Ellington

Sex-toy shops aren't the only local businesses pushing the limits of popular morality that are facing some challenges in the city of late. The Jackson City Council has passed a moratorium on the placement of new liquor stores in the city limits for 90 days; it awaits the mayor's signature. And, recently, shops that some see as pushing questionable practices—tattoo shops, body piercing, bingo parlors, among them—are facing tougher zoning challenges. The city's planning office asked the City Council to designate a list of certain types of businesses as C-2 businesses, meaning that they now have to go through a review process, rather than receiving approval simply by asking for it.

Some of the businesses on the list—such as amusement parks and golf driving ranges—impact their communities due to their size and traffic considerations. Others are there in order for the city to keep an eye on the types of businesses that tend to clump in poor neighborhoods such as bail-bond services, emergency shelters and pawn shops. Still others, such as tattoo and piercing shops, have a certain stigma attached to them rather than obvious logistical or economic concerns. "Tattoo shops have to do with the perception of whether people want it close to their neighborhoods," a city employee said. "It's just a perception." Some people, she added, find tattoo parlors objectionable. She emphasized, though, that the businesses on the new C-2 list can still get zoning approval; it's just a bit more complicated these days.