While new, more restrictive adult entertainment ordinances are in the works, the courts have struck down previous attempts by the city to rein in the sex industry. Residents and business owners have been working to clean up the area, and some progress is being made. Metro Square, an enormous new office park at the corner of Philips and Emerson, is gradually filling up. Several vacant, city-owned parcels have been transformed into landscaped pocket parks, and newly planted palm trees in the Philips Highway median have added upscale appeal. Despite these efforts, the area remains Jacksonville s unofficial red-light district.
Hookers still strut their stuff night and day.
Efforts to curb prostitution have been hampered by drug addiction, and an abundance of addicted women in need of fast cash. In addition ordinances prohibiting strip clubs have been overturned time and again. Officials are working on a revised adult entertainment code that they hope will help the situation, but even as lawyers draft the legislation, workers are putting the finishing touches on Cheater s Gentlemens Club. The large, upscale adult entertainment lounge on Philips Highway looms over the adjacent Wooden Horse Antique Mall, where the only dancing is done by the homemade patchwork quilts hanging in the breeze. The manager of Cheater s, Richard Tapalian, claims the club will be an asset to the community.