AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF DALLAS:

On Wednesday, Mayor Mike Rawlings and the Dallas City Council will vote on whether to ink
an agreement with the organizers of a pornography expo in the City-owned Kay Bailey
Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas later this year. This expo is arguably little
more than a traveling strip club, adult book store, and promoter of the sex trade.
We urge the Mayor and City Council to enforce Chapter 41A of the City Code, which prohibits
sexually oriented commercial enterprises from operating within 1,000 feet of public parks,
schools, churches, and residential and historical districts. Since the Convention Center is within
1,000 feet of numerous public parks, churches, child care facilities and other sites that are off
limits to all sexually oriented businesses, it is clear that to permit a pornography expo at the
Convention Center would violate Chapter 41A on its face.
Wednesdays vote is a chance for the Mayor and the City Council to uphold the integrity of its
City Code. In crafting Chapter 41A of City Code, the City has already done the hard work of
prudently balancing the welfare of the citizens with the First Amendment rights of sexually
oriented business owners. Furthermore, there are other available venues in the City of Dallas to
conduct a pornography expo without violating Chapter 41A. As Chapter 41A contemplates, a
pornography expo should not be conducted in our City-owned, taxpayer-funded Kay Bailey
Hutchison Convention Center in the heart of downtown Dallas.
What kind of a city do we want to be? One that is afraid to enforce its own laws that by their
own terms are designed to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens
of Dallas? The answer obviously is no.
We, as citizens of Dallas, must stand up to support our Mayor and the City Council in having the
courage to do the right thing by enforcing Chapter 41A and thereby not profiting from
pornography at our Convention Center. We must maintain the integrity of our City Code as
written and thereby the integrity of our City.
You can voice your support by:
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Attending the City Council meeting in the Council Chambers, 6th floor, City Hall 1500
Marilla, Dallas, TX 75201 at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 10
Contacting your Councilmember. Find out the name of your representative and your
voting district by calling the City Secretarys Office - 214-670-3738 or by visiting
http://dallascityhall.com/government/Pages/contact_mcc.aspx.

New Friends New Life

P.O. Box 192378
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 965-0935
Newfriendsnewlife.org