Misleading comments about Secondary Effects
On Monday, May 7, the New Britain Herald ran an article written by New Haven Register reports Phil Helsel and Brian McCready. (The papers have the same parent company, Journal Register News Service.)
The article questions the validity of Secondary Effects as an argument for zoning sexually oriented businesses. The Supreme Court has found secondary effects to be just cause for municipalities to zone such businesses to protect property values, quality of life issues and prevent crime.
The reporters reviewed situations in Milford and Orange, where Penthouse Boutique and VIP, respectively, have opened stores in recent years. According to police sources quoted, crime has not increased in the areas and the article states that property values have not been adversely effected either.
It goes on to say “a 2004 study conducted by Daniel Linz, a professor of communications at the University of California at Santa Barbara, examined crime statistics and property values near adult bookstores and cabarets in Toledo, Ohio, and found that those businesses were not to blame for crime hotspots.
In that study, Linz and other researchers compared crime rates within 1,000 feet of adult cabarets and bookstores for six months before and after they closed, and found that there was virtually no change.”
Please note that these studies were done on properties within 1000 feet from an SOB. In Berlin, the SOB is ZERO feet from residential property. BIG difference. Berlin would not be fighting VIP if it was 1000 feet from residential property. Berlin would not be fighting if VIP was 250 feet from residential property.
Another difference in crimes or undesirable issues being reported to the police is that because no one lives right next door to these other locations, no one is either seeing or caring what goes on there. Read the post about the Manchester location to see whether or not things happen in the parking lot. (I did not report it to the police because, being known as an opponent to VIP, I figured no one would take me seriously.) Also, with no residential next door neighbors, these other locations aren’t bothering anyone by being open until 2:00am. Most people would not appreciate a party every week night until midnight, weekends until 2am.
These satellite images illustrate the differences in the area immediately surrounding the SOBs mentioned in the article:
(I have outlined the property borders in yellow, and indicated with red lines 250 feet from the border * approximately*.)
Compare these to the Berlin location:
None of the other locations have residential properties close to them. Only Manchester even has any at all, and I’d estimate the closest is about 800′ from VIP. All the others are in basically industrial zones.
I can count atleast 15 residential properties that wholly or partially fall within 250′ in Berlin. Another 15 or so if you go out 500′. Literally dozens are within 1000′.
Another one down!
My neighbor Stan sent me an email today with the message that the VIP billboard on Mill Street is now down! Last week some news stories appeared in the Berlin Citizen and local TV news about Stan contacting the billboard company to let them know the billboards for Penthouse Boutique and VIP where across the street from a church and in violation of outdoor advertising standards.
The company agreed to try to resolve the issue, and the Penthouse Boutique board was moved to another location. Today the VIP board is down too. I don’t know the reasons, but I am glad to see the effectiveness of contacting a company, voicing concerns, and actually getting some results!
Of course, an hour after learning about this, I sit here looking out my living room window to this view: (Yes, this is a photo taken from my livingroom of the mobile billboard in the VIP parking lot. This is how close it is.)
Up close and personal: 
Berlin’s Billboard “Battle” a Bit Over-blown
One local news station called it a “battle” over adult business billboards, but I think “battle” is overstating the case.
The Berlin Citizen hit closer to the mark covering a story related to, yet seperate from, the continuing VIP issue in Berlin.
“Can you do anything about those billboards?” is a comment that comes up a lot. Drivers along I-91 and I-84 pass several billboards for not only VIP, but several other similar stores. Many people say it is especially uncomfortable when they have children in the car with them. Others say things like out-of-towners might get the impression that “adult businesses” are all Hartford has to offer.
The most offensive billboard situation, for my neighborhood at least, isn’t the interstate billboards, but a billboard about 3/4 of a mile from our neighborhood, en route to our elementary school, on Rt. 372, which featured a board for Penthouse Boutique on one side, and VIP on the other side. More egregious, these boards are right across the street from a church, Bethany Covenant.
Frankly, the effort to keep an adult store from being my next door neighbor is my main concern. I also didn’t really know if anything could be done. I did a little googling on the subject of billboards and came across the website for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the lead trade association representing the outdoor advertising industry.
The OAAA Code of Industry Principles states:
We are careful to place outdoor advertisements for products illegal for sale to minors on advertising displays that are a reasonable distance from the public places where children most frequently congregate.
We are committed to a program that establishes exclusionary zones that prohibit stationary advertisements of products illegal for sale to minors that are intended to be read from, or within 500 feet of, elementary and secondary schools, public playgrounds, and established places of worship.
We support establishing reasonable limits on the total number of outdoor displays in a market that may carry messages about products that are illegal for sale to minors.
I mentioned this finding to Stan, a neighbor and active member of our neighborhood group. Stan began contacting the company, which is located in New Jersey. He eventually got through to the owner, and explained the local situation, and told him the boards were clearly within 500′ of a church, which they company seemed unaware of.
With some persistence and cajoling on Stan’s part, the owner of the billboards agreed that the boards were possibly in violation of the OAAA principles. These are not legaling-binding, necessarily, but the company was willing to work on resolving the situation. The Penthouse Boutique ad has been moved to another location owned by the billboard company. The VIP board is under contract for a few more months. Now that the billboard company is aware of the violation, though, they will advise that the location is no longer available for adult business advertising.
If you find advertising to be offensive or in violation of standards… find out who is in control of it and TELL them. All billboards have the name of the company that owns them and usually a phone number along the bottom of the frame. There is also an ID# for that board, if possible give the company the exact location by providing this number.
Stan and I would love to see some local businesses place ads on the boards across from the church, both to thank the billboard company for addressing the community concerns, and to keep those boards from otherwise being blank, or having undesirable advertisers ever again.
The REAL story here is that something CAN be done, and one individual CAN effect change. Kudos to Stan!
New wife voodoo dolls, “plus size open cup lingerie,” and AXES? Oh my!
On March 30, 2007, VIP requested a zoning permit to operate a “retail” store that would sell “clothing and other related items.” A lingerie shop, plus.
An article in today’s Hartford Courant details the application, and zoning officer Hellyn Riggins’ rejection of this recent application.
Nice try, Dom and company, but no one believes a.) that VIP sincerely intends to operate a 15,000 sq. ft. lingerie shop that the town would have to continually monitor to keep in compliance or b.) that operating a lingerie shop under the exact same name as your existing porn mega-store would alleviate the secondary effect of lowering property values. The customer-base, and everyone else would logically view it as another… VIP mega store.
According to the Courant article, products to be sold at VIP under the “new” application include: lip gloss, key chains, condoms, Playboy martini sets, Hustler swimwear, garter belts, “father of bride” buttons, “light up bra,” new wife voodoo doll, honeymoon survival kit, Kama Sutra body powder, shoulder pads, bath salts, incense burners, whoopee cushion, throwing knives, swords, “final fling koozie,” fishnet body wear, leather bustiers, “plus size open cup lingerie,” hangover kit, pheromone candles, Playboy Christmas ornaments and axes.
I have no idea what a “new wife voodoo doll” is, I’m guessing some sort of gag gift, along the lines of whoopie cushions. Kama Sutra body powder… OK, I can see that falling under the catagory of “other related items” to clothing.
What I wonder is how are “throwing knives,” “swords,” and “axes” related to these other items? They are not talking about plastic “costume” accessories. VIP carries a large assortment of real steel bladed cutlery. I find this to be odd. I find these items to be potentially dangerous. I do not want these items to be sold next door to my home.
If the VIP group is serious about wanting to “adjust” the use of the building they own in Berlin to an acceptable use retail business that neighbors would not oppose I have some suggestions.
1.) Use it for the Chef’s Equipment store. We would truly welcome that business.
2.) Come up with a new concept like a truly upscale woman friendly store that does not carry porn DVDs, or other items that many women find offensive or degrading. Come up with a TRUE romance store that is not “porn” related in any way. Market this store towards women specifically and make it like an upscale spa. Aim for women who would NOT even consider going to VIP. I think there is a market you are missing.
3.) Sell the building and find a location that is not abutting residential property.
