Dallas - City of Strip Clubs and Billboards? (Houston, Arlington: crime, house)

[northlakemetro]

A friend visited from Chicago and said that she noticed that Dallas seems to be full of sexually oriented establishments and billboards advertising them. I noticed that these billboards are owned by major communication companies such as CBS. Sure they make a profitable business - but they also give the City the image of being trashy and classless. They also drive families and businesses away from the city and to the suburbs and cost the city more in the longrun.

There are so many sleezy billboards on I-35, I-30, 635, 360 and other major highways advertising sexually oriented businesses that one would think that they are in a seedy part of Nevada/Las Vegas. These billboards are also starting to move up to suburbs like Carrollton, Garland and Arlington. The City councilman recently passed ordinances limiting advertising on store fronts! This seems to be a much bigger issue than storefront advertising.

Most other cities in the US have cracked down on these billboards and establishments.

Chicago, for example, has one of the nicest downtowns in America because it has lots of family friendly parks, lakes, concerts, gardens and other venues for families to enjoy without sleezy adult oriented businesses on every corner.

Rudy Guiliani cleaned up NYC the same way and drew families back to the city and isolated some of the adult oriented businesses.

Dallas should strive for more of a family friendly image so that the current suburban families will again start thinking of downtown and other Dallas neighborhoods as viable options to reside and do business in.

If you want gentrification of old abandoned Dallas neighborhoods, and you want families and businesses to move back to Dallas from the suburbs, then start focusing on making the City more family friendly and cracking down on sleezy, shady establishments rather than promoting them.

We need fewer billboards throughout the Metro area. We need more diverse businesses rather than strip clubs, bars, liquor stores and massage parlors to line I-35.

[south-to-west]

This is an interesting post as it describes many of the same aspects of Atlanta in regards to billboards and strip clubs. However here are a couple of caveats:

• Dallas already has a family-friendly image with its abundance of single-family homes with nice yards, as well as a multitude of excellent school districts. Not every amenity in a city should be family-friendly for the simple fact that not everyone lives in a family household. You also need amenities and establishments that cater to singles, young professionals, and households with no children.
  
  
• The strip clubs are very visible along some of the freeways due to the fact that a substantial portion of the properties that are adjacent to the areas freeways are zoned for industrial or 'highway commercial' development. Strip clubs are usually located in such areas because there are no residents in the immediate area that would voice their concern or opposition.

[getmeoutofhere]

Who cares?

They're a business, and are advertising their business. Don't like them? Don't go.

The last thing we need are more laws and restrictions.

[galore]

Without sex there won't be any families. The hornier those billboards make people, the more sex and more babies and more families. They are incubators for more sex, which is good.

We need more of them!!!

[pinkgreenmover]

Uh, I beg to differ. That would be a better moniker for Houston. ;o)

[Metro Matt]

There are a lot in Dallas, but Houston takes the cake on this one.

I don't think I've ever seen as many sexual oriented businesses in a city so out in the open as they are down in H-town. The strip clubs & XXX video stores are almost endless from I-45 North all the way down south & they're all right off of the feeder roads in plain view of anyone & everyone.

Supposedly however there is a new city ordinance in place implemented by ex- Houston mayor & current Texas Democratic Governor nominee, Bill White to ban those billboards. Hopefully he will do the same for Dallas if he gets elected governor in November.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Im with getmeoutofhere. If you think Dallas isnt family oriented enough, just move to Plano, Frisco, or one of the other northern suburbs. Youll get family oriented out the wazoo up there. If you already live up there, then youre doing all you can arent you?

Dallas is a large city and most large cities have that element to them. So what? We drove by a gay bath house the other day on the edge of downtown, but no one forced us to go in so we kept driving. If you dont like those clubs just dont go.

[Lakewooder]

I live in Dallas. I don't see freeways or billboards. We used to have a few strip clubs but they are gone now. Personally, I'd like to see The Painted Duck make a return. Oh and I don't think you could call my neighborhood 'abandoned' - except this house is currently vacant for renovations:



http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2463/4321wlawtherdrive.jpg (broken link)

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

I live in Dallas. I don't see freeways or billboards. We used to have a few strip clubs but they are gone now. Personally, I'd like to see The Painted Duck make a return. Oh and I don't think you could call my neighborhood 'abandoned' - except this house is currently vacant for renovations:

Oh really?

[northlakemetro]

I agree that the Dallas should cater to singles as well. But most of these establishments cater to older males that are unattractive and even married - not the hip single crowd. Places like uptown and lower Greenville are hip because they are devoid of these adult oriented businesses.

Yes, Houston has more of these establishments but since when is Houston a city to model after? Houston also has more pollution, more crime and no zoning. We don't want to be Houston. Houston does not have more billboards than Dallas. Dallas is the city of cheesy billboards with no regulations.