Editorial: Keeping porn in check

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

There are no X-rated bookstores or theaters in North Las Vegas and the City Council wants to keep it that way. Moreover, the council wants to curtail blight by restricting such businesses as payday-loan companies and pawn shops.

The City Council will vote March 7 on whether it should make those kinds of businesses come before it for a special permit if they want to open anywhere in North Las Vegas.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, anticipating that the council would use the permitting process to outright ban adult-oriented businesses, objects on the grounds that the First Amendment right to free speech would be violated.

Yet local governments already require many types of businesses to get special permits before opening. It is part of the planning process as communities design their commercial areas and shape their images. Among the businesses in North Las Vegas that need a special permit are drive-through restaurants.

We believe the City Council would be within its rights to pass the ordinance.

If, over time, it became apparent that the council was arbitrarily banning all adult-oriented businesses, regardless of where they proposed to locate, a lawsuit could be filed and the courts could decide whether the city was overstepping its authority.