Council acts to block sex-doll shop
Amended law halts ‘try before you buy’ practice in bid to harpoon store
Houston City Council on Wednesday updated its rules on sexually oriented businesses, instituting changes that could bar plans for a store that allows customers to try out sex dolls on the premises from opening near the Galleria.
Toronto-based KinkySdollS had planned to open a Houston branch where it would sell “adult love dolls” constructed of synthetic skin and highly articulated skeletons. The company intended to sell the human-like dolls, and rent them out so customers could use them in private rooms at the location.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the council expanded its definition of an “arcade device” — which is used to view adult content — to include an “anthropomorphic device,” or one with human characteristics.
The city bars sexually oriented businesses, which include “adult arcades,” from operating within 1,500 feet of churches, schools, day cares, parks and residential neighborhoods. KinkySdollS’ proposed location is located a few hundred feet from the city-owned Anderson
Park.
The council also prohibited customers from using arcade devices on company premises, though it still allows companies to sell them.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said the amendments are intended to update “loopholes to make the ordinance more current,” specifically in dealing with changing technology.
“I think the change in the ordinance will certainly capture businesses of this kind and would prevent businesses from operating in the way that this one has been described,” Turner told reporters.
He added that the updated ordinance’s focus “is not on any one business. It is on any businesses that fall within this category.”
Stopped building
City inspectors already have halted construction on the KinkySdollS’ storefront at Richmond and Chimney Rock, citing permitting issues.
A KinkySdollS spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
The proposed location sits in District J, near its border with District G. Councilmen Mike Laster and Greg Travis, of Districts J and G respectively, spoke up against the business Wednesday.
Laster sought confirmation from City Attorney Ronald Lewis that the updated ordinance would eliminate the “try-it-before-you-buy-it option.”
Lewis assured Laster that the modified ordinance "precludes certain behaviors within the shop" that would "not generally be tolerated within any business in the city of Houston."
Travis took a more forceful tack, saying that most people are “appalled and insulted” by the business.
On Tuesday, Travis had shown interest in placing cameras around the business after a member of a religious nonprofit raised concerns about sex trafficking and called on Travis to put cameras “where these people are going to buy dolls.” The topic of cameras did not come up Wednesday.
“We're not legislating morality here. That's not what we’re doing,” Travis said.
“We don't care what people do in their bedrooms. If somebody wants to order these dolls and have them in their homes, it's weird, that's fine, they can do that.”
He added that the KinkySdollS’ “type of enterprise degrades our city.”
The Houston Area Pastor Council in a news release applauded Turner and the council’s “rapid response to this threat to the decency of the city.”
The notice said the Houston Area Pastor Council intends to work with Harris County and the state “on similar and possibly even broader restrictions” on sexually oriented businesses.
In other action Wednesday, the council voted to sell a 4.5-acre parcel of land in the 3500 block of West Dallas to an apartment developer for $30.6 million.
The city and Harris County, which had built its juvenile detention center and operated a sheriff’s substation on the property, will split the proceeds.
Crime lab to relocate
Council also agreed to move the city’s crime lab out of the Houston Police Department’s downtown headquarters.
The relocation gives the Houston Forensic Science Center about 83,000 square feet of office space at 500 Jefferson for toxicology, DNA testing, fingerprint analysis and narcotics storage.
The new 30-year lease includes a 25-foot firing range in the basement.
The building and lab operations will cost about $111 million over the 30-year term of the lease, city officials said.