Right wing religious agenda? NOT!

This week’s Hartford Advocate has an article about Berlin’s battle with VIP.

It takes the typical stand of saying we are somehow against free speech and the 1st amendment, and that opponents of such businesses “use” zoning issues, such as “purported” secondary effects to take away or censor the right of others’ freedom of expression, simply because we don’t like what they are expressing. Apparently because we think it is sinful.

I won’t hold Adam Bulger (a nice enough guy in my dealings with him), the Advocate reporter, personally responsible for this statement from one of his sources…
“Clyde DeWitt, a Los Angeles based attorney who specializes in adult business-related First Amendment issues, said that arguments about secondary effects are specious, and tend to hide an anti-free speech agenda.

“The fact of the matter is that there’s a group of right wing Christians who think adult entertainment is a sin and they’re trying to do everything they can to get rid of it,” DeWitt said. “This seems to work for them because you can’t say you’re not allowed to have this because that would be the regulation of a content of speech. Whether they like it or not, Playboy is speech and it’s protected, just like their churches are.”

I think people like DeWitt use the term “right wing Christians” as buzzwords, to lump those who want adult businesses regulated with religious “nuts,” and to intimidate people from speaking out against such businesses, lest you be called a nut or a prude.

I would like to state for the record that I am not a right wing Christian with a religious based “agenda” against free speech. Or sex. Or sin.

The fact of the matter is that I am just a normal (well, OK… average?) middle class person, who was minding my own business, who came home from work one day and found that a huge porn shop wanted to open next door, and it would be open until 2 in the morning.

So before you go labeling me a prude, or a right wing nut, as yourself this:
What would you do if it was YOUR neighborhood, your children who’s bus stop was going to be less than 250′ from VIP?

I am not trying to stop stores like this from existing. I don’t care what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. But really, would you want this type of business within walking distance of your home?

This is not about religion, or even politics. For anyone who cares to know (probably not many), I am a Christian (Lutheran), but not a right wing one and I work for a Jewish publication. Certainly I am for freedom of religion, or non-religion. I am against making abortion illegal(I guess that would be pro-choice, but I don’t think anyone is pro-abortion). I am pro-gay marriage (people making a commitment to eachother can’t be a bad thing!) I have worked for newspapers and media my entire adult life, so I am absolutely in favor of the first amendment (although I think it has been twisted by the adult business industry –talk about an agenda, like it’s about some lofty constitutional reason. It’s about $$$$) I majored in ART in college, at an all-arts college, not typically right wing communities, if you know what I mean. I am not even right handed… I’m a lefty. I’m the daughter of a lefty, and the mother of a lefty.

There is no hidden agenda, religious or otherwise. My only agenda is that I do not want to live next door to a 15,000 sq. ft. sex shop.

What are secondary effects? They are the same reasons you probably don’t want to live next to a sex shop either.

We love Dick

Blumenthal!

(The photo above shows the sign at the corner of my front yard. It serves as a message board for the neighborhood)

A newspaper photographer came out Saturday to take a pic of the sign in my yard for an upcoming story. Other than the big NO VIP and email address, there is currently no message. I joked with my husband that I should change the message on our sign to read “We love Dick …Blumenthal!” It would be both humorous (well, I think so) and true.

I am very grateful to the Attorney General for his support and for seeing that this situation is likely to become a problem for other communities if VIP is allowed to disregard a town’s sexually oriented business ordinances.

Unless or until a situation is effecting one personally, people often don’t see the point of getting involved in things like this. I am guilty of this myself. When Kurt Kemmling began his efforts to get the Infra-Red strip club closed, of course I thought it was a good idea for the town to do it, but I saw no reason to get involved. That was all the way on the other side of town! Kurt, (without the benefit of the many supportive neighbors I am lucky to have) along with the town council, kept up the fight, while Infra-red (new owner would have re-named it Gold Diggers) and their lawyer (Dan Silver, who else?) sued Berlin. The claim–Berlin’s SOB ordinance was unconstitutional.

After taking nearly a year to get through the courts, in January, a federal judge upheld Berlin’s SOB ordinance. Now I couldn’t be more grateful to Kurt for standing up for his neighborhood, as this decision could really be important to my current situation. Now, I wish I had lent Kurt’s battle more support, but of course, I didn’t know it would ever effect me.

I truly hope that the town of Berlin prevails in the VIP lawsuit, and if they do, I will have Kurt to thank in part for that. I hope that these efforts will some day help other communities to protect their neighborhoods.

Colin McEnroe supports porn shop

WTIC-AM 1080 Talk Radio host Colin McEnroe welcomed VIP General Manager Gary Porter as a guest on his show yesterday afternoon.

Although I am a regular listener of the show, I did not hear the broadcast first-hand. I did get several emails about show though, and the consensus was that Colin was clearly on the side of VIP, and feels that there would be no negative impact from having a sex shop (and he himself called it a sex shop) next door to my home.

I wrote McEnroe an email explaining that Berlin has a right to zone SOB’s and protect property values, and that I can not imagine that anyone faced with this potential neighbor would not fight it vigorously. I stated that I was disappointed that he had not bothered to interview me, Mayor Salina, or anyone else who’s life is effected by this situation, and that I felt he should have given us equal airtime. His producer wrote back saying if Colin wanted to put me on the show, he’d call me.

This New Britain Herald article sites that Porter “assured listeners that VIP stores are well-policed and that the chain “tries to be a good citizen.”
“We make sure customers must be 18 or older,” he said. He added that similar adult products are currently available in shopping malls.

Well, my trip to the Manchester VIP, reviewed in an earlier post, contradicts that “well-policed” claim, as well as the claim to making sure customers are 18 or older. I have yet to see videos in “Spencer Gifts” or any other mall store with titles like “Gang Bang that P_ssy,” “MILF’s Gone Anal,” or “Don’t Tell Mommy.”

The article then goes on to say ‘Still, McEnroe wondered what the fuss was all about.
“If you can’t do this on the Berlin Turnpike, I don’t know where you can,” he told Porter.’

My house can be seen to the right.

To get an idea of the layout of the neighborhood:

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE) image courtesy Google Maps
The proposed VIP building is the big square to the right of the big green arrow. My house is the little square under it, to the right of the letters Cir. You can see how Woodruff Circle comes off the Berlin Turnpike and then curves. You can see another home directly behind VIP that is also very close.

Court rules Attorney General CAN enter case as “Friend of the Court”

I am pleased to learn that a federal court has ruled in favor of allowing CT AG Richard Blumenthal to intervene in the lawsuit filed by VIP against the town of Berlin.

VIP had filed a memorandum opposing the AG’s “Amicus Curiae” request on March 29.

You can read more about this in a today’s Hartford Courant article, where Blumenthal says “the court recognizes the ramifications this single case has beyond Berlin’s borders for the entire state. The state will be at Berlin’s side in court – protecting the right of every city and town in Connecticut to protect citizens from sexually oriented businesses.”

Neighbors do about-face and vote to Welcome porn shop!

Last night, in an unexpected about-face, neighbors in Berlin’s Webster Heights voted to give up their opposition to the VIP “adult” shop that is trying to open near their homes.

When asked why the sudden change of heart, one resident, who asked to remain anonymous, stated “After reviewing some of the points brought up by Atty. Dan Silver, General Manager Gary Porter, and a letter to the editor of the Berlin Citizen by an astute Berlinite… we just saw the light. It’s all in the way you choose to view the situation. If you just take a moment, you can appreciate all the positives, and forget all the negative aspects so many have been dwelling on.”

Asked to elaborate, another neighbor offered these selling points,”Well, to be honest, I never considered the convenience of not having to drive all the way to Hartford to buy a little sexy something for my wife’s birthday! With VIP just a few doors down, I can just pop in on my way home from work, without having to go the extra ten miles into that dangerous industrial section of Hartford.”

A mother of three chimed in saying “With 3 kids, its hard to find time to “spice things up,” if you know what I mean. Now that I know it’s really a romance shop, maybe it can help revive my less-than-spicy marriage and keep my husband off the computer for a while. Really, I mean, I hear these stores actually SAVE marriages.”

Aren’t you concerned about property values? One resident answered that “At first, I WAS, but since that letter in the Citizen pointed out that maybe if we just give them a chance, VIP will go out of their way to be a “low-key, unobtrusive” adult business, you know, that quitely blends in with the neighborhood. I’m not concerned anymore that they might paint it the same color as the Manchester location. As far as potential pornographic litter, I’m sure that they have parking lot clean up on an hourly basis.”

What about other potential problems in the parking lot? “Oh, I am sure that they must have security surveillance at all times! I mean, would people actually DO something sexual in a parking lot?”

One neighbor said she was even considering getting a part-time job at the store. “Why not? I could walk to work and save on gas. I mean, besides bringing down taxes, VIP is even bringing JOBS to Berlin!”
And what about the imact on the children? “Oh, I don’t know what the fuss is. They’re just going to see these things on TV anyways… this stuff is so mainstream, they probably have seen it all already.”

Asked for his take on the turnaround, Mayor Adam Salina said “You know, I never thought of these things either. Maybe we should embrace VIP, and other stores like it, and promote Berlin as the Sex-positive Mecca of Central Connecticut. Maybe we could get a billboard that says “Berlin, your place for hometown porn, around every corner!”

Gary Porter, VIP general manager stated “I KNEW these people would come around after I just EXPLAINED the benefits we have to offer!”

As I was reviewing my notes for this article, I noticed the date of the meeting: Sunday, April 1, 2007. APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!