City councilor pushes for more scrutiny of adult entertainment venues downtown

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn is advocating for a more exhaustive review process around adult entertainment businesses downtown, in Chinatown, and in the Bay Village neighborhood. The move, Flynn said, is meant to give residents more agency and to prevent the area from sliding back into its history as the notorious “Combat Zone.”

Flynn filed a measure this week that would amend the city’s zoning code in order to make adult entertainment businesses in those neighborhoods a “conditional use” rather than an “allowed use.” An amendment like this should have been made “decades ago,” Flynn said, so that adult entertainment establishments must undergo a significant community review process before being approved. 

“Residents of a neighborhood deserve a say in what takes place there. With ongoing concerns in Chinatown, downtown, and the Bay Village regarding public process, public safety, quality of life, it is critical that all establishments go through a full ZBA community process moving forward, and that my constituents are respected,” Flynn said during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. 

In June, a Stuart Street property was the subject of a proposed change of use that would allow it to become a “multi-story night club adult entertainment complex.” Flynn opposed the change, writing in a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeal that residents “have expressed their alarm and dismay by the recurring lack of community engagement.”

Flynn’s proposal this week received a tepid response from his City Council colleagues. Only two others, Councilors Erin Murphy and John FitzGerald, signed onto the order before it was referred to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation. 

Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata said that she looked forward to future discussion, but that any more conversations need to consider “individual agency, labor rights, and public perception of this work within the context of gender.”

Coletta Zapata also said that councilors need to be careful not to “perpetuate outdated narratives of misogyny.” It is not proven that adult entertainment businesses necessarily bring crime to an area, she said. 

“I just want to be careful not to weaponize the zoning code to police or make others feel less than for their chosen profession,” Coletta Zapata said. 

Flynn pushed back on this, saying he did not “weaponize” anything but was instead seeking to simply represent his constituents, improve their quality of life, and allow them to have a greater say in what businesses shape their neighborhoods. 

“My residents have said to me they want to ensure Chinatown doesn’t go backwards. Downtown doesn’t go backwards, or the Bay Village. They want a say in the process,” Flynn said. 

The discussion came just after the city’s Zoning Commission unanimously approved an overhaul of zoning regulations that govern Boston’s downtown core. The first comprehensive downtown zoning update in 30 years, the changes are meant to make it easier for small businesses to open and to allow for more residential properties. The changes allow for taller buildings to be built in some sections of the area. Critics said the changes could alter the character of the neighborhood by increasing shadows. Mayor Michelle Wu is expected to sign off on the changes. 

Councilor Sharon Durkan referenced these changes, saying that the adult entertainment district “has been entirely removed from Chinatown” and confined to one small area. Durkan said she appreciated Flynn’s efforts while also thanking Coletta Zapata for thinking about the topic from a “feminist perspective.”

“I really think that any zoning or text amendments, specifically if we’ve just rezoned an entire area, should be done thoughtfully,” Durkan said.