City OKs Changes to Nudity Law
The City Council has approved changes in Newport Beach’s public nudity ordinance to specify what is permitted at adult-oriented businesses.
In drafting the changes, City Atty. Robert Burnham argued that businesses with nude entertainers have “secondary impacts,” including increased prostitution, sexual assaults and blight in areas surrounding the establishments and may decrease property values in the neighborhood.
The changes “do not prohibit entertainers or others from communicating erotic messages or other protected forms of expression. Rather, they simply require an entertainer to cover specified anatomical areas,” Burnham said in a report to the council.
The changes passed by a unanimous vote Monday without discussion.
The same ordinance, most of which has been on the books for years, prohibits nudity on public beaches and rights of way, in parks, on shipboard and anywhere that a nude person might be visible to the public.
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