Officials here are considering new steps to shut down an adult bookstore, which remains open despite its reported promises to close at midnight Monday.
The store is City News & Novelty, whose attorney says the shop has new owners who filed an application for an adult business license. But Waukesha City Attorney Curt Meitz says there are no new owners, but new officers.
"These are not new owners," Meitz tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "City News is the same applicant that has been denied a license. The fact that they change officers doesn't mean they have new owners."
Meitz fumed because City News agreed to stop operating as an adult bookstore in a January deal with the city. They have stopped selling adult videos, the Journal says, but they continue selling adult-oriented magazines, novelty candy, sex toys, and other sexually related items.
Last week, the Waukesha City Council changed the city ordinance covering adult businesses out of fears an adult bookstore would open on the site after City News closed, the paper continues. The new ordinance says no adult business can open on a former adult business's location for a year after the latter operation stops.
City News's license was turned down for renewal in 1995 over several violations, the Journal says, including letting minors loiter on the grounds, failure to keep unobstructed views of booths where customers could watch videos, and letting customers engage sexual conduct in the booths. The store appealed all the way to the state Supreme Court, but each level upheld the city's decision and the state Supreme Court refused to review the case.
