The battle over the future of Cheshire Bridge Road's sexy parts is heating up online, with advocates combatting a petition against forcing sex hops and strip joints off the corridor now launching one of their own. Take that!

Some 122 people have signed on supporting Atlanta City Council Members: Vote YES on Cheshire Bridge “sunsetting” legislation and threatened the city lawmakers with electoral retribution if they don't heed their warning.

We, the City of Atlanta residents of the communities surrounding Cheshire Bridge Road, support the proposed legislation that would remove adult businesses from the NC-4 and NC-5 districts on Cheshire Bridge by 2018. For too long the Cheshire Bridge Task Force vision has been ignored in order to protect the adult businesses — businesses that have an extremely detrimental impact on the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

Adult businesses are incompatible with residential neighborhoods. Our neighborhoods were here decades before the adult businesses started appearing on Cheshire Bridge through a series of zoning loopholes and poor decisions/enforcement by the City of Atlanta. We have been very patient in waiting for the city to address this issue; it has been 14 years since the Cheshire Bridge Road Study was published recommending the area be rezoned to no longer allow adult businesses. 

This issue is not about setting a precedent or protecting the property rights of a handful of large real estate developers. This is about our right to have a say in the type of community we live in. As a  community, both businesses and residents came together in 1999 to create the Cheshire Bridge Task Force Vision.  In 2005, the city rezoned the two neighborhood commercial districts to align with that vision.  Now is the time for the city to take action to make the community's vision a reality.
We are tax-paying, politically-active Atlanta residents, and we represent a significant voting bloc in this city. We ask for your support of this legislation. Our community will remember your vote this November.

Don't overlook the fear mongering supporters offer up in the petition's comments. Save the children!

I have Kids and dont want the kind of people these places attract close to us. Strip clubs and Head shops do not belong in this neighborhood full of kids and parents.

An owner of a handful of small businesses on Cheshire launched a petition against the rezoning proposals from gay Atlanta City Council member Alex Wan. It's received 587 signatures, but was undercut when Wan narrowed the focus of his legislation to target only sexually-oriented businesses.

The city's Zoning Review Board voted against Wan's proposals in early May after a lengthy debate between supporters and opponents. What's the battle all about? We break it down.

No word on whether Xander — the gay escort and rent boy who supports Wan's efforts — has signed on to the petition.

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