. 25.
11.
"Local devines" is the term Stewart H. Holbrook used to
describe the elites.
Jones. ~£~£i! .• p. 387.
12.
Jones. ~E~£!!.' p.
13.
The Society was made up of political conservatives and
religious leaders.
14.
Many·of the activities in Scollay Square.
particularly
prostitution and
burlesque shows were
prohibited by
Massachusetts obscenity laws.
'15 '.
Jon e s. ££~£i!.. p.
387.
387 •
15
£E...:..~i:!..
38 7 •
p.
15 •
Jon e
16..
Ibid.
17.
Ibid.
18.
"From
1950
to
1970.
Boston's population went
from
800.00
to
600.000.
Its
economic
base
eroded
as
manufacturing
firms
moved
south
or
to
suburban
locations.
Its tax base. always narrow because Boston
was
in
city
of such compactness.
declined
in
each
passing year and the property tax rate was raised again
and again to keep the city solvent."
See:
Robert
J.
Ryan.
"Boston Rediscovered. II !!!!~_~!!~!.!.~EB~. Vol.
10.
No.9. September 1979. p. 16-17.
19 •
Ryan.
20.
The BRA's efforts were similar to those being
employed
the time.
See:
Herbert Gans. "The
Failure
of Urban Renewal." in Jewel Bellush and Murray
Hausknecht (editors). gE£~E-B~E~~~!~__ f~~E!~~_~E!i!i£~~
~~~~!~EEiEB.
(New York:
Anchor Books. 1967), p. 465484.
S
I
~.E~.£i:.E..
17 •
p.
by other cities at
21.
According
to former BRA Executive Director Robert
J.
Ryan:
"Scollay Square served as graphic testimony
of
Boston's
decline in the Post War II
era.
Once ... the
location of gracious hotels.
Scollay Square was filled
with
tatoo parlors.
burlesque houses.
and hanky-tonk
bar s
See Ryan.
II •
££~£i!.
p.
££~~i..!.
I
p.
19 •
19.
22.
Ryan,
23.
Ibid.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Liberal.
reformers
as a matter of "liberal
principle"
favored
slum clearance under renewal because it
would
spur
economic
development by creating jobs
and
make
urban
areas
more
"pleasant
looking."
See:
Jewel
Bel1ush and Murray Hauskneckt.
"Urbgn Renewal and
the
Reformer." in Bel1ush. ~~£!.! •• p. 189-197.
26.
Bel1ush.
21 •
Ryan.
£E~£i! .•
p.
imately 40 acres.
28.
These structures were
~£~£!!.
p. 12.
19.
(1)
The area bulldozed was approx-
the new Boston City Hall:
the Twin Federal John F. Kennedy office towers:
the Ssltonstall State House Building.
16
(2)
and (3)
29.
Norman
f"'farcus.
Politics of
,.1;"
I
Obscenity:
Or
the
t10 r a 1
27 Buffalo Law Review 1. 3 (1977).
IIZoning
Porn."
30.
William
Toner.
"Regulating
the
Sex
Businesses,"
~~~Ei~!E_~~£i~!Y_~!_R!~E~iEB_Q!!i£i~!~_B~£~~!_~~~_~~l_
Rl~~~=
i~~~~~i~~!Y_~~E~i£~. November 27.
1977.
p.
7.
The
rents
were low in part because the buildings were
not
in good physical condition.
31.
Toner.
~E~~~! ••
p.
7.
17
Chapter 2
The Development of the Combat Zone
A.
The Combat Zone Threatens
ton Street:
By the early 1970's,
proliferated
"topless bars and cabarets,
along lower Washington Street."(l)
which had been dubbed "The Combat Zone," had
become
Boston's
Eve ry one
it
see me d
couples
raincoats;
suburbanites
check out
new
were
center
- -
for
old,
flocking
into
area.
The
unquestionably
entertainment. (2)
adult
" bus i n e sse x e cut i v· e B
young.
adult
and adult bookstores had
pinball parlors,
theatres,
movie
to Expand Beyond Lower Washing-
1970-1974
married
:
or
old
men
single:
and
daily
the Combat Zone
in
to
the latest in adult entertainment."(3)
Most Bostonians accepted the turn of the events without
many were accepting. apathetic or felt far removed
protest;
from
businesses
the
retail
when
however.
changed"
and
Zone's
Combat
the
the Combat Zone's
Upper
city's neighborhoods.
that were
Chinatown
Street:
Zone
prostitution
sex
locations
Wasington
Street's
the
Back
rated
opening up on
theatre
Hill
Bay
"creeping up" from
Lower
complained
about
residents
that
neighborhood;
had
burgeoning
commercial establishments complained about
and
Washington
Beacon
attitude
This
started to expand into other downtown
Combat Zone's businesses
Combat
activities. (4)
was
spilling
into
residents complained about an
upper
Boylston
Streeti
residents complained about an adult
opened
up near
their
the State
18
House.(5)
xand
bookstore
All
these
groups
feared
neighborhoods
values.
that
by
the
sex businesses wculd
increasing crime
all demanded that
They
and
blight
reducing
their
property
the Combat Zone be kept in
check. (6)
enforcement officials meanwhile were hard
Law
in their attempt to control
the expansion of the Combat Zone
through the use of the State's obscenity laws.
court
decisions
convictions
United
an
had made the task
of
A series of
securing
obscenity
difficult if not impossible to obtain. (7)
States
Miller v.
Supreme
1973
Court's
landmark
ruling
California had been the first blowe (8)
lead
Instead,
to
the
end
commercial
of
sex
The
in
l-1iller was
anti-pornography decision which its supporters
would
pressed
believed
businesses.
the case added more confusion to a body of already
confused obscenity jurisprudence.
In the case.
the Supreme
Court broke with precedent and ruled:
1.
obscene materials could be regulated
by
the
states without showing that the
material
was utterly without redeeming social value~
2.
no one would be subject to prosecution for
the
sale
or
exposure of
obscene
materials
unless
these materials depicted or
described
in a patently offensive way "hard core" sexual
conduct specifically defined by the regulating
state law. as written or construed: and
3.
obscenity was to be determined by applying
"contemporary community standards. n (9)
!:!il!~~~
. "comlilunity
standard" introduced more
than ever in the obscenity area.
19
uncertainty
C' n e 0 f t he res 111 tan t pro b 1 em 5 0 f the dec i s i on
was the question of definillg the 'community'
was
it
the
neighborhood.
city.
judicial
district
or
state
the
allegedly
obscene
f1
material
was
located
in?
Assuming
the
geographic
area of the community was defined,
determination
of
the
standards
of
people
within
the
area became a
further
difficult
task."(lO)
Another
blessing,
Supreme
resultant problem of the
depending upon your point of view)
unconstitutional
requirements.
The
Commonwealth v.
Massachusetts
legislature
would
that
held
without
enacted
statute. (11)
it
Horton
Supreme
sex
that State
laws
with
and
new
Court
in
could
businesses
or
in Boston
the fear of prosecution
a
Miller
Judicial
~~Y!~~!!~!~~
the
unless
constitutional
obscenity
Even if the legislature did enact such a
take months or even years
businesses
(or
the SJC's decision
In 1974.
the Combat Zone and
Massachusetts
was
they did not comply
because
(SJC) was one such court.
in
decision
began declaring their state obscenity
Courts
operate
~i!!~E
1 aw.
any
to shut down
sex
because their activities would first have to
adjudicated obscene. (12)
Massachusetts.
There was talk in the streets
and particularly its capital.
be
t~at
Boston. would
become a "mecca of pornography."(13)
B.
The BRA to the Rescue:
The Containment of the
Comba~
Zone and the 1974 Zoning Ordinance
The'
BRA.
meanwhile.
had
been monitoring the
Combat
Zonels development and expansion with extreme interest.
The
agency
was
had
not
anticipated
the
20
area's
.>irth
and
its expansion would
concerned that
real
estate
development
neighborhoods. (14)
handed down,
Kevin
new
Even before
and
threaten downtown private
blight
the Horton decision had been
obscenity control was a
regulatory approach was needed. (15)
the BRA.
fray
with
city's
BRA Director Robert Kenney had informed
White that
1974.
the
at
the
the Mayor's request.
Mayor
failure and
In the
that a
spring
of
actively entered
the
hope of coming up with the
new
regulatory
approach.
At
first.
Combat
Zone
the
BRA toyed with the idea of razing
i t would use its eminent
-
the
powe rs
domain
to
condemn all
the properties on Lower Washington Street.
them.
then sell them to private real estate developers
at
and
a
reduced
learning
price. (16)
make matters worse. (17)
after
consequences
would
The planners at the agency realized
although they could physically destroy Lower Washing-
that.
they could not destroy the demand for the area's
ton Street.
and
"goods
economic
just
idea
ThE BRA scrapped the
the plan's displacement
that
raz e
services. "
strength
with
their
protectiol"\s.
would
businesses,
neighborhoods.
Hence.
fixture
BRA
the
to the idea that sex entertainment
itself
continue to be a
sex
and new found legal
open up shop in new
"resigned
The
would
efforts
in Boston and confined its
to containing it rather than trying to snuff it out.n(lS)
The . agency
Detroit.
Mi~higan
llad
then looked to other cities for
provided a possible solution.
guidance.
In
adopted a new regulatory approach towards
21
1972.
its
burgeoning
regulate
businesses
sex
them
after years
obscenity
through
it
laws.
i'his
to
innovative
"By focusing on the effects
approach was zoning regulation.
of sex businesses and not
attempting
of
on the content of
products.
their
was possible for Detroit to treat the adult theaters and
adult
bookstores
thus
taking
like any other uses in the
the effective step in
code.
zoning
II
(19)
Detroit had adopted the zoning regulatory approach after
it
commissioned
businesses
noted
a
the
in
on
the
concentration
of
Hence,
dispersed
uses
the
another. (22)
and
congestion.
conditions. (21)
Under
them.
effects
neighborhoods. (20)
such
deteriorating property
traffic
rates,
study
surrounding
on
that
resulted
planning
controlling
of
The
study
businesses
often
values,
higher
depressed
crime
neighborhood
a zoning ordinance was enacted that
and
kept
terms
of
them
the
separate
from
ordinance.
one
no
adult
business could be located within 1000 feet of another
business;
within
furthermore,
feet
500
of a
sex
no
adul
adult business could be located
residential
ares. (23)
The
zoning
ordinance did not censor the activities going on inside
businesses
(as obscenity laws
t
9ttempted to do),
the
but instead
"imposed a ££E~~~~~~!!~!~~ around them as city planners had
once buffered residences from glue factories."(24)
The
but
was
Dispersing
the
Combat 'Zonels sex business into other parts of the city
was
troubled
the
BRA
by
was intrigued by the Detroit scheme
its "dispersal" orientation.
very thing the agency did not want to do. (25)
Even
if
the BRA wanted to disperse the businesses it could not do so
22
because
of
residential
of a
small
Boston's
areas. (26)
dispersal
scheme
would always ahutt a
physical
The practical effect
in Boston would be
residential
and
s iz e
of
that
nUlllt=rou.s
the enactment
a
sex business
area and not be allowed
to
Not finding the IIdispersal" scheme a viable option.
the
operate. (27)
BRA
then
proposal
within
focused
that would contain the operation of
the
StL"eet. (28)
with such a
that
areas
Zone's
Combat
proposal.
unsafe. (29)
streets.
be another good example. (30)
with
a
0
f
containment
proposal
several
combat
demonstrated
sex
businesses
The Combat Zone.
sidewalks.
and
combat
groups.
and
businesses. (32)
zone than improving
business owners on the other hand.
BRA's
concern to upgrade
appeared
to
get
r ow II i mag e. (3 1 )
The
the
aesthetics.
btlSinesc
suspicious of the agency's motives. (33)
of
and
containing
Combat
expressed support for
the area but at
23
downtown
owners
community group leaders were more concerned with
the
with
the area was
Furthermore.
the BRA consulted with
community
zone
of
problems
that would also attempt
"s kid
In drafting its plan.
leaders.
there were
the BRA felt a need to come up
Hence,
the Com bat Z 0 n e ' s
business
that
Wa'shington
Lower
heavy concentrations
with
unsafe late at night.
rid
aware
on
zoning
sex businesses
The Detroit planners had
its dilapidated buildings.
to
borders
The Agency was
to be blighted and
tended
a
its energies on coming up with
the same
Zone
the
time were
In
April.
Supreme
1974.
both
the
of
month
a
Massachusetts
the
obscenity
laws
BRA completed a draft proposal
that
happy. (34)
groups
enactment
same
Court declared the state
Judicial
unconstitutional.
made
the
zoning
agency
The
ordinance
that
proposed
would
the
officially
designate the Combat Zone as the city's "adult entertainment
district." This district would be the only place in the city
where
sex
they
businesses could operate undisturbed as long
did
not
engage
activities. (35)
prostitution
or
sex businesses would
No
beyond
operate
in
illegal
other
alloNed
be
lower Washington Street between
as
to
and
Essex
Kneeland Streets'. (36)
The BRA also proposed measures to get rid of the Combat
Zone's "skid row" image.
over
a
two
in
period to make
year
area
a
celebrated
and Tivoli in Copenhagen. (37)
London.
phase of renewal would
image
the
district similar to the Piccadily Circus
entertainment
Soba
Two million dollars would be spent
b~
The
and
first
to give the Combat Zone a positive
by changing its name to "Liberty Tree Park."(38)
make
sure that the name would "stick," the agency
proposed
the construction of a public park with the same name on
corner
"main
of
Boylston and Essex Streets -- the Combat
entrance"
and
where the actual
Liberty
To
the
Zone's
Tree
once
stood.(39)
The second phase of renewal would be to
repair
the
streets and sidew61ks and
street
area's
1.ighting.(40)
rehabilitate
investment. (41)
The
the
third
area's
phase
provide
of renewal
buildings
new
would
through
The BRA believed that if the oex
be
to
private
business
they were secure in their locations.
owners knew
they would
be more willing to invest in improvements. (42)
June of 1974.
In
the BRA completed its study and went
public with its proposal.
Host of
the public
The
groups
BRA had consulted with were pleased because
the
the
last
Combat
Zone would
be
and
was
favorable.
downtown
business leaders
reaction
contained.
community
Combat
businesses were pleased because they were given long
legitimacy.
after
strange
William
fellows
bed
Barney
Frank
B u c k 1 ey. (43)
F.
Department
thought
the plan would not work.
offended
out
and
Vice's
Squad
of
sought
liberal
conservative
As for the
Police
were
Zone
The plan even drew praise from and made
political
Representative
at
critics.
was
very
State
columnist
Boston
the
skeptical
and
Many members of the Squad
that a bunch of city planners
were
telling
them how to control vice in the city. (44)
Others like State Senator Joseph Timilty. a Kevin White
called
detractor.
the
plan a "multi-million dollar
sham"
whose sale purpose was'to provide ftentertainment for out-oftown
salesmen."(45)
Combat
programs
Combat
of
the
Zone and allocation of the proposed renewal funds to
designed to upgrade the city's
~!!.!.!£!!--!!~!.!!~
Timilty
Timilty called for the razing
and
neighborhoods. (46)
Columnist Corneli'us Dalton agreed
urged
that "a small bomb be
with
dropped
on
with
the
Zone" to keep it from causing any more problems. (47)
Surp~i$inglrenough.
,f.
the Boston City Council, which had some
notable
Day
outspoken members like Louise
Hicks,
offered
very little comment on the BRA plan. (48)
Having
BRA's
to
weathered
the storm of
worried
At first
appeared to becoming true.
because
believed
it
"immorality."(49)
The
Center (Tufts).
South
"would
fears
The first
was
BRA
second
was the
Tufts-New
Tufts bordered the Combat Zone
to
on
Tufts'
patients, visitors, and students who had to
that
to get
to
the
legitimizing the Combat
facility."(SO)
Zone's
status
multiply the area's problems with respect to
safety
and
education if its staff and patients were
come
there.n(Sl)
plan
was the Sack Theater Chain
reluctant
(!he~~£~).
The Sack
-------
had
erotica.
to
perpetuated."(52)
be
and
merchants
removed
Despite
to
the
was
It called the Combat Zone
playground" and "a maligancy comprised
proBtitut~s.
care
The third group to come out against
plan's most vocal opponent.
growth
plan
England
threaten the facility's ability to deliver health
"Satan's
was
legitimizing
and
the
three
It was opposed to the
the
walk through the area each day
argued
was
opponents
the BRA's worst
and felt that the area "was a threat
6500 employees,
Tufts
the BRA
During the summer of 1974,
Christian Science Church.
the
Commission
plan's
groups came out against the plan.
powerful
Medical
but
organized drive by the
an
that
Approval was likely,
would delay its enactment.
the
reaction,
next hurdle was getting the Boston Zoning
enact the plan.
the
public
and
the
of
of immorality
not
confined
moralistic
pimps,
whose
and
rhetoric.
!~=_E~~~~!
real opposition to the plan stemmed from economic
It was no secret that
self-interest. (53)
many
stolen
had
theaters"
and
customers
The Sack
away
fel t
the
from
that
8
the Combat
Zone
"legitimate
legitimized
8dult
entertainment district would take more customers away."(54)
Despite the opposition of the Christian Science Church,
the organized drive against
Tufts.
the BRA's plan never came to pass.
the
busing
school
crisis
began
As the summer rolled on,
dominate
to
the
media
headlines and Bostonians began to worry about whether a race
war
was
going to break out in
Commission
the
streets.
expressed
testified
Zoning
at
Those who
their support or opposition to the
the hearings and left. (55)
In
November.
Commission officially approved the BRA plan
entirety. (56)
Zoning
its hearings on the BRA plan without
held
noise or fanfare in the month of September.
already
The
In
so doing.
the Commission
very
in
much
had
plan
the
its
quietly
created Boston's first official adult entertainment district
-
"Liberty Tree Park.
II
"7
Footnotes
Chapter 2
1.
Norman Marcus, "Zoning Obscenity: or the Moral Politics
of Porn." 27 Buffalo Law Review 1. 3 (1977).
2.
yet
unclear to this day.
Some say the area was given that
name
in deference to the Navy men who had been the sex
businesses'
best customers when they were
located
in
Sco11ay
Square.
Others
say the area was given
that
name
because of the infamous street brawls that
would
take place once in a while between patrons. owners. and
employees
of
the
sex businesses.
See:
Jonathan
Kaufman,
"From Scollay Square Tattoo Parlors to Combat
Zone Porno Films." !!£!!~.!!_Q!~E!. December 27. 1984. p.
25 •
3.
One
of
the most interesting stories of the time
came
out
of the suburban town
of
Andover.
Massachusetts.
The Boston Globe reported in an April 28.
1974 article
that-i-group-of-Andover residents had rented tour buses
to
take
them to Boston's Combat Zone in order to
see
£eei_!~!£!!'
one of the most popular x-rated films
of
the early 1970's.
See:
"Porno Ruling Loosens up the
Combat Zone." ~~!!~~~!~~~. April 28, 1974. p. 60.
4.
Residents
in other American cities
had
the
same
attitude towards their own sex businesses.
See:
W.
Cody Wilson.
"Law Enforcement Officers' Perceptions of
The
area was dubbed "the Combat Zone" for
Pornography
as
a Social Issue" 29 Journal
Iss u e s. NO.3. p. 48 (1 973 ) •
reasons
of
Social
"Entertainment District
1974. p. 25. (Hereafter
5•
Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Study:
Interim Report." April.
cited as "BRA 1974 Report")
6.
Ibid.
7.
The
early
1970's was
a
period
of
new
obscenity
definitions
and
the period when there was 8
"growing
recognition
of the inability of judges to
distinguish
what was obscene from what was not."
Marcus,
£.E.~.!!.'
p. 1.
8.
413 U.S.
9.
93 S.Ct. at 2616.
15~
93 S.Ct.
2607
(1973).
28
1U.
Arden H.
Rathkopf. 1~~_~!~-~!_~~E~E&_~~~_R1~~EiEB (4th
Edition)
1983).
(New
York:
Clark
Boardman
Company.
LTD.,
Chapter 17B.02 "Zoning of Sex Businesses."
p.
17 B-a n. 14.
l~. E.
11•
365 M a B s.
12•
Rat h k 0 P f. ~.E.~.£.!!.. p.
13.
"Porno Ruling Loosens Up the Zone." ~£!!~.!!_g!~E~. April
26. 1974. pe 1.
14.
BRA 1974 Report,
15.
Ibid.
16.
Originally
the BRA's Park Plaza Urban Renewal
Project
which was on the Combat Zone's western border.
had
called
for the ra~ing of all the properties
on Lower
Washington
Street.
As
explained in
the
text.
BRA
officials changed their minds when they realized
that
the plan would not destroy the sex trade but
displace
it
into
other parts of the city.
See liBRA Seeks
to
Change
Combat
Zone's Image." ~£!.!£E_Q!~~~t June
7,
1974. p. 3.
17.
Ibid.
18.
James
Sterba.
npornagraphy
Fight Lags Across
Nation." !!~_!~!~_!~~!!. November 26, 1974. p. 24.
19.
William
164.
3 10
Toner,
1 7 B- 8.
25.
p.
2 d 3 16
(1 97 4) •
not e 1 3 •
27.
"Regulating
the
Sex
the
Businesses,"
~~!!~~!~-!~~~!!I_~!_f!~~~!Ea_2!!!£!~!!_!~~~!!-B~~_1~Z
No.
327, Nov.
4, 1977, p.
~!~E~iEB_~~~i~~!r E~!~iE!'
1-2.
20.
Ibid.
21.
Toner.
22.
Ibid.
23.
Toner.
24.
Norman Marcus,
£E.~£!.! ••
p.
~£~£i! ••
p. 3.
2.
~£~£!!~.
p.
28-29. According to Marcus:
"Zoning
regulations
have
historically
been
designed
to prevent harm. eg.
by
separating
incompatible uses, by limiting the density and
scale
of
neighborhoods.
by
prohibiting or
restricting development when public
services
are unavailable,
and by protecting. adjoining
parcels
from invasion of their light and air.
It
was not until 1926 that the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance was tested by the
29
"Supreme
Court.
In
a
landmark
decizio-n.
~i!!~~!_£!~~E!i~_~~_~~E!~!_~~~!!Y~~~~~~Yr
272
u.s.
365
(1926).
the
Supre~e
Court
val ida ted
a com pre hen s i " e Z 0 n i n g
p 1 an.
l' h e
Court's
holding
was
narrow.
However
the
general
test of a zoning ordinance
suggested
ll
the
court is still instructive. Before
a
zoning
ordinance can be
decalared
unconstitional.
its
provisions
must be shown to
be
clearly arbitrary and unreasonable,
having no
substantial
relation
to the
public
health,
safety, morals. or general welfare .. "
by
The
can s t i t uti 0 n ali t y 0 f De t r 0 i tis Za II ~. n g
s c hem e
was
upheld
by the United States Supreme Court in !£~~a
v.
American Mini-Theaters,
427 U.S.
50,
96 S.Ct.
2440
(1976):the !£~~B ruling in Chapter 5.
we-will-explore
25.
Richard Hudson.
"Combat Zone Plan:
Shrink
It,
BRA
would like to surround the Area." !!2.~.!~~_~!~.E~, August
22.
1977,
p.
6.
26.
Ibid.
27.
Ibid.
28.
Marcus.
29.
See notes 19-23.
30.
BRA 1974 Report.
31.
Toner,
32.
represented by
the Boston
Retail Trade Board;
the community groups were from the
Back Bay,
Beacon
Hill.
Bay Village,
and
Chinatown
neighborhoods which abutted the Combat Zone;
and
the
Combat
Zone businesses were
represented by
Debra
Beckerman -- the area's "public relations" person.
See
"Zoning
Niche
Could
Protect
the
Combat
Zone."
~~!~£~_Q!£~~, September 8. 1974. p. 52.
33.
The Comlat Zone business owners were suspicious because
of
the
legitimate manner the BRA was going about
its
business.
Up until that point, the business owners had
been
of the opinion that the only way to get
anything
from
the Government WSA through
graft.
See:
David
O'Brian.
"Banned
In Boston Again?" !£!!£!!_f!!~!!!i:~.
July 5. 1977, Pol 6.
34.
BRA 1974 Report.
The
~~~~i!
.•
~E~.£i:! ••
business
p.
3.
p.
9-12.
p.
2.
leaders were
~2~£!!.
30
The
BRA
said that it made sense to create
the
adult
entertainment District
in the Combat Zone's
location
because
(1)
a
majority
of
the city's
sex
businesses
were located there;
and (2) containing the
businesses
in
a compact area would make policing them easier
and
avoid
their spread into other areas of the city.
BRA
1974
36.
Report~
p.
26.
Interestingly
enough.
the proposed ordinance made
no
mention
of the words "sex business"
or
"pornographic
business
establishment."
The BRA had deliberately not
used
these words in order to avoid a
possible
court
fight over how these words were defined.
Instead
the
agency referred to the businesses in question as "adult
uses"
by emphasizing the "adults-only"
characteristic
of
virtually
all
x-rated
movie
theaters,
adult
bookstores,
peep shows.
and strip cluQs.
It defined
"adult use" as an establishment which
"is
customarily
not
open
to
the
puLlic
generally
but only to one or more clas~es of
the public,
excluding any minor by reason
of
age."
See Toner.
££~£i:.!.,
p.
11.
37.
!~~_~~~!~~_fi!~_~~£~!~_~~!!~£i~!_~E~~~~E~!_E!_~~E!£~=
~!!!.!!~.
Va 1 •
66. No. 25 ( J un e 25. 1 97 4), p. 399;
and
"BRA seeks
to change the Combat
Zone's
Image,"
Boston Globe. June 7. 1974. p. 3.
The Piccadily Circus
and-Soho-In-London,
England, and Tivoli in Copenhagen,
Denmark were and still are internationally famous adult
entertainment
districts.
These
districts
are
sanctioned
by
the
English
and
Danish
national
governments a are popular tourist spots for American and
European
travellers,
and
enjoy reputations as
being
safe
neighborhoods
albeit
characterized
by
sex
businesses.
BRA
officials
concluded
that
these
districts were safe and attractive to tourists
because
the districts were well maintained by local governments
and well
patrolled
by
local
Police
forces.
BRA
officials
believed that if these conditions existed in
the Combat Zone.
the Zone would also be another world
famous adult entertainment districtr
38.
BRA 1974 Report.
39.
The "Liberty Tree" was the name of a tree that had been
a symbol
of the American Revolution.
It was at
the
Liberty
Tree "that
the first act
of
resistance
to
British rule over the American colonies took place
- a
protest
against
imposition
of the Stamp Act
on
the
Massachusetts Bay Colony by the British Parliament.
On
August 14.
1765. Andrew Oliver. the Stamp Officer and
third highest crown official in the colony was hung
in
£.!.!
p.
29.
31
/"
II e f fig Y
fro I:l a bra n c hot t. h eLi b e r t y T r e e •
a g a ins t
the
S tam pAc t w ,:1 S S 0
g rea t
t hat
wealthy
merchant
publicly
resigned
his
The out cry
01 i v e r •
a
office
at
ceremonies
under the tree attended by Sons of
Liberty
and other citizens.
The Liberty Tree which had become
a
symbol
of
revolt WAS chopped down
by
a
gang
of
Tories.
who were
encouraged
by
British
officials.
After
the Revolution,
a "Liberty Pole" was erected on
the
stump of the old elm."
See:
Cornelius
Dalton,
"The Worst Possible Solution," Boston Herald, September
9,
1974,
p.
29.
It
is not -;-;;liy~l~-;~-why the BRA
wanted
to
rename the area "Liberty Tree
Park. 1t
One
possible
explanation
is
that the
BRA succombed
to
"Bicentenial fever": it was during this time the nation
started
to
prepare
for
the
200th
anniversary
celebration of the American Revolution to take place in
1976.
40.
The BRA 1974 Report.
p.
29.
41.
The BRA 1974 Report.
p.
31.
42.
The Boston City Record.
43.
Before
£E~£i!
.• p. 399.
being elected to the United States Congress
in
1980, Barney Frank first served as an advisor to Boston
Hayor Kevin White and then later represented
Boston's
Beacon
Hill
and
Back
Bay neighborhoods
in
the
Massachusetts
House
of Representatives.
As a
state
legislator.
Frank
often
advocated
for
the
decriminalization
of
prostitution
and
pornography.
Frank
believed
that commercial sex
businesses
would
always exist and that it was a waste of law enforcement
time to prosecute them.
William Buckley was also
for
pragmatic approaches towards commercial sex businesses,
albeit
not
for the same reasons Frank
was.
Buckley
explained why in an article written shortly after
the
BRA released its proposal:
"The
Boston
Experiment should
be
indulged.
The
Anti-obscenity
people should keep
quite
about it. and their counterparts should accept
a
little
self
restraint
and
see
how
it
works ••• In the u.s. we are given to pragmatic
solutions
and it is generally agreed that for
instance in certain areas in Harlem.
peaceful
bookmakers
are not going to be
disturbed
by
the
police.
"though
they would
be
if
they
started
to
practice
their
wares openly
on
Madison Avenue."
See':
Buckley. "Boston's Newest Arrangement With Sin."
June 21. 1974, p. 52.
!~~!~~_Q!~~~.
32
44.
See
the comments of Deputy Police Superintendent John
Doyle
in
"BRA seeks to Change Combat
Zone's
Image."
~~!!£~ ~!~~!I June 7. 1974. p. 3.
45.
"Combat Zone Plan Called Sham." !!~~!~E_!!~!~!~. June aD
1974,
p.
4.
Timilty often clashed with Mayor
Kevin
White
on many
facets
of
urban
policy.
Timilty
unsuccessfully
challenged White for Mayor in 1975
and
1979.
46.
Ibid.
47.
Cornelius Dalton.
"The r~ame Change Won't Help. II ~£!!~!!
!!!!!!~. J un e 10. 197 4. P • 1 5 •
0 a 1 ton was 81 sao u t rag e d
the
BRA was going to desecrate
a
Revolutionary
War
Symbol
by
re-naming
the Combat
Zone
"Liberty
Tree
Park."
See:
Dalton,
"The Worst Possible Solution,"
~~!~~~~~!!!~, September 9. 1974
p. 29.
1
48.
The only comment that came out of the City Council was
in July
of
1974 when City Council
President
Gerald
O'Leary called for City Council hearings to assess
the
"BRA's
plan
to
legitimize
the
'strip and
gyp'
establishments in the Combat Zone."
The hearings never
took place.
See:
£~~!!~iEa~_~i_!E~_~~~!~E_~!~Y_f~~E~
cil-1974,
July
29.
1974,
p.
476.
There
are
two
explanations for lack of city council comment:
One.
most
of
the
council members,
especially
the
outspoken Louise Day Hicks were pre-occupied with
the
school busing crisis.
Two, the city council could not
really
do anything even if it wanted to.
The Boston
City
Council
has been labeled "worse
than
a
rubber
stamp.
because at
least
a rubber
stamp leaves
an
impression."
Comments of Robert F. Wagner. Jr •• former
Deputy
Mayor of New York and Harvard Fellow-Institute
of
Politics,
John F.
Kennedy School of Government.
Harvard
Univesity.
April
1984.
(Mr.
Wagner
also
referred
to New
York's
city
council
as
another
possible
example).
49.
See:
Ian
Menzies,
"BRA Right to (;ontain the
Zone." ~~!~!!-21~E~. October 17, 1974. p. 18.
50.
"Tufts
to
Fight
Combat
10.
Zone
Plan."
Combat
~~!~~.!!.-B!.!!!~.
September 10. 1974. p.
l:
51.
Ibid.
52.
"Sack Theatres Oppose Combat Zone Plan."
Se·ptember 11.1974. p.
12.
33
!~~!~B~!E!!~.
53.
54.
The Sack was
-_--=::_-_.deb a u c her y
g
Theatres"
was
8
term
the BRA
used
to
movie theaters that did not show pornagrClphic
ilLegitimate
describe
films.
55.
qUi~k to rant and rave above the
i n g 0 n i nth e Com bat Z 0 neb u t \.; H S
alleged
r ('?! t- 1) e r
silent
about the explicit sex and violence in Gome
of
its uRn rated features like tiThe Godfather.
Part I nnd
II" and "Death Wish. 1I
0
Those who testified in favor of the plan were:
1.
BRA Director Robert Kenney
2.
State Rep. Barney Frank
3.
Debra Beckerman.
Businesses
4.
Daniel J. Ahern.
Director of the Back Bay Civic Association
5.
Peter Chan. Director
Chinatown City Hall
6.
Stuart Robbins. Manager
Beacon Hill City Hall
7.
Frank Bronstein.
President of-the Retail Board of Trade
Spokesman for the Combat Zone
Those who testified against the plan were
~ac~_~b~~!~E~
1.
attorneys for the
2~
attorneys for Tufts-New England Medical Center
3•
representatives
from
Don Bosco High
school located near Tufts).
Sou r c e :
Jan ice
E11 i
0
t t •
" BRA I s
Pro p 0 sal
City's Combat Zone is Blasted. Defended,
September 12. 1974, p. 4.
56.
School
II
When the Combat Zone was officially zoned
toe 0
11
t cl
i
Ii
!!£E._~~~_.Ql:.~!!~.
8S
t11e"city's
adult
entertainment District.
few people at the
time
rea 1 i zed
w hat
a
val u a b 1 e pie ceo f
rea 1
est ate
t II (~
Combat Zone would become in the
early
1980's.
~e~:
Jonathan Kaufman.
"From Scollay Square Tattoo Parlorn
to Combat Zone Porno Films." Boston Globe, DecembeT." 27.
1984. p. 25.
We will explore-thIs-Issue-in Chapter 30
CHAPTER 3
Th. D.cline of the Combat Zone
A.
The Rise and Fall of Liberty Tree Park:
Once
the
BRA's proposal became
challenge
for
the
agency
1975-1976
reality.
8
up
was living
to
the
its
goals.
the businesses on Lower Washington Street
Containing
not be a
problem;
further
growth.
next
would
the zoning laws would effectively prohibit
On the other hand.
upgrading the
Combat
Zone and making it a safe neighborhood were real challenges.
Initially.
smoothly.
In
controls.
hundred
the
BRA's
1975,
early
proposals
the
BRA
were
implemented
enacted
upgraded streets and sidewalks.
tough
sign
and invested two
fifty thousand dollars to build "Liberty Tree Park"
on the corner of Boylston and Essex Streets. (1)
However.
major stumbling block occurred when the BRA proposed a
whereby
Combat
interiors
store
owners
would
New facades.
At first
willingly complied with the BRA proposal:
the
long
run
few
renovations
frustrated
by
the
slow
pressur'ing
the
~fforts.(3)
the
private
interior lighting and space design
for by the plans.
called
plan
renovate
and exteriors of their buildings through
investment.
were
Zone
a
were
progress.
store owners to step
the store
nevertheless.
made. (2)
was
up
owners
The
unsuccessful
their
in
BRA.
in
renovation
The agency and the store owners began engaging
35
in heated exchanges.
in
faith
bad
renovations.
by
reneging
renovations.
on
the
BRA
for
lack
to
promises
of
act i
make
on the
progress
I1S
other
on
the
The owners claimed that the BRA PI'oposals were
They also claimed they had
unreasonable and expensive.
objections
their
of
cw~ers
Combat Zone store owners.
The
blamed
hand.
The BRA accused the
to
making
renovations
but
the
BHA
no
did
not
understand "that such ventures cost a lot of money and could
not occur overnight."(4)
became
so
intense
Hostilities between the two groups
that the BRA boycotted
the
June
1975
dedication ceremonies for Liberty Tree Park. (5)
Given these difficulties.
1975
- not
enacted
-
it was obvious by the fall
even one year after the zoning scheme had
that
the BRA was not going to meet its
totally renovating the Combat Zone by the end of
the long run.
of
been
goal
1976.
of
In
the construction of Liberty Tree Park was the
only major physical change in the area. (6)
The
BRA's
goal
of
making the
neighborhood was doomed from the start.
insisted
that
responsibility
the
Police
Combat
Safety
advice.
Zone
Initially.
would
be
nor
would
it
;-...:
'~,'
.
.,
to
safe
the BRA
the
monitor
This abdication of responsibility
police may have been the BRA's biggest blunder.
failed
a
sole
the agency would not provide
of the Police:
with
performanceo(7)
Zone
Combat
acknowledge that the Boston Police
36
police
to
the
The agency
Department's
internal
police
divisions
could
not
were so serious at this time
possibly be
develop
8
in
Combat Zone.
the
expected
that
independently
to
consistent management plan for controlling
effectiveness
more
Nowhere was this failure
apparent·
than
in
the
th~
of
crime
Pol ic e
Department~s
handling of Combat Zone" prostitution.
The pro b 1 ems wit h pro s tit lJ t ion con t r 01
Kevin
White's
beg a n wit h May 0 r
surprise midnight "undercover tour"
Combat Zone in February.
1975.
It was
the
of
an election year.
and
the
Mayor wanted to show Bostonians he was concerned
the
Combat Zone's activities. (8)
zoning
scheme
had
been in effect for several months and the Mayor
wanted
to
The BRA'B
see for himself how things were working out.
and his entourage.
had drinks with strippers and
in the clubs.
time,"
tour.
The Mayor
which included several deputy mayors and
members of the press corps.
proposi~ioned
about
visited several strip clubs and
thei~
patrons.
The Mayor was
several times by prostitutes that were working
Although he declined their offers for "s good
At the end
of
the
White told the press corps that he had had "fun"
and
White
enjoyed their company.
said:
idea of a city has room for these places.
I don't condone everything that goes on here.
but
if
they don't disturb the
theaters
or
residential
areas.
what harm
are
they
"My
doing?"(9)
Hence
the
Mayor by his words and actions told
the
Department to go easy on Combat Zone prostitution.
37
Police
Many in
the
Police
Mayor.
were all too happy
led
faction.
DiGrazid.
DiGrazia
concentrate
second
District
on
I
Police
Commissioner
not deserving of
prosecution. (10)
uf
problems. (11)
A
led by the commanders and officers of
the
other
Combat
law
Zone
enforcement
were delighted by
the
Mayor's
The Combat Zone was in District I's service area and
its officers had accepted
prositituti.on
impending
violations
was
represented
BRA
Jordan.
for
owners
(and
future
The third
Police
of
attitude
faction
by a group of vice officers led by
Superintendent
Joseph M.
ignoring
the Mayor's
interpreted as "business as usual."
Police
for
and tipping off store
To District I.
raids.(12)
bribes
was
Deputy
Commissioner)
This group despised the Combat Zone and
having legitimized it.(13)
Jordan
and
his
went along with the Hayor'& policy because in their
cohorts
demisc.(14)
They
the Mayor's kind words for prostitutes
would
it would lead to the Combat Zore's
view
Robert
and
ignore
Police station,
years
the
the
prostitution
to
faction"
views.
by
allegedly sent out a directive telling members
Department
for
oblige
privately agreed with the Mayor that prostitution
a victimle'ls crime.
the
to
albeit for different reasons.
One
was
Department
believed
that
dramatically
increase
Combat Zone prostitution.
which
turn would lead to an increase in street crime in the
in
area.
"The "Vice" faction was apparently correct.
Once
Combat
'.
~
..
~
rumor spread that
Zone.
the
prostitutio~
was allowed in the
number of prostitutes in the
38
area
rose
dramatically. (15)
Prostitution was no longer
discreetly inside Combat Zone businesses.
streets. (16)
Competition
.... .,
prostitutes
prostitutes
did not take in enough money to
they
resorted
to
became
II
satisfy
for
crime
street
on
but openly on the
prostitutes began fighting over "johns.
stiff. ,that
pimps.
between
I
carried
so
When
their
additional
Many robbed their "johns" at gun or knife point:
funds. (17)
others travelled in packs and began mugging passerbys on the
streets;
still others developed the "Fondle and Pick Pocket"
scam to steal wallets. (18)
most
arrested.
encouraged
away with their
got
perceived
widely
Although a few prostitutes
indifference
crimes.
street
on the part of
the
and
this proliferation of prostitution
were
The
police
related
criminal activity. (19)
the fall of 1976.
By
the Combat Zone was known as "an
attractive and lucrative tenderloin district for prostitutes
and
their
consorts."(20)
DiGrazia.
Commissioner
failure
whose POll
refused
~es
especially
Police ..
heavily criticized for
Zone
had contributed to the Combat
officials.
were
doing
the
best
their
DiGrazia.
prostitution.
'rne
problems.
to shoulder any responsibility and instead
police
the
were
control Combat
t~
The
claimed
could. (21)
they
BRA
meanwhile. watched from the sidelines. wondering
whether their "adult entertainment district" was a failure.
In
·,e~ded
November of 1976.
the
Park. (22)
release
j'
Combat
The
Zone's
first
three incidents
brief
was Police
tenure
occurred
aa
Commissioner
of a 572 page report by his Special
39
Liberty
which
Tree
DiGrazia's
Investigations
(SIU)
Unit
Station.
on
The
and
prostitution
the
took
the
corruption
in
activities. (23)
monitoring
from
and
pimps,
prostitutes,
Police
widespread
Combat
The SIU Report also
precinct's commanding officers
bribes
r
District
report documented the precinct's
incompetence
how
the activities of
Zone
detailed
footpatrolmen
and
Combat
Zone
business owners in exchange for not bringing charges against
them. (24)
The
second event was DiGrazia's resignation and
that
"save
face"
Jordan
plan
DiGrazia had released the
and
priorities
SIU
report
to
appointment
of
in the Mayor's opinion.
was a failure.(25)
highest
subsequent
that White's
indicated that.
Many
Jordan to succeed him.
White's selection of Joseph M.
speculated
Mayor
BRA's
the
Jordan made clear that one of
would
be
"cleaning
the
up"
his
Combat
Zone. (26)
The
third
incident
was the
Combat
Harvard football player Andrew Puopolo. (27)
tragic
Zone
victim of the "Fondle and Picket-Pocket"
to
the Combat Zone with several of
teammates
to
see
Naked I.
The
~!~!~-l
the
strip
tease
of
Puopolo was the
gone
had
murder
scam.
his
performances
He
Harvard
at
was the highlight of an evening
the
that
had
included dining at Harvard Club to celebrate the end of
the
football
performances
season.
Puopolo
at the Naked I
on
Washington
his
friends
until closing time at
On th,eir way back to their cars.
prostitutes
and
2
8..
m••
they encountered a group of
and
40
watched
Boylston
Streets
who
propositioned
them.
The prostitutes were turned down.
their solicitations by
persisted
in
youths.
In the process, one of the prostitutes was able to
wallet
his
was
missing.
he accused
stealing
it and demanded it back.
stealing
it
Lurking
and
prostitutes'
the
shadows were nine men who
"muscle men"
in the scam.
prostitutes
on
street.
as
served
the
During
attacking
wallet
the
Puopolo was stabbed in the
the scuffle.
the
appeared
When it
back,
out and began
of
denied
the
Puopolo and his friends were going to get the
ran
the
discovered
that
men
of
The prostitutes
a loud argument erupted
the
in
several
When the pick-pocketted youth
a wallet.
steal
fondling
but
youths.
heart:
he
died one month later after lapsing into a coma.
After
headlines.
Puopolo's
violent attack.
it became apparent
which made
national
to the BRA that its two
year
mission to make the Combat Zone "respectable" was a failure.
The agency then began to ponder ways
to eradicate the Combat
Zone.
B.
The
BRA's New Game Plan:
The Gradual Eviction of the
Combat Zone from Lower Washington Street: 1977-1984
After
Andrew
Puopolo's
attack~
Police
Commissioner
Jordan
held a news conference to declare thRt he "would
longer
tolerate prostitution.
crimes
in
District
crackdown
~ r
I'"
Attorney's
on
office.
other
liquor violations and
the Combat Zone."(28)
In conjunction
Jordan launched
the
with
the
biggest
Combat Zone crime in recent memory.(29)
41
no
The
crackdown consisted of increased Police presence in the area
with
coupled
a
bureaucratic
By
licenses.(30)
early
1977.
crackdown
Jordan
on
had
liquor
succeeded
in
permanently closing four of the thirty sex businesses in the
However.
district.(31)
as the year
progressed.
Jordan's
crusade began to slow down for a number of reasons.
In
the
first place.
the media's attention
upon
the
issue was relatively short.
As time went by.
Puopolo's death diminished.
and business began to .return to
normal in the Combat Zone.
The Police.
public scrutiny,
to
Combat
Zone
dockets
prosecution
Zone
crowded
businesses
by
city
that
as
by vice
cases
In
court
discouraged
many
addition.
challenges
violations.(34)
prosecute
court complaints
launched a counter offensive
bringing
constitutional
Secondly.
the Police. (33)
by
no longer subjected
had decreased motivation to
crime. (32)
over
publicity over
Finally.
about
further
Combat
against
for
the
alleged
Jordan
realized
the Police could never rid the city of the Combat Zone
long as i t was protected by the zoning laws
created
by
the BRA.
The
BRA
in the meantime began reviewing two
measures to get rid of the Combat Zone.
~~
BRA officials first
considered repealing the 1974 zoning ordinance.
which would
effectively
shield. (35)
However.
•
possible
take away the Combat Zone's zoning
the agency rejected this plan
concluding that such
I
a
the
repeal would only encourage sex businsses to relocate
downtown
business
district
42
and
the
to
city's
neighborhoods. (36)
repealing
adult
the
The
other
proposal
considered
creating
1974 zoning ordinance and
entertainment district somewhere else in
plan was also rejected because it would not
the
Combat
problems
but
another
Boston. (37)
This
Zone's
~as
eliminate
them
concentrate
just
someplace else. (38)
Faced
BRA
with
initially
these impractical planning
concluded that it would not be
eradicate the Combat Zone.
note
of
solutions.
However.
possible
thp
Combat
right in the middle of the downtown real estate
In
just
location
to
the agency quickly took
an interesting phenomenon:
boom. (39)
the
a. short number of
years.
Zone
was
development
Combat
the
become
"a
critical junction in the city's commercial spine because
it
Zone's
was
the
district
link
and
Center."(40)
location.
increasing
between the Upper Washington
the
more
formal
Back
and
Bay
Prudential
prime
"the Combat Zone was being prodded and tugged
development pressures from all
by
directions."(41)
the $130 million Lafayette Place development -
250.000 square feet of retail space and 500 room hotel
was abo u t
to bee 0 n s
t
rue ted.
0 nth e
Sou t h •
the
'1' u f t
England Medical Center was planning to build a new
wing
on
retail
Street
There was evidence that because of its
On the North.
with
on Lower Washington Street had
and a $20 million.
13.000 square foot
the corner of Kneeland and Washington
east.
s -
New
hospital
research center
Streets:
On
the
Chinatown's Economic Development Council had plans to
pur c has e Com bat Z 0 n ere a l' est ate for the s pee i fie pur p 0 G e
evicting the sex businesses operating there.
43
0
f
Finally. on the
west.
the
BRA's Park Plaza Hotel
construction
600.000
of
square
way.(42)
The
pressures
along
extend
further
development
feet
the
of
space were
concluded that
building
to
about
outskirts of the
get
under
would
from which other private developers
would
into
because
the
Zone."(43)
the
Combat
the
Combat
this
intense
demise
seemed
Once
Zone's
sex businesses "would
floor space,
and would be forced
stiff
face
from conventional businesses for scarce
competition
with
development
these
all
the
Zone
began.
inevitable
along with
a new State transportation
BRA
anchors
"become
Project,
ground
to pay considerably higher
rents in order to stay in operation."(44)
"Furthermore,
keeping the 1974 zoning ordinance in effect.
by
the evicted sex
would be forced to re-locate outside the city if
businesses
they wanted to stay in business. (45)
The BRA realized
would
not
that this "gradual eviction
process"
begin until the development projects around
Combat Zone neared completion in the early 1980's. (46)
the
The
agency resolved in the meantime to do everything it could to
encourage
the
downtown redevelopment
boom's
encroachment
into the Combat Zone.(47)
2.
Th!_~~!!i~S_f~E!~~1-1~Z2~12~l
Between 1979 and 1983. several interesting developments
occurred
Combat
which
Zone.
boosted the BRA's hopes
During this period.
status
,,1'
r
as
the
primary market for
44
eliminate
although the number
Combat Zone businesses remained stable.
its
to
the
of
the Combat Zone lost
sexual
goods
and
services. (48)
A
combination of technological
in
changes
adult entertainment and a tremendous growLh in suburban
businesses
caused
the Combat Zone's patronage
sex
sharply
to
decline.
In
the
1979.
recorder
introduction
of
in the consumer market
(VCR)
the
and
pornographic
fa r
view ing
Combat
suburbanites
alike
in the privacy of their own homes
"respectable"
or
To many
rent
tapes,
instead
of
people watching
a
cheaper,
and
than watching it in the Combat Zone. (50)
x-
tape
sales and
quickly that by 1983.
the
purchase
to
sex film at home was more convenient,
video
The VCR enabled both
films which were pre-recorded on video
ZonE: movie theaters. (49)
rated
cassette
revolutionalized both
adult and conventional entertainment.
Bostonians
video
rentals
safer.
increasing
were
so
commentators had begun concluding that
place to watch pornographic films was not in the Combat
Zone.
but "at home.
on a
television set connected to a video
machine."(51)
Also
began
during
establishments.
businesses
opened
communities. (52)
such
a
cities
the
rapid
up
From
in
1977
least
at
Zone
Combat
the
experiencing major compeitition from
entertainment
areas
that four year period.
suburban
to
12
adult
1983.
sex
suburban
At one point. the growth was proceeding at
rate that the
State
legislature
empo~ered
and towns to use zoning laws to sharply restrict
the
Most
of
where adult uses could legally operate.(S3)
businesses
quietly opened up
45
in
Peabody.
Peabody's
location
for
on Route 128 made it a popular rest spot each
commuters
businesses.
coming
however.
home
from
were
work
in
Boston.
warmly received
not
areas. particularly in Chelsea and Stoughton.
working
class suburb north of Boston.
angered
by
1980. (54)
The
explicit
about
the
nature
Parkway Plaza Adult
residents
were
day
Sex
in
other
In ·Chelsea.
many residents
opposed
of the cinema's movies
to
and
were
opening
Cinema's
a
in
the
sexually
were
worried
The theater was
the theater's blighting influences.
the site of many demonstrations where residents chanted.
"No
Combat Zones in Chelseal"(55)
the
Over a three year period.
laws
theater was convicted 18 times for violating obscenity
but continued to remain open. (56)
In
Stoughton.
produced
Bookstore"
When
obscenity
town
bookstore.
"quarantine"
the
Square
1983 arrival of the "Times
much heated controversy
prosecutions
selectmen
failed
to
and
shut
enacted a zoning
protest.
the
down
ordinance
the establishment from the rest of
the
to
town.
According to a town official:
"We figured the stuff would stay in the Combat
Zone.
but what happened in Stoughton made us
pretty
nervous.
It meant a store like
that
can come in anywhere."(S7)
While
interest
increase.
,
:.,-
i_~,:~:~:""f~i,.
,
.:..
Combat Zone patronage was
in
declining.
developer
land in and around the Combat Zone was on
By 1982.
the
the Lafayette Place. Park Plaza Hotel.
46
and
State
Transportation
completed. (58)
develop
space
Building
more scarce.
business
nearly
the price of downtown
began to sky-rocket. (59)
land
were
As the amount of available downtown land
became
cheaper
projects
values
district
The Combat Zone.
and close proximity
appeared
to
office
with
the
its
central
place
to be an attractive
to
for
development activity.
Major
land speculation began in
the area.
soon
after
City Councillor Raymond Flynn was elected Mayor of Boston in
1983.
Flynn had run on a "pro-neighborhood plank." and was
BRA
of
critical
downtown
redevelopment
neighborhoods. (60)
did
at
'Flynn.
to dismantle
not want
which
policies
the
he
claimed
expense
however.
of
made
the downtown
emphasized
city's
the
it clear that he
redevelopment
but just spread its "riches" to the neighborhoods.
supported
Flynn's
He also
the BRA's attempts to get rid of the Combat Zone.
opposition to
the Combat Zone
support
within
"the concept
the confines of a
city government."(61)
genuine
concern
Combat Zone.
to
that
pornography
geographic
from
stemmed in part
his personal dislike of commercial sex businesses.
not
boom
area
He
did
should be allowed
and sanctioned
from
his
for the groups that were saddled with
the
He felt
His opposition also
that
the Chinese community
the promises
in 1974 to win
stemmed
by
that had been
made
its support for
the
adult entertainment zoning ordinance had been broken and the
community
had
neighbor. (62)
been
forced to share space
with
a
unruly
He was also worried about people who had
47
to
walk through the area each day.
including students like his
son who went
to Don Bosco High School
or
hospital
visited
to
pleased
see
redevelopment
Zone.
patients
that
in
at
and
people who
Flynn
Tufts.(63)
years.
recent
worked
was
downtown
the
boom was threatening to eliminate the
Combat
He resolved to do everything in his power as Mayor to
which
activities of the
these
encourage
development
community.
lIeliminate the elements of the porno
would
business
from Lower Washington Street."(64)
early 1984.
In
to the development community.
known
no
lengths
Zone.
U
then
in Boston" and that "he would
place
(65)
Flynn and his new BRA Director.
with several developers
their efforts
encourage
publicized
highly
representatives
had
great
to
go
Combat
to inform them
both
Flynn and
city
Coyle
from the Swiss-Air Corporation.
the
that
to redevelop the area.(66)
case,
Coyle
Stephen
Zone aid not have a future and that the
Combat
districts
stifle or stymie its development in the
to
met
issue
In a series of public
Flynn said that "adult entertainment
statements,
had
the
Flynn made his position on
would
In
met
one
with
Swiss-Air
expressed an interest in building a 500 room
hotel
at
Lafayette Place but was hedging because of the Combat Zone's
pr·oximity. (67)
that
they
because
the
Flynn and Coyle told
did
not
city
have
was
the Swiss-Air Officials
to worry about
going
to
According to the Mayor:
48
"clean
the
the
Combat
Zone
ares
up.tv
liAs
soon
feelings.
as
I
they
negotiations
told
them
(Swiss-Air)
immediately
went
and finalized
the
deal
to
my
into
build
the Lafayette Swiss Hotel."(68)
The Mayor's and BRA Director Coyle's actions apparently
encouraged
other
embarking
occurred
In the first
abutted
Street.
the
building
a
seven
Combat Zone. (69)
Zone
transaction. Bass Brothers,
to
spent $12 million
Corporation.
Washington
in
Combat
which resulted in the eviction of six Combat
Texas
sector
interested
five multi-million dollar land transactions
adult businesses.
a
developers
estate
on development projects in and around the
In 1984.
Zone.
real
story
office
Bass
began
purchase
building
600
which
the
renovating
for the purpose of renting office space to service
businesses.
Parking
In the second transaction.
Corporation
spent $1.5 million for
All
two
Right
buildings
housing pornographic theaters located across the street from
The Corporation evicted the theaters
the Bass building. (70)
and
announced
either
a
its plans
to raze the
parking garage or office tower.(71)
transaction.
the
BRA
and
build
In the
third
buildings
and the Chinese Economic Development
Council finalized plans for a $12 million China Trade Center
which
the
would occupy
Combat
four
sex
businesses
including !he §.!!.y!! ~!.!.E.2~!.
most famous strip bars.
Company.
a
heart
and
Boston
Real
operating
one of
the
In the fourth transaction.
estate firm renovated
49
of
Boylston
Following the announcement of the project,
evicted
b~ilding.'
seven story building in the
Zone -- the corner of Washington
Streets. (72)
Council
8
an
in
the
the
Zone's
Hunneman
office
building
and began renting office space to downtown
Zone
at
at 120 Tremont Street on the fringe of the
$19 per square foot.(74)
Combat
businesses
This rental fee was four times
greater than the previous $5 per square foot but was
than
cheaper
office space in "fancier" downtown
such as 60 State Street.
buildings
In the last transaction. Covenant
a New York based relgious and charitable organization
House.
sold
$12-13
the
Hotel Avery to Developer Barry
million.(75)
~1offman
$1.5
for
Hoffman then made plans to convert the
hotel
into office condominiums.
By
were
the end of 1984.
being
ful1fil1ed
i t appeared
that
wishes
Mayor's
year
and that the BRA's seven
old
Many began
gradual eviction plan had been set into motion.
concluding that the Combat Zone was a thing of the past
and
soon be transformed into a new center for office
and
would
retail
t:urn
the
yearls
events was JUBt a coincidence and that the
Combat
development. (76)
of
Zone would survive. (77)
correct.
would
there
cont~nue
Others believed that
Regardless of which observation was
was no doubt that Mayor Flynn and
the
their war against the Combat Zone. (78)
50
BRA
Footnotes
Chapter 3
1.
2.
William
Toner.
the
Erogenous
September 1977.
David
t he
There
ic
43.
D
O'Brian.
Upg r <ide
and
"United States Cities Face Combat
Zone. "
fl an.!!3:.!!.8.
No.
8
Vol.
p. 18.
"Banned
Comb a t
in Boston
Zone Rave Been
Plenty
is
T~~_~~!~~~_~E~~~~!.
of
Blame
Vol. 6. No.
Again?
an
Plans
Ut t e r
to
Go
27. July 5.
to
F.a i 1 u re
Around.
1977. p.
1I
6.
(hereafter cited "O'Brian I")
3.
4.
Ibid.
George
McKinnon.
~~~!£~_~!£~~. June
5.
Ibid.
6•
David
"City
Will Snub
11. 1975. p. 23.
O'Brian.
7.
Dedication,"
Separate
Peace
of
Sort."
NO. 28. July 11. 1978. p. 8 •
"A
~~~!£~_~~~~~~~. Vol.
Park
7.
Redevelopment
Authority.
"Boston's'
Entertainment District." January. 1976. p. 3.
Boston
Adult
The BRA justified its position on the grounds that.
as
a
planning agency.
it should only concern itself with
improving
the
Combat
Zone's
physical
and
visual
environment.
and that what went on inside and
outside
Combat Zone buildings was the concern of the police.
8.
Comments
of
former Boston Police Commissioner
DiGrazia
(1972-1977)
"Combat
Zone
as reported
Cleanup
~~!!~~~!~~~. Dec~mber
Poses
in
Its
29. 1984. p.
Joan
Own
Robert
Vennochi.
Questions."
2.
9.
John B.
Wood.
"Boston Mayor White Visits the
Zone." ~~!~~~!~~~. February 9. 1975. p. 12.
10.
Vennochi.
11.
Ibid.
12.
O'Brian I I ~~£~! •• p. 12; John Kifner. "Boston Combat
Zone
Becomes
Target
of
Police
Crackdown."
Ne~_Y~~~-!!~~~. December 4. 1976. p. 10.
13.
O'Brian I.
~~i!
••
~~~!!
••
p.
2i
O'Brian I.
p. 12.
51
~~~£!!
•• p.
Combat
12.
14.
Ibid.
15.
Barbara Milman.
"New Rules for the Oldest
Should
We
Change Our Prostitution Laws?"
Profession:
3
llarvard
Women's Law Journal 1. 54 (1980).
16.
Ibid.
17.
Ibid.
18 •
sid e d by" musc 1 e men· I
h ire d by
pimps
to
beat up any "john," mugging
or
pick-pocket
victim
that protested having their
valuables
stolen.
See:
Alexander
Harves,
Jr..
nllarvard
Athlete
is
Stabbed
After
Combat
Zone
Melee,"
!!.9.!.E~.!!_Q!.~~~.
November 17, 1976. p. 22.
19•
0 ' B ria n I,
~E~£.!~,
20.
Editorial.
~~!~~~_~1~E~.
21.
DiGrazia
claims he was "tough" on the Combat Zone
but
"institutional
weaknesses
in
the
Police
Department
The
pro s tit ute s
w ere
p~
12 •
November 19.
1976,
p.
22
caused police officers to turn the other way at illegal
activities in
2.
the Zone."
See:
Vennochi,
~E~.~i:!.1
p.
~£~~~!.
22.
See:
23" •
Ibid.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Ibid.
26.
Ibid.
27•
H a r v e s.
28.
Paul Feeney and Peter Mancusi, "Police Officials Say Xrated
Zone
Idea Fails,"
~~!l~~.-Q!£E~.
November
30.
1976. p. 1.
29.
Ibid.
)'0.
ihid.
State
Liquor
laws prohibited the
serving
of
liqucr
in
establishments
that
engaged
in
illegal
activities.
It
was
thought that the
revocation
or
Kifner.
£.E.~ c i ! .•
p•
1I
22 •
denial of liquor licenses to Atrip bars could put these
establ~~hments out of business.
,.
r
r
31",
Daniel Aherl1 D "The Combat Zone Is Moving North.
September 2. 1977. p. 9.
~~~!!~.
3 2,. ~ , Milman.
~.2~.£!!.
p.
54 •
52
n
Bo!!~.!!
33.
Vennochi. ~£~~i! .• p.
34.
Ibid.
35.
Richard
Hudson.
"Combat Zone Plan:
Shrink
It:
BRA
would like to surround the Ares." ~~!~E~!~E~. August
22. 1977. p. 6.
36.
Ibid.
37.
Ibid.
Some of
the
sites
the
BRA had considered
creating an adult entertainment district area were:
2.
1.
North Station:
2.
the "Leather District" near South Stationi
3.
The Fort
4.
o~e
of
Point Channel Area: and
the Islands
~£~.£!!.. p •
in Boston Harbor
38•
H u d son.
6.
39.
Boston
Redevelopment
Authorityo
"Lower
Wsshir.gton
Street Area Program for Revitalization." JUlie. 1978. p.
3 (hereafter cited BRA 1978 Report).
The boom had been
sparked by
the BRA's urban renewal
policies of
the
1960's and early 1970's.
See:
Robert Ryan.
"Boston
ReDiscovered,"
~!!~f~!.!!.!~.s~.
September. 1979. p. 19.
Vol.
10.
No.9.
40.
BRA 1978 Report. p. 3.
41.
Ibid.
42.
Ibid.
43.
Hudson. ~~~~!! .•
44.
Comments of BRA Director Robert Walsh.
as reported in
Anthony J.
Yudis.
"Nutrition Center at
Combat Zone
Border," ~£!!~~~!~~~, January 20. 1978. p. 3: and BRA
1978 Report. p. 19.
45.
This
was
because under the 1974 zoning law
the
only
the
place
one
could
operate a sex business
was
in
p. 6.
Combat Zonel
46.
BRA 1978 Report,
p.
19.
47.
BRA 1978 Report.
p.
20.
53
48.
Between
1979 and 1983 the number of sex businesses
the
Combat
Zone
remained between
25
and
27.
"Boston's Adult District."
Boston Globe.
February
1983. p. 60.
------------
in
See
13 ,
49.
The video cassettes were available at dozens of outlets
in Boston and in the duburbs.
See: "Home Viewing of Xrated
Tapes
Popularizes 'Adult Fare'." Boston Globe,
February 14,
1985, p. 1.
Nationwide 25% t~-50%-of-6Il
pre-recorded
video cassettes sold were
pronographic~
See:
Alan Weinstein,
"Regulating Pornography:
Recent
Legal Trends," ~~.!!~_.!!~!_.!E~_~~EiE.B_~.!.8.~~!' Vol. 34, No.
2 (1982). p. 8-9.
51.
!£f~.
Nationwide,
commercial
sex
establishments,
especially movie theatres,
were experiencing a decline
in business.
This
decline in business
prompted
Al
Goldstein,
a
nationally
known "sex entrepeneaur"
to
say:
"I'd hate at this moment to be the owner of
a
pornographic
theater.
Their
obsolence
is
inevitable.
Some people say I'm a doomsayer.
but
I think the technology
speaks.
X-rated
films
should never have been seen in theaters
anyway. It's
o.k. to see a horror film
in
a
theater.
but
the point of a porno film is to
turn
you on.
and a porno theater
isn't
the
best place for that.
The ideal context is the
home."
Weinstein. ~E~~i! ••
52.
p.
8-9.
Colin
Nickerson.
"Massachusetts
Communities
Usi.ng
Zoning Laws to Restrict Porn." !!~2.!~~_Q!£E~. March 19.
1984. p.
17.
The suburban commercial sex trade had its
roots in the 1977 Police raids on the Combat Zone.
The
four
strip bars that were shut down in those raids reopened
in Peabody.
a suburban town along
Route
128.
See:
~~~!~~ ~E~£~!.' p. 9.
53.
Nickerson e
54.
,,"Chelsea's
Meeting."
55.
"Chelsea's
~E~£i!
.• p.
Mayor
15.
Walks
!~st~!!-.Q!.E!!~.
Theater
~~!!~~-.Q!~~~. October
Out
April 4.
Again is
23.
1983.
,\
1,
54
Stormy
Fair
1982. p. 26.
on
Target of
p. 36.
Share
Protestors,"
56.
~~.=~~~_~!~~~.
levied
February
14,
1983.
p.
1.
The penalties
at the theater's owners were usually fines
that
were factored in the cost of doing business.
£E~.£.!.!.,
57 •
Ni eke r son,
58.
Jonathan
Kaufman,
"Real
Estate
Development
Boom
Threatens 'Adult Entertainment', ~ost~~_Q!~~~, December
27, 1984. p. 24.
59.
Ibid.
60.
Mayor Kevin White decided not to seek a
5th
Mayor citing "personal reasons."
Flynn
ran
against Melvin King.
another political progressive and
the first black candidate to wind up as a finalist in a
Boston Mayoral election campaign.
In
p.
17 •
1983.
term
as
.5?E~£i!.
61•
Ve n n a chi,
62.
Steve Curwood.
"Flynn to Push Campaign Against
City's
Combat Zone." ~£!.!£~_Q!~~!. November 23. 1984. p. 36.
63.
Ibid.
64.
David
Farel1,
Boston Globe.
section):---
I
p.
2.
"Ray
Flynn's War on the Combat
December
23.
1984.
p.
A21
d. .£.E.~ ~.!!.. p.
Zone."
(Focus
65 •
C u rw 0
66.
Ibid.
67.
Ibid.
68.
Ibid.
69.
600
Washington Street's value had tripled since
1981.
In
that year.
Massachusetts developer
Sidney
Covich
purchased
the
property for $4
million
dollars.
As
developer interest in the Combat Zone increased, so did
its property values.
See:
Kaufman, £~~£i! .• p. 1.
70.
Kaufman. ~~~£!! .•
71.
Ibid.
72.
Ibid.
73.
Ibid.
74.
Ibid.
75.
Covenant
$600.000.
0
House
p.
36 •
24.
purchased
55
the
hotel
in
1982
for
76.
Kaufman. £~~£i!., p.
77.
Ibid.
78 •
Far r e 11 •
~£~~!.E..
p. A2 1 ( Foe U sSe c t ion) •
No d a t a is
yet
a v ail a b 1 e t 0 d e t e r min e i f t 11 e r a teo f 1 9 8 4
Com bat
Zone
land
speculations
continued
on
into
1985.
However.
there are indications that the Combat
Zone's
image is beginning to be transformed from a "commercial
sex center" to a "commercial development center."
See:
"Trade
Center Marks 'Beginning of New Chinatown':
$12
million
Project
24.
Symoblizes
the Waning
Combat Zone." !!£~.!~.!!_Q.!.~~~. January
56
Hold
12.1986,
of
p.
44.
the
PART II
ANALYZING THE COMBAT ZONEIS HISTORY
57
Introductory Note to Part II
In Part I.
we saw how the BRA has been instrumental
the Combat Zone's creation.
next
topic
there
BRA's
and decline.
of study is analyzing the BRA's actions
the time period described.
Are
legitimation.
theories
The
during
The question is rather
or models which can help
simple:
explain
policies towards the Combat Zone and its
1n
the
predecessor
Scollay Square1
As
a
stud1nt of both urban
constitutionality of urban public policy.
two
models for discussion.
policies
as
an
analyzes
and
gentrification.
the author offers
Chapter 4 analyzes
~he
according to a madel which categorizes the
"agent
the
categorizes
in the gentrification process."
BRA's
policies according to
the agency as "s regulator of
rights."
57a
the
a
BRA's
agency
Chapter
model
First
5
which
Amendment
CHAPTER 4
The Gentrification Hodel:
The BRA 8S an Alent in the Gentrification Process
A.
Introduction
Gentrification
(1) has been the cornerstone of American
city
planning since the Post World War II era.(2)
late
1940's to the late 1960's.
the
Federal
From the
government's
renewal program provided city planning sgencies
urban
billions
domain
with
of dollars in federal aid and the power of eminent
condemn
to
and
buildings.
developers
at
a
neighborhoods.
lower-class
re-sell
the
cleared
reduced
price.(3)
land
raze
to
Urban
private
was
renewal
intended
to ftstimulate large-scale private rebuilding.
new
revenues to the dwindling coffers of
tax
revitalize
their
Federal
programs
such as
the
exodus
In the 1970's
Urban
add
cities.
the
and halt the
whites to the suburbs."(4)
middle-class
1980's.
downtown areas.
the
of
and
Development
city
planning
agencies with "public funds to attract real estate
develop-
Action
ment
in.
Grant
Program
(UDAG) have provided
and persuade private businesses to move
into.
remain
and expand within the city."(S)
While
there are sharp disagreements over the merits of
gentrific~tion
agreement
and its impact on the poor.
regarding
played in the process.
there is general
the role city planning
As illustrated below.
58
agencies
three
have
noted
planners
urban
Herbert Gans,
- but
-- Chester
Hartman.
Rayman
and
of gentrif
Lion
George
disagree over the propriety
all agree that city planning agencies have served
"agents
in the gentrification process."(6)
In their
as
view.
all city planning policy is motivated by a desire to further
the gentrification process.
BRA's
actions
towards
Hence.
they might analyze the
Scol1ay Square and the Combat Zone in
with a model which focuses on the BRA's role
accordance
in
furthering Boston's gentrification process.
B.
The Possible Analyses of Hartman.
How might Hartman.
actions
towards
Hartman.
fication.
elite
Combat Zone?
Marxist and ardent
work
Hartman
opponent
of
gentri-
all
believes
city
planning
against lower class interests because
dominated by economic elites and assist the
their entreprenurial
and
the
might view the BRA's actions as the furthering of
interests.
agencies
are
a
and Gans
Raymond and Gans describe the BRA's
Scol1ay Square and
as
Raymond.
elites
supports
and infrastructure
facilitate the functioning of the private market."(7)
include
supports"
infxastructure improvements.
furnishing
in
activities by establishing groundrules.
providing the necessary
"necessary
"they
to
These
municipal
"making
taking land by eminent domain.
central direction and guidelines.
and providing
the financial incentives to guarantee investments by private
developers.
razing
of
nCB)
Hartman
Scollay
might thus categorize
Square as a
59
"land
grab"
the
BRA's
intended
to
facilitate
Boston's
gentrification process by
private downtown office development boom.(9)
sparking
a
He might label
the BRA's legitimation and containment of the Combat Zone as
a
measure
designed
solely to protect property
elite neighborhoods,
"commercial
sex
values
not an innovative measure to
establishments. (10)
regulate
he
And lastly.
view the BRA's Combat Zone gradual eviction plan as
"land
grab"
another
intended
source
to provide the economic
of cheap real estate
when
in
might
another
E'lite
other
with
downtown
properties become too expensive. (11)
Raymond.
take
a
ardent supporter of genLrification
an
diametrically opposite view. (12)
argue that
First.
the BRA's actions did not hurt
might
he
the lower
might
classes
because commercial sex establishments were the target of BRA
did
suffer.
Square
plight
progress.
Boston's
the
he might argue that if the lower classes
Second,
policies.
as
He
was a small price
might view the razing
Government
middle
stimulate
Center Project sparked a
classes,
Likewise,
legitimation
and
of
Scol1ay
boom
land.
and restore Boston's
civic
might
of
praise
of the Combat
prevented
BRA's
the
Zone
on
commercial
the
sex
from spreading into the city's downtown area
inhibiting
Furthermore,
development
downtown
Raymond
policy
that
bring back the upper
better use
containment
the
that
establishm"ents
and
make
private investments.
pride.(13)
grounds
for
pay
one of the BRA's best decisions by arguing
which helped B ""ton collect more taxes,
and
to
he
much needed
might
real
estate
development. (14)
argue that the BRA is justified
60
in
getting
made
rid
of
the Combat Zone because
"respectable"
and is
a
the area cannot
"blighting influence"
in
be
the
middle of the city's downtown development boom. (15)
If
Hartman and Raymond made
would be distorting reality.
these analyses,
on the other hand. might
Gans.
analysis which might
they both
offer
an
First.
Gans might dispute Hartman's contention that all city
these
are dominated by
distortions.
planning
agency
elites.
Although Gans believes that economic elites have a
powerful
decisions
expose
the
of urban policy.
input in the development
economic
he
does
not believe the elites are always united or that they always
get
they want. (16)
what
1974
zoning scheme as a
that
the
opposed
plan
by
split
Gans might
perfect example.
the elites.
and
cross section of the
a
refer to the BRA's
thus
might
He
was
S 11
Boston
argue
P P 0 r ted
Community. (17)
Further he might contend that the BRA failed to achieve
for
goals
businesses
"Liberty
faill1re
owners'
about
naivete'
Tree
the
Park"
to
problems
because
of
renovate and
at
and
agency's
Police
Boston
the
Zone
Combat
the
its
Department. (18)
Secondly.
Gans
might neither agree with Hartman
'gentrification is always a bad thing(19) nor might he
with
should
Gans
Raymond
be
vie~.
buildings
residential
:'~.
.'
that
a city
to further
the
for
use
planner's
sole
the gentrification
replacement
business.
of old
is accepted as a proper
61
agree
responsibility
process.(20)
In
by
new
neighborhoods
institutionai
that
or
higher
function
value
of
the
but
authorities
monetary
words.
condemns
the
of
planning
to provide new low-income housing
or
adequate
compensation
for
those
evicted. (21)
In
Gans might support Raymond's contention that
agencies
strong
the
he
failure
government.
should
help gentrify
issue with Raymond's
cities~
but he
planning
would
take
implicit view that the needs of
poor should be forgotten or sacrificed in the
Hence.
other
process.
Gans might criticize the BRA for not have taken into
account
the
needs of the poor when the agency
decided
Scollay Square and later to transform the Combat
raze
Zone
into a new center for downtown real estate development.
might
for
contend that these plans solely
the
guaranteed
to
He
benefits
middle and upper classes while providing none
fer
the poor.
c.
Conclusion
If
best
of
analysis
Gans offered the above analysis.
the possible
might
gentrification
both point out
"conspiracy oriented" model(22)
nature
of
Raymond's
it would
be
explanations.
the weaknesses in
value
neutral
Gans'
Hartman's
and expose the value
allegedly
the
laiden
"economic
efficiency" model. (23)
The
fication
next
chapter will explore how the
activities
BRA's
make the agency a regulator
Amendment Speech rights.
62
gentriof
First
Footno~es
Chapter 4
1.
"Gentrification"
is
the process of middle
and
upper
class resettlement of the city.
See:
Deborah Auger.'
liThe
Politics
of
Revitalization
in
Gentrifying
Neighborhoods:
The
Case of Boston' s South
End. II' 45
Journal of the American Planning Association 515 (1979)
2.
Some
would contend gentrification has always been
the
cornerstone of American city planning.
According to M.
Christine Boyer. city planners have always been "caught
up
in
serving
the capitalist system's
need
for
an
ordered
and efficient setting for obt':aining
profits."
See: Boyer. !!E~.!!~i:!!.8_!~~_~~!i~~~.!._fi:~Yi_!.h~_!1Y!E~.!
~~!Ei~~~_E~!r_~!~~~i~~. (Cambridge: MIT Press. 1983).
3.
Herbert
Gans.
liThe
Failure
of
Urban
Renewal:
A
Critique
and
Some
Proposals." in Jewel
Bel1ush
and
Mu r ray
Ha u sk ne c h t •
(e d ito r s).
!!.!E.~E_~~.!!~~~!i._~~~.E!~.!.
Politics. and Plannins.
(New
York:
Anchor Books.
1967T:--p:--46S--(hereafter cited Gans in Bel1ush and
Hausknecht. ££~£i!.)
4.
5.
!bi~~
The displaced slum dt1211ers were supposed to be
relocated in "decent.
safe.
and sanitary" housing but
no
more
than 20% of the $3 billion of
federal
urban
renewal funds received. by cities in toe late 1950 l s and
1960's were earmarked for projects
to
improve
the
living
accomodations of lower income
families.
See:
Bellush ~and Hausknecht • .2~.£..!! •• p. 373.
~eter
Wo! f,
1an~.-!E_~~~!i:.£.!1..-!!~
__ ~~!~~..!._!L~~.!.~!!~
(New York:
Pantheon Press.
1981),
p.349.
Boston's Copley Place Project is a case in point.
The
Developers
of
the
$500
mil-lion
project.
Urban
Development
Investment Corporation.
received an $18.8
million UDAG grant to build:
f£!!.!!~!.
-
2 luxury
hotel~
with accomodations of almost
2000 roomSi
-
a commercial office building with 845.000
square feet of office space: and
-
a
ret~il
building to be occupied by the NeimanMarcus Department Store Chain.
See:
~obert Guenther. "Two Projects in Central Boston
Aim for High-Ticket Shoppers." !!!.!!_~!E~~!_d~~E!!.!!.
April 13. 1983, p. 29.
63
6.
An
"agent"
is a force facilitating a certain
result.
See
definition
of
"agent"
in
Webster's
Third
New
International
Dictionary
(Unabridged)
(Springfield.
Mass.: G&CMerriam Company. 1961).
7.
Chester
(New
Hartman.
The Transformation of San Francisco.
Rowman-and Aii~~h;ld-p~bli;he;;~-1984)~-p.
Jersey:
320.
Hartman's
conclusions
are based on his study
of
San
Francisco's gentrification process.
Hartman
conte~\ds
that
San
Francisco's development history since
Wor~~d
War II:
"has been overwhelmingly dominated by business
interests,
those in the position to reap
the
largest
profits from the
development.
They
have
controlled
and
peopled
the
city's
government
at
all
levels.
They
have
established
their
own planning and
wat=hdog
mechanisms and agencies.
and ftlnded others to
ensure
the
kind
of
future
they
want."
(Hartman. ~£~£!! .• p. 319).
Hartman
contends
that
"wllat
has
happened
in
San
Francisco can and should serve as a guide for analyzing
the forces at work elsewhere."
(Hartman,
~~.Ei:!. ••
p.
326).
8•
Hart man. £~i!.. p.
9.
As noted in Chapter 1. the goal of the BRA's government
center
project was
development boomo
15.
to spark a private downtown
office
10.
He
might
contend that BRA saddled the
working
class
Chinatown
community with the Combat Zone.
but
spared
the elites in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill.
11.
To
prove his point.
Hartman might use SPO Franciscols
Yerba
Buena Project as an example.
Yerba Buena is
a
multi-mil1io~
dollar office development
project
that
was
built
in a low income area because (in
Hartman's
view) property values there were lower than most
other
parts of the city's downtown.
12.
Raymond believes that:
"cities
classes.
deprived
of 't'heir upper
and
middle
and thus composed of the poor. would
inevitably entail a
serious deterioration in
64
"the quality of our entire civilization. since
it is the cities.
not the suburbs,
that have
always
carried
and
llurtured
this
precious,
complex heritage."
See:
George
M.
Raymond.
"Urban
Rerlewal:
Controversy,"
in Bellush and
Hausknecht.
£E~~i~., p. 491.
(hereafter cited Raymond, in
Bellush and Hausknecht, ££~£!!.)
Gans,
in
Bel1ush
and
Hausknecht,
£E~~!.! ••
p.
469
commenting
on
city
planners
reflecting
Raymond's
attitudes.
People
like Raymond claim the poor a~e an
economic drain on the nation's cities.
He sympathizes
for
their plight but "will not sacrifice the city
for
them."
(See:
Raymond,
in Bellush
and
Hausknecht,
£E.~~i~ •
P•
4 9 1) •
Fur the r m0 r e ,
he
bel i eve s i n the
IItrickle
down
theory".
namely the belief
that
good
economic
climates
for
the
elites will
result
in
increased
benefits to the poor such S'S jobs and better
housing.
13.
L'
14.
See Chapter
2 wher~
one of the BRA's
reasons
for
containing
the Combat Zone was to prevent
its
spread
into the city's downtown.
15 •
Raymond might
that it is inefficient
to have
argue
unproductive
the middle
of
development
land
in
activity.
16.
Evidence of Gans· belief that the elites do not control
the
system can be deduced from Gan's criticisms of the
Federal Urban Renewal Program.
While criticizing
the
Program for failing to cater to the needs of the Lower
classes.
Gans nevertheless recommended working within
the establishment politico-socio-economic order to:
"transform (urban renewsl) from a program of
slum clearance and rehabilitation into a
program of urban rehousing." See:
Gans, in
Bel1ush and Hausknecht. 2~~~!!.' p. 472.)
17.
See Chapter
2 where the BRA's
zoning
proposal was
supported
and opposed by
liberal
and
conservative
politici6:1s,
members
of the business
establishments.
and
representatives
from working
class
and
elite
neighborhoods.
18.
As for the Combat Zone's decline,
Gans might argue the
area
would
have shrunk anyway because
of
the
technological changes in adult entertainment and the
growth of suburban commercial sex establishments.
".
",
"I,.
65
19.
Gans
is a proponent of "economic integration."
He has
gone
on· record
as
praising
mixed
income
housing
developments.
(See:
Gans. in Bellush and Hausknecht,
~£~~!! .•
p.
474 where Gans praises a New York housing
program which "put low- and middle income people in the
same middle-income project with the former getting the
same apartments at smaller rentals.")
20.
response to Raymond in Gans,
"Urban Renewal:
Controversy." in Bellush and
Hausknecht.
£p.~.£!! ...
p.
See Gans'
497-504.
21.
Matthew
Edel commenting on city planners
holding
the
views
of Herbert Gans.
in "Urban Renewal and Land Use
Conflicts." 3 The Review of Radical Political Economics
76 (1971).
22.
Hartman
would
deny
his
analysis
is
oriented."
In
his
study
on
San
gentrification process, Hartman writes:
"conspiracy
Francisco's
much of private sector planning and
manipulation are done out of public view.
it
would be incorrect to describe the transformation of San Francisco as a larger-scale secret
conspiracy.
Rather.
its
an
influence
of
powerful
public
and
private sector actors
operating
in
their
class
and
personal
in t ere s t s ••• II
( Hart man.
~~.£!!.. p. 3 1 9) •
"although
But in the same breath. Hartman says:
"as
to
be
expected the
golden
rule
often
explains ~he outcome - those who have the gold
get
to make the rules.
In an economic
and
political system which relies so centrally
on
private market forces to initiate
investment
and
create economic
activity.
the
large
corporations
and
their plans appear
as
the
only game in town:
their decisions on whether
and where
to
invest
become
the
reference
point.
Their decisions create or destroy jobs
and
the city's
tax base.
The
private
investment community thus comes to be seen
as
performing functions in the public interest."
(Hartman. ££~£!! .•
p.
320)
66
23.
Raymond
would
deny being insensitive
to
the needs
of
the poor:
instead he would claim it is the critics
of
gentri-fication policy who are insensitive.
He
would
claim
that while the critics are well motivated.
nevertheless aid and abet slumlords who desire to
the
status
quo.
Hausknecht. ~E~~~! ••
I';"
I'
See
Raymond.
p. 489-490.
67
in
Bellush
they
keep
and
CHAPTER 5
The Constitutional Law Model:
The BRA
A.
Regulator of First Amendment Speech Rights
Introduction
The
Zone
.1 8
BRA's gentrification policies involving the Combat
have
also
made
the
Amendment Speech rights.
policies
agency
a
The agency,
regulator
of
First
through its land use
has controlled the "expression" of commercial
sex
establishments by determining where these establishments can
operate
in
the city. (1)
States Supreme Court.
sanctioned
planning
As discussed
below.
the
United
in tl-'O "adult-use zoning" cases,
has
city
the implementation of land use controls by
agencies to regulate the expression of
sex establishments.
commercial
While these cases did not consider the
they
propriety of the BRA's actions towards the Combat Zone,
nevertheless established guidelines as to what city planning
agencies
can
and cannot do to regulate the
commercial sex establishments.
support
the
expression
of
It is clear these guidelines
of
constitutionality
the
creating and legitimizing the Combat Zone.
BRa's
actions
However,
in
these
same guidelines may call into question the constitutionality
of
the BRA's present intent to gradually evict Combat
businesses
through
redevelopment
Washington Street.
68
activities
on
Zone
Lower
B.
The
!£~~&
The
Case
Supreme Court first sanctioned the
land use controls by city planning agencies to
of
the
expression
Court's
of
of commercial sex
landmark
.!~!!. (2)
establishments.
in
growth
ordinance
the Court upheld the constitutionality
of commercial sex
had
the
decision
!~~!!,g.
In
-Q~ulate
Detroit's attempts to use zoning regulations to
the
businesses. (3)
challenged by
been
("American Theaters").
on
implementation
control
The
American
zoning
Mini-Theaters
a porno-graphic movie theater chain.
the grounds that the ordinance:
1•
2.
violated
the
1st Amendment's
free
clause
because
it
constituted
a
restraint on expression: and
prior
violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection
clause
because
it
classified
pornographic
theaters differently from other theaters. (4)
The
United
States
District
Court
the
Eastern
Theaters'
action,
that "the Detroit ordinance was a rational
attempt
District
holding
speech
of Michigan dismissed American
to preserve the city's neighborhoods."(S)
for
The court reached
this decision after "hearing testimony by urban planners and
real
estate
businesses
undesirable
exp~rts
in
the same neighborhood tended to
quantity and quality of
affected property values.
encouraged
The
United
adult
who opined that locating several
attract
transients.
adversely
caused an increaae in crime.
residents and businesses to
m~ve
States Court of Appeals for the
69
an
and
elsewhere."(6)
Sixth
Circuit
reversed
the District Court's decision concluding that
was
ordinance
an
unconstitutional
prior
the
restraint
on
expression.(7)
Detroit Officials appealed to
Court
which
close
5-4
Paul
United States Supreme
the Sixth Circuit's
reversed
vote. (8)
~he
by
decision.
In an opinion written by Justice
a
John
Stevens:
"the
court
was
not
persuaded
that
the
ordinance had any significant deterrent effect
on
th~ exhibition of films protected
by
the
First Amendment's freedom of speech provision.
and found that the city's interest in planning
and
regulating
the
use
of
property
for
commercial
purposes was clearly adequate
to
support the kind of restrictions applicable to
all theaters within the city limits. n (9)
It was the first
time that the Supreme Court sanctioned
the notion that expression could be
disseminated.
Justice
decision
contending
by
particularly
was
Stevens
that
restrained before it was
Court's
expression.
commercial
the expression of commercial
not on the same level as
the
rationalized
sex
businesses,
political expression.
In the
Justice's view:
"Few
of us would march our sons and daughters
off to war to preserve the citizen's right
to
see 'Specified Sexual Activities' exhibited in
the
To
balance
preserve
'!'~'
..'.
I
theaters of our choice."(lD)
Justice
Stevens.
the Detroit ordinance
struck
between the needs of city officials "attempting
the
quality
of
urban life"
70
and
the
needs
a
to
of
to patronize sex establishmentG because
individuals desiring
the "ordinance did not
films.
only
but
restrict
the showing of
the concentration of the
pornographic
theaters
which
exhibited adult films.n(ll)
c.
The Constitutionality of the
The Court in
zoning
!£~~a
BRA~s
8c~ions
indicated in passing its approval of
schemes such as the BRA's containment of the
Zone when the Court
Combat
ruled:
lilt is not our function to appraise the wisdom
its [Detroit's] decision to require
adult
theaters
to
be
separated
rather
than
concentrated
in
the same
area.
In
either
event.
the
city's interest in attempting
to
preserve the quality of urban life is one that
must be accorded high respect.
Moreover t the
city must be allowed a reasonable
opportunity
of
to
experiment
with solutionL
serious problems.
Supreme
the
However.
municipalities
n
Court
could
to
admittedly
(12)
!ouE~
made it cleat in
not use zoning controls
that
prohibit
to
commercial sex businesses from operating in all parts of the
city. (13)
The
municipal
Court
reinforced
in
power
restriction
this
In
declared
a
New
unconstitutional
in
not
upon
•
i
the
Jersey
expressly
township
because it banned all
mu~icpality. (15)
~£h~~.
zoning
adult
the Court
ordinance
entertainment
Although the zoning orJinance
prohibit adult entertainment,
implementation
decision,
subsequent
a
of
the
ordinance
e.ntertai'nment was being suppre"ssed. (16)
71
on
it
was
that
did
clear
adult
'rhe
effort
Schad
to
gradually eradicate
Washington
Street
Chapter 3,
downtown
decision may mean that
the
BRAl s
Combat Zone
As
is unconstitutional.
present
from
Lower
discussed
real estate interests to develop in an around
p'olicy.
this
the area's
sex businesses forced out of the Combat
1974 zoning ordinance only allows
such businesses
in
the area
Lower
Washington
Street
businesses were evicted.
BRA's policy
Hence.
is unconstitutional
the
the
sex businesses.
Zone cannot relocate to other parts of the city because
1.
in
the BRA's policy since 1977 has been to encourage
Combat Zone in order to drive out
Under
the
from
the
to operate
which
it could be argued that
the
the
because:
policy is designed to eventually exclude
from the city; and
all adult businesses
2.
the
policy has transformed the
1974 zoning
ordinance
into a measure which
furthers
the
exclusion process.(l7)
There are two possible defenses the BRA could offer
this
constitutional attack. (18)
action.
Here.
decline
was
The
firs~
is lack of state
the agency could claim that the Combat Zone's
not
fostered by governmental
economic pressures brought on by downtown
changes
in adult entertainment patterns.
defense would be inadequate.
action
but
development.
However.
Courts have ruled Lhat:
impact on protected
speech~
But when a claim
suppression is raised.
an excl~sive focus
on economic impact is improper."(19)
of
,
72
by
and
such a
"a tolerance of economic burden is appropriate·
in judging a zoning ordinance
that
has
no
l,
to
Not only would an economic defense be improper.
It is well established that the
also be disingenious.
a
exerts
most
over
As
projects.(20)
entertainment.
forms
of
regardless
of
documented
proof
adult
lesser
a
BRA
the
has
adult
been
on
degree.
on
Furthermore.
there
pressures.
been
expanding downtown development into the
Another
in
changes
entertainment. (21)
economic
that
to
ample
is
Combat Zone. (22)
defense the BRA could offer is that its policy
Under this theory.
remain
resources
to
they
because
Such
a
would
have
defense would
because it ignores the fact
sex
Combat Zone businesses
several
compete against developers
property. (23)
would
enough
for
also
Zone
Combat
inadequate
be
effectively eradicate a majority of the Combat Zone's
businesses.
the
Combat
consitutional
that
financial
that the gradual eviction policy
In
other
words,
the
fact
redevelopment process does not eliminate all
from
all
establishments would be driven out by the redevelopment
process.
would
of
supportive
will not exclude sex businesses from Boston because not
sex
BRA
downtown
the adverse effects have
of
the
Boston's
for the
movie theaters and.
pornographic
other
influence
strong
development
it would
bUL
results
Zone
does not
obligations
in
relieve
the
not to promote a
significantly
entertainment.
73
sex
that
the
businesses
BRA
zoning
suppressing
of
its
scheme
adult
D.
Conclusion
The BRA's present policy whether constitutional or
raises
several
continue?
What
unconstitutional1
important
will
And,
questions:
happen
if the
Should
policy
the
is
not
policy
declared
if the policy should be abandoned,
what should be in its place?
These questions are the topic
of study in the next chapter.
74
Footnotes
ella pte r
1.
5
See
BRA's Chapter 1 where the BRA's razing of
Scollay
Square
was
designed
to get rid
of
the
area's
sex
businesses:
see Chapter 2 where the BRA's enactment of
the
1974 zoning ordinance was designed to contain
the
sex
trade
on Lower Washington Street and prohibit
it
from
operating
in other parts of the
city;
and
see
Chapter 3 where the BRA's gradual eviction plan was
designed
to
slowly eradicate the
Combat
Zone's
sex
trade and prohibit its relocation to other parts of the
city.
u.s.
2.
427
3.
Chapter
the
sex
4.
50.
96 S.
Ct.
2440
(1976).
2 describes how Detroit was the first
nation
to use zoning laws to regulate
businesses.
city
in
commercial
ilLegal Notes--!ou.!!g_~.!.~~~!:.!£~!!_~i.!!.!=
!!!~!te!~.n !!!£!.!!_~.!!!~.
November 1976. p. 23.
American
Frank Schniaman.
Theaters
had
owned two
pornographic
movie
theaters
within
1000 feet of one another.
but after the zoning
ordinance
was
enacted Detroit
forced
one
of
the
theaters
to shut down.
Under the zoning ordinance
a
sex
business could not be located within 1000 feet
of
another sex business.
nor could such establishments be
located within 500 feet of a residential area.
5•
Sc h n i d man • .£E~.£i!...
p•
23 •
The C 0 U r t 's dec i s ion was
recorded in American Mini-Theaters v. Gribbs.
373 F.
Supp.
363 (1974)~---The-~o~rt-I~-Gribbs-f~~~dthat the
ordinance
had a substantial relatIon-to protecting the
public health.
safety.
morals. and general welfare of
Detroit's citizens.
6.
James F. Henry and Thomas R. Schutt.
How
Far
Can
a Municipality Go?"
"Adult Use Zoning:
171
Illinois
Bar
Journal 158. 159 (1982).
7.
Schnidman. £E~£i!. p.
8.
see note 2.
9.
Schnidman. £~~£!!. p.
10.
Stevens. J ••
427
u.s.
23.
23.
50. 70. 96 S.
75·
Ct.
2440
(1976).
11 •
12.
S c h n i d man. .::p.~£.i!.
Ibid.
p.
It
23.
As for Scollay Square.
eight years before
the area's
the Supreme Court ruled
razing that city planning
agencies
could
condemn private property by
eminent
domain and
subsequently
redevelop
the
property by
either building new government structures or disposing
of the property by sale or lease to private
enterprise
in
accordance
with
a
renewal
plan.
See:
!!E~!~_!~~~!~~E. 348 u.s. 26 (1954).
The ~~!~~~ case.
decided 22 years before !£~~a. made no mention of First
Amendment implications but rather. provided the support
for
the ~RA's plans to get rid of Scollay Square's sex
trade.
13.
In an important footnote to the !£~~B decision D Justic~
Stevens
indicated that "the situation would
be
quite
different
if the [Detroit] ordinance had suppressed or
greatly
restricted
access to
lawful
speech."
See:
Daniel R.
Mandelker.
~~~~_Q~~~~~.
(Charlottesville.
VA:
Michie Company.
1982).
p. 128.
This is because
the expression of commercial sex bt'sinesses is presumed
protected
by
the· First Amendment
unless
adjudicated
obscene.
14.
452 U.S. 61. 101 S.Ct 2176 (1981).
15.
Arden H.
Edition) •
Rathkopf. !h~ ~!~~!_~~E~BB_~E~_Rl~~~~Ea (4th
(New York: Clark Boardman Ltd •• 1983). p. 17
B-16.
16.
!~i~.
As explained in the text. Mount Ephraim's zoning
ordinance did not specifically say "all adult uses
are
hereby banned in this townshipo"
Intead. the ordinance
read
that "adult uses could not operate in zoning area
A nor in B nor C.
etc." which effectively
prohibited
adult
ente r_.tai.nrneot:
f r qm ope rat i ng any where
i n
the
township.
17.
Several
federal courts have already struck down
adult
use
concentration
zoning
ordinances
which
have
effectively
excluded
sex
businesses
from
the
municipality
or
have
limited
sex
businesses
to
undesirable
and commercial·ly unsuitable areas
of
the
municipality.
In these cases. the courts have reached
their
decisions after thoroughly reviewing the
impact
of
the
ordinance
on
the
opportunities
for
sex
businesses
within
the
commun~ty.
See:
Mandelker.
£~.£i! •
p•
127 •
Lis ted below are the cas e s i n w hie h
concentration
ordinances
have
been
declared
unconstitional:
76
(2)
18.
CLR Corp. v.
Henline.
(w:E:-Mich:-1981)---
520 F.
Supp.
760
Speculation
over
the consitutionality
of
the
BRA's
policy
has
caused
agency officials
to
make
public
statements where they claim they are cognisant of
the
constitutional
rights
of
Combat
Zone
sex
business
owners.
See:
Jonathan
Kaufman.
"Real
Estate
Development
Boom Threatens
~Adult
Entertainment'.u
~ost~~~!~~~. December 27. 1984. p. 24.
682 F.2d 1203.
1214
20.
The
BRA's influence over development policy could
not
be more evident than in Mayor Flynn's and BRA Director
Coyle's
negotiations with representatives from
SwissAir
involving
the
proposed
construction
of
the
Lafayette Place Hotel. (See Chapter 3)
21.
See the comments of Al Goldstein in note 51. Chapter 3.
22.
See part B of Chapter 3.
23.
See statements of William Condo. BRA official in charge
of
Combat Zone redevelopment in Kaufman.
££~£i! .•
p.
24.
Regina Quinlan,
a lawyer for several Combat Zone
businesses
is
also
of the opinion that
not
all
of
Boston's
sex
businesses will leave the
Combat
Zone.
See:
!~~!~!EI
£~£!!..
p.
24.
As explained in the
text ~oth Condo and Quinlan neglect to deal
with
the
issue
that
even'if several sex businesses do
remain.
the BRA will have still succeeded in ridding the
city
of B" majority of them.
77
PART III
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE COMBAT ZONE'S HISTORY
AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
CHAPTER 6
Should
A.
th~
BRA's Present Policies Continue?
The Legal
and Equitable
Present Efforts
Argumen~s
is the author's opinion that
It
gradual
eviction
plan
Against
the
BRA's
the BRA's Combat
should be halted ior
Zone
number
8
of
reasons.
~irst.
as discussed in Chapter 5.
unconstitutional. (1)
'The
policy
all
'over
as to how Boston's sex
agency
st:heme.
plan
the
is
trade
tough
should
be
Tbe agency could allow sex businesses to open up
the
city or it could
adult entertainment district.
hostility
plan may be
BRA would then be forced to make some
decisions
regulated.
a court holds that
S
the 1974 zoning ordinance will be nutl and
unconsitutional.
void. (2)
If
the BRAi
towards
would
the
decide to
create
Given the agency's
dispersal of
likely opt for another
sex
ther
historic
busine,:;ses.
concentration
The question that arises is where
a
~il1
the
zoning
agency
put this new district?
"The zoning process is a distributive process
in which benefits are conferred on
some and
d~nied
tc others.
Because zoning decisions
are
not
neutrsl
in
their
consequences.
politicians must take responsibili~y for
the
78
the
"patterns of benefits and costs
which
result
from
particular zoning
policies.
Technical
expertise
and
planning principles cannot
be
regarded
as
sufficient grounds on which
base inherently distributive policies."(3)
if
Furthermore.
BRA
enacts
reduce,
or
district.
new
realistic prostitution policy must be adopted.
1 f t he
decides
to
decides
to change its present policy by keeping the
agency
should
prostitution
seriously
but
continue
consider
to
or
Combat
legalizing
outlaw
The Combat Zone's history clearly
prostitution.
how
BRA
create another adult entertainment district
the
"indoor"
namely
and a rational and
Police practices must be monitored.
Zone,
public
The BRA must also be sensitive
learned from the Combat Zone's experience,
to lessons
the
sign i f'i-
to
altogether,
possibly eliminate
access to sex businesses. (4)
that
a
restrictions cannot be so severe as
locational
cantly
the
to
street
illustrates
prostitution has always been and will continue to be
major
component
of
Boston's commercial
sex
trade.
a
The
history also illustrates how unregulated street prostitution
has
bet::n
prostitution
prostitution,
are
by
in
on
Comabt
Zone
houses
affront~d
by
indoor prostitution.
vif!W
s~reet
According to
is seen as being a
of
disinterested
prostitution than
;.
of
indoor
"private activity",
out of
individuals
79
they
Milman.
while
prostitution is seen as a "pcblic nuisance" infringing
,
indoor
strip bars and night clubs has posed less of a
to be more
prostitution
the
carried
while
Legal scholar Barbara Milman has noted that people
problem.
tend
crimes
source of many street
the
~treet
upon
the
disinterested
individual's right not
to be exposed
to
This "private-public" distinction abc..ut prostitution
is
such an activity. (5)
a
good one because street prostitution does impinge on
rights of disinterested individuals.
street
prostitution
There is no reason why
should be tolerated when
can be carried on in private indoors.
is
the only component of the
trade
is
carried on
outdoors.
of prostitution.
indoors
aspects.
they
of
adult bookstores.
car red
Given its public
on
nuisance
is no reason why street prostitution should
there
be accorded special
Even
sex
activities
and strip bars are all
away from public view.
street
commercial
The
pornographic move theaters and peep shows,
houses
prostitution
Furthermore.
prostitution
which
the
treatment.
if the BRA's present efforts
are
should be discontinued nevertheless.
not equitable.
constitutional.
because they
are
Despite the problems of the Combat Zone.
"Lower Washington
Street is one of
the
few
parts
of the city which is still open to all.
The
rest
of
the
downtown
is
increasingly
becoming
off
limits to people who
are
not
affluent,
and
not white.
and are not middle
c13ss.
As
Gans
mechanism
has
U
(6)
often
stated.
city
planning
should
for the spreading of benefits to a croSB
of the community. (7)
City planners should
80
be
a
section
renew urban areas
to
attract
the
the upper classes but they should also
living
conditions
Transforming
into
a
the
the
of
the
in
poor
process.
Combat Zone from a -commercial sex
commercial office development center may
develop-ment
improve
happy
community
and fatten
the
center
make
the
City's
tax
coffers. but will do nothing for the City's poor. (8)
As one
commentator recently put it:
"If
you
get rid of the
Combat
Zone.
you'd
probably create another 'Yuppie' enclave.
Do
we really need more of these?"(9)
The answer is no.
B.
Summary and Recommendations
The
should
BRA's
argument against
neither
pre v i
0
uS
the BRA's gradual eviction policy
be construed as a condemnation of
pol i c i e s
n0
a s a w h ole h ear ted
4,'
Combat Zone's sex trade.
the
instrumental
being
enacted.
The
obscenity
realized
agency
regulation
d e fen s e
The BRA deserves credit
getting the 1974
in
all
the
and came up with
zoning
of
for
ordinance
impracticalities
a
the
zoning
of
solution
which satisfied patrons of sex etablishments and individuals
opposed to such businesses operating in their neighborhoods.
The
agency was naive about
the realities of Police enforce-
ment but the actions of Combat Zone businesses has left much
to
be
desired.
ordinance,
these
Since
the enactment of the
businesses
improve their public standing.
have
not
really
If anything,
81
1974
zoning
helped
to
they have given
the public more reasons
businesses
they
an
to eliminate the Combat
reneged on Combat Zone
have
have been as much to blame as
the
"Anything Goes in the Combat Zone"
repeatedly
have
renovatiun
The
plans;
Police for
fostering
attitude;
and
Chinatown
antagonized
ione.
they
residents
by
conducting street prostitution in that community.
Chinatown
residents have all
the
right in the world to
be angry about the Combat Zone's existence and can hardly be
blamed
for wanting the area eliminated.
But as
discussed
a b ov e.
eliminating the Combat Zone has legal and
politico-
socia-economic
than
consequences
they already are.
Chinatown
which can make
However.
this does not mean
residents should be forced
all the spill
over crime from
author recommends
that
worse
matters
to continue
the Combat Zone.
to
that
endure
Hence.
the BRA should:
1.
halt
its present Combat Zone gradual eviction
policy;
2.
keep
3.
work closely with the Boston Police Department
in making the Combat Zone a safe
neighborhood
by
a.
the Combat Zone:
strictly
laws i
b.
and
en~orcing
criminal
and
decreasing the public nuisance
aspects of Combat Zone Frostituition by legalizing indoor
prostitution activity. ~~!
vigorously prosecuting all street
prostitution in an outside the
Combat Zone.
This includes jailing pimps. as well as prostitutes
and their customers. (10)
82
the
The Combat Zone,
the
area's
activities from
would also make
ment
districts
Stockholm,
if well-patrolled,
spilling
would not only prevent
into
Chinatown.
but
the Combat Zone "as safe as adult entertainin
European
cities
and Amsterdam."(ll)
83 ·
sue 11
as
Copenhagen,
Footnotes
Chapter 6
1•
A constitutional challenge to the plan will likely Come
when
a significant number of sex businesses have
been
evicted from the Combat Zone.
2•
This
is because the ordinance was used
exclusion process.
3.
Stuart P.
Proudfoot, "Private Gains and Public Losses:
The Distributive
Impact of Urban Zoning,"
11
Policy
Sciences
203
to
further
the
(1979).
4.
Arden H.
Rathkopr, !he~~~~!_~~~i~E_~E~_~!~EEiEB (4th
Ed.),
(New York:
Clark Boardman Company, Ltd., 1983),
p. 17B-18.
5•
Barbara
Milman,
"New Rules for the Oldest Profession:
Should
We
Change Our Prostitution Laws?,"
3
Harvard
Women's Law Journal 1. 59 (1980).
6.
~~!!£~~!~£~. December
7.
See Chapter 4.
8.
The
housing problems of the poor are well
documented.
The
poor
need housing and they will not find it in a
downtown skyscraper or office building.
9.
Comments
of William Condo.
BRA official in charge
of
Combat
Zone
development
as
quoted in ~£~!E~_Ql~E~'
December
28,
1984.
p.
14.
Condo's
comments
are
interesting
given the fact that the BRA has been on
a
eight year crusade to transform the Combat Zone into a
~yuppie'
enclave.
10.
According to legal scholar Barbara Milman:
28.
1984. p.
14.
.. Pro per 1 y des i g ned and pro per 1 yen for c ed,
a Z 0 n e mig 11 t
control the public nuisance aspect of prostituti.on most
effectively.
Customers
and
prostitutes would
know
where to go to find each other,
those who are offended
by
visible prostitution would know where not
to
go."
See:
Milman, ~E~£i! .• p. 59.
11.
Milman,
£~£!!.,
p.
59. commenting on the need for a
strong
law enforcement presence in adult entertainment
districts.
84
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---~-------