RAY FLYNN'S WAR ON COMBAT ZONE: [THIRD Edition]

Abstract

Fr. [Paul J. Murphy] has sent Flynn a report on the successful efforts of Citizens for Decency Through Law in Georgia to shut down three Fulton County warehouses and the 44 porno theaters, stores and peep shows they supplied in Atlanta. The mayor advised Fr. Murphy that he would use more police patrols, code enforcement and "other avenues of action" to clean up the Combat Zone.

Flynn is expected to ask Suffolk County Dist. Atty. Newman Flanagan to follow the lead of Fulton County Solicitor General Hinson McAuliffe, who used Georgia's obscenity laws so successfully, and prosecute porno operators in Boston under existing statutes that many feel can withstand constitutional challenges as they did in Georgia.

That some of the businessmen in the Combat Zone have gotten Flynn's message is evident from the recent sale of the State I and II theaters on Washington street, between Avery and Boylston, by Joseph Savino to developer Sydney Covich, who owns the large building across the street at 600 Washington st.

DAVID FARRELL

The upcoming purchase of the old Hotel Avery by Boston real estate developer Barry Hoffman should give a major boost to Mayor Raymond Flynn's campaign to rid what has become known as Boston's Combat Zone of X-rated theaters, book and video cassette stores, peep shows and bars.

The $1.5-million transaction (R.M. Bradley is handling the sale) between Rev. Bruce Ritter's Covenant House, which bought the Avery in 1982 for $600,000, and Hoffman also means that the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros' plan to allow Fr. Ritter to establish a shelter for runaway youth in Boston similar to one he operates in New York City is on indefinite hold and probably dead.

A decade ago the Franciscan priest founded Covenant House, a youth shelter and counseling center in New York's Times Square porno and prostitution area.

The plan for a similar shelter here never has had the wholehearted backing of some leaders of the Boston archdiocese, who believe that Catholic agencies such as Bridge Over Troubled Waters are capable of handling the runaway problem here. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and commercial interests in the area, particularly developers of Lafayette Place on Washington street, also have opposed locating a Boston Covenant House at the Avery street site.

In addition to putting muscle into Flynn's drive to eliminate the Combat Zone, the sale could lead to a gradual upgrading of all real estate values in the area, broadening the tax base and bringing in more revenue to the city.

A source close to the developer says he eventually plans to construct an office building with condominiums at the site across from the old Herald- Traveler building.

The mayor already has directed police to crack down on prostitution and other activities in the lower Washington street area.

Flynn has been in contact with Rev. Paul J. Murphy, a Jesuit priest who is the chief spokesman for Morality In Media here, an organization pushing to clean up the zone and challenge the multibillion-dollar porno industry on the grounds it habitually violates state and federal obscenity laws.

Fr. Murphy has sent Flynn a report on the successful efforts of Citizens for Decency Through Law in Georgia to shut down three Fulton County warehouses and the 44 porno theaters, stores and peep shows they supplied in Atlanta. The mayor advised Fr. Murphy that he would use more police patrols, code enforcement and "other avenues of action" to clean up the Combat Zone.

Flynn is expected to ask Suffolk County Dist. Atty. Newman Flanagan to follow the lead of Fulton County Solicitor General Hinson McAuliffe, who used Georgia's obscenity laws so successfully, and prosecute porno operators in Boston under existing statutes that many feel can withstand constitutional challenges as they did in Georgia.

The policy of the Flynn administration differs sharply from that of the White administration, which embraced the concept of an "adult entertainment district."

That some of the businessmen in the Combat Zone have gotten Flynn's message is evident from the recent sale of the State I and II theaters on Washington street, between Avery and Boylston, by Joseph Savino to developer Sydney Covich, who owns the large building across the street at 600 Washington st.

The city licensing division last week revoked the license of the State I Theater, effective Christmas Eve, and suspended the licenses of Ted Venus and others who operate X-rated movie houses and bookstores on lower Washington street. Attorneys Joseph Balliro, Brian Gilligan and others have appealed the closings and suspensions to the US District Court in Boston where they are seeking injunctions. More hearings on the Pilgrim Theater and other establishments that also have been charged with allowing their premises to be used for lewd and lascivious behavior are set for Thursday.

The decisions by Flynn's licensing officials were the result of intensive police surveillance of the various establishments that the mayor feels have become centers and magnets for on-premise prostitution and homosexual activities.

The Combat Zone theaters have become notorious gathering places for homosexuals, and the mayor's campaign has been criticized by some gay leaders who cite the potential for harassment by police. Their objections are similar to those directed at State Police for their surveillance of some rest areas along state highways where gays are known to congregate and solicit motorists.

Combat Zone argue that there is no way that they can adequately police the activities of every patron who enters their premises and that the police ought to be focusing on the more serious crime that goes on in Boston outside the Combat Zone. They contend that the Flynn administration's words and actions prove that the mayor is bent on harassment.

One thing appears certain. No matter what the outcome of court appeals, the mayor intends to do everything in his power - and he has much of that - to eliminate all elements of the porno business from lower Washington street.

And he won't get any flak from the Chinese community, the Tufts- New England Medical Center, the Boston Floating Hospital, the Mason street housing complex, patrons of the nearby downtown department and specialty stores or the voters of Boston.