Lu Stone has lived on Summer Street for 25 years. She wrote a history of the area, “A House. A Street. A City. The Story of 17 Summer Street”, and last Saturday she wrote to the Gazette to express her concerns about the porn shop proposed for 135 King Street:
“I would like to invite the mayor, city officials and all residents dedicated to preserving the integrity–and future–of a viable Northampton neighborhood to take a walk down Summer Street. Note the beautiful gardens and well-tended homes and duplexes, the improvements now under way. Take a look at the people who live on the street–a lively mix of renters and homeowners, young, middle-aged and old, lifelong residents and newcomers, recovering substance abusers, graduate students, computer experts and self-employed writers among them.
“Now, stop in front of any house on Summer and look down toward King Street to the one-story brick building you can’t escape seeing. Imagine that every time you drive down Summer or walk down Summer, or step out of your house on Summer, you will see a porn shop in that building. And what that porn shop represents–and the activities within its ”viewing rooms”–you can never escape.
“…Must the final chapter to our Summer Street history be a neighborhood on the skids, thanks to the arrival of a…chain porn shop from Rhode Island?”
Read the full letter here (may require a paid subscription).