No one is happy that I am about Chef’s opening in this location instead of VIP. This is a Win/Win for for Dom DeMartino and Berlin (and our neighborhood!)

Daughter sitting on couch in liv. rm, originally uploaded by lauramichaud.

Here is my 7 year old on the living room couch.

She can read well now.
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This billboard reads:
“Relax, It’s Just Sex… We’re All Doing It”
Sexy Lingerie
Adult Toys
XXX Novelty Gifts
1000′s of DVD’s
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So now I have gotten questions like “Mom, what are ADULT toys?”
and, with excitement “Mom, it says they have 1000′s of Videos!” (she’s thinking maybe she could rent “The Little Mermaid” or something!

So, if you wonder WHY we are fighting this, this is why. Unless you have seen this in person, don’t realize how close this is. It’s in my front yard, not down the road, not simply within sight. Right there.

This truck comes frequently (nearly daily) and parks, sometimes for hours at a time. Some people find this offesive o drive by this on the highway with their children in the car. Imagine if it came and sat there for hours visible from your living room window.

SEE THE LINKS IN RIGHT COLUMN UNDER BIP2009 FOR RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE.

This is the third time Berlin’s SOB ordinance has been upheld in Supreme Court, the first time in a suit brought by the owners of the InfraRed Cafe, the initial ruling in the VIP vs Berlin Zoning and now this one.

VIP has another lawsuit filed in Federal Court, which has been moved several times and I don’t even know for sure when it is scheduled anymore, possibly November. Today’s ruling will make that suit even harder for VIP to win, if not a mute point entirely.

If today’s ruling had been in favor of VIP, it would have been bad news for the town in Federal court. It also would have an impact on every town in Connecticut that has an SOB ordinance.

Read more at the Courant.

Here is a picture of some of the news trucks that show up every time there is anything going on with VIP.

For the latest news about VIPs appeal of a courts ruling concerning the town of Berlin and its right to zone adult businesses, here is an article from todays Courant.

For those of you who want to comment and call me a prude or whatever, dont bother, I no longer post or even check the comments. Start your own blog on the subject if you feel that strongly that an adult store belongs next to a residential neighborhood. Even better, make an offer on my house, if you would like to live next door to a 15,000 sq. ft. store full of porn, dildos, knives and bongs that is open until 2:00am.

After the previous post with the photo of my daughter, I felt there was little left to say, as far as reasons to oppose VIP locating next door.

To catch up, it has been a long summer of waiting. And there is plenty more waiting to do, as the VIP Federal lawsuit has been pushed all the way to November. In July, The Connecticut state Superior Court rejected VIPs lawsuit challenging the town’s Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. Very good news for us.

Phantom Fireworks leased the VIP property for the summer, and were very good neighbors. Other activity in the neighborhood included calling the police to report sightings of 2 women who appeared to be selling their wares. The Berlin Citizen reported on this a few weeks ago, and todays Hartford Advocate deals with the issue in their cover story Turnpike at a Crossroads.

I agree that the Berlin Turnpike in Berlin is at a Crossroads. It could go either way, revitalization or further downhill. Additional adult businesses could only contribute to its demise. Thoughtful planning and zoning could make it an attractive business area, centrally located with easy access from both Hartford and New Haven.

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′.

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:

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:

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!

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