Strip Billboard Mounted Over Queens Church Comes Down
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A billboard over a storefront church in Corona, Queens that advertised a strip club has come down.
The billboard for the Roadhouse NYC "upscale gentleman's club" had stood over three adjacent three-flat buildings, including the New Hope Baptist Church at 105-13 Northern Blvd. in Queens.
The removal followed protests from community members and from state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Queens.)
"It's something that we wanted to end and we wanted to see moved, and we were successful in doing it," Peralta told 1010 WINS. "So it was very surprising that they actually had the intent of putting it up and hoping that no one would notice."
Given that the neighborhood is trying to curb sex crimes, the billboard did not belong, Peralta said.
"It was definitely surprising, first and foremost, that it was up by that neighborhood. In a neighborhood where we're fighting human trafficking; where we're fighting against prostitution, to see this type of billboard up was despicable," he said.
In a New York Daily News report, a representative of the strip club said the club did not know the billboard was above a church and apologized for its placement. A representative from the advertising firm for the club also said the firm did not know the billboard had been placed over a church.
He told the newspaper if the firm had known a church had sat below, the billboard would never have been mounted where it was. He said the company wants to be a good neighbor, and asked a vendor to have the sign taken down, the newspaper reported.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:
