Dec 4, 2007 11:51 pm US/Eastern
Strip Club Sign Causes Uproar On Staten Island
Racy Billboard Touches Nerve With Local Residents
STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ―
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This sign on the side of a building in a residential area on Staten Island has local residents screaming for action.
CBS
Imagine if your child's walk to school included passing by a strip club. That's what one Staten Island community is worried about after a provocative billboard went up in their neighborhood.
"Of all the places why is that on that place?" one woman asked.
"There's things they shouldn't be seeing at age 12 and 13," another added.
And parents say the provocative sign is one of those things.
The promotion for the VIP Strip Club & Bar popped up at 920 Hylan Blvd., about a week ago.
Linda Simonetti's four children walk past the signs on their way to school.
"They're young, they're impressionable," Simonetti said. "And they're in the early stages of their life and they don't need to see something like this."
The building owner claims he knew nothing about the sign and says there is no plan for a strip club opening in the vacant building. No one has taken responsibility for the sign. Since it went up, the phones have been ringing off the hook at nearby schools like St. Joseph Hill Academy and St. John Villa Academy where Sister Anne Dolores is principal.
"I went to see it and I was horrified," Dolores said.
"I want the sign taken down, and I never want my children who come to our school or any other school or anyone on Staten Island, any innocent person to have to view that."
Added neighborhood resident Pablo Perrone: "I hope it's some kind of sick joke."
Perrone, a father of two, called NYC Councilman Joseph Oddo when he saw the ad go up across the street from his house. Oddo has reassured neighbors that commercial and residential zoning prevents the strip club from opening here since it's within 500 feet of a residential area.
"Maybe this was a test balloon," Oddo said. "If that's what it was or what it is, the message is pretty clear. We don't want you here."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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