At the scene of Thursday’s city council meeting, Springfield’s NBC affiliate WWLP briefly interviewed Adam Cohen from NoPornNorthampton. “…Northampton residents…came to tell the mayor they support a proposed ordinance to create a combat zone for adult-type businesses, away from schools, homes, and churches. Mayor Clare Higgins supports the creation of an adult business zone, but […]
Month: September 2006
New Sidebar Features Aid Navigation Through Blog
With over 100 entries and 48,000 words of content on this blog to date, we’ve been hearing that it can be challenging to navigate. We’ve added new features to the left-hand sidebar of every page to help. These include:Our Welcome MessageGet an introduction to the issues. Find out about the most important materials and activities.Status […]
Yard Sign Gone Missing? We’ll Replace It Free
We’ve noticed several NoPornNorthampton yard signs have gone missing lately. Today we replaced our own sign for the second time. It would appear that in their zeal to defend free speech, some porn advocates have taken it upon themselves to censor us and those who agree with us.We are happy to replace any yard sign that […]
Gazette: “New voice joins ‘adult’ debate”
Today’s Gazette reports on the launch of Talk Back Northampton, a site that claims that zoning adult businesses is “actual and real censorship”. Here are some of our responses to this claim:We are not advocating censorship, but mindfulness about porn and a few modest zoning and health regulations to address local residents’ legimate, well-documented concerns. These […]
Welcoming Talk Back Northampton to the Debate
A new blog called Talk Back Northampton has joined the debate. It raises concerns about censorship. The lead post of 9/21 is an open letter from “AC”, and is similar to the comment presented and discussed in our post, “A Response to First Amendment Concerns”.We observe that Talk Back Northampton presents a petition online. This […]
A Response to First Amendment Concerns
We would like to highlight an exchange of comments we had on 9/20 with “AC”. The points raised are substantially similar to those that appear in a 9/23 Gazette letter to the editor submitted by Peter Brooks.AC wrote:Your point of view, Nopornnorthampton, may be right in many respects. But pornographic material does make a social statement that […]
Gazette: “Measure takes aim at adult store”
Today’s Gazette features a front-page article on the proposed new ordinance to regulate the size and location of adult businesses:“Mayor Clare Higgins and two city councilors are calling for a zoning amendment that could derail plans for an adult video and magazine store on King Street…“If the proposed ordinance becomes law, it would stand in […]
Text of New Proposed Ordinance to “Regulate the location and size of adult entertainment”
We have received the text of the new proposed adult-use ordinance and are pleased to present it here. This proposal is on the Northampton City Council meeting agenda for 9/21. These meetings take place at 212 Main Street behind City Hall. The public is welcome to attend. The public comment period begins at 7:15pm. Mayor […]
A Response to “marriage is an outdated practice”
We recently had an exchange with “NOHO Resident” that we would like to highlight. NOHO Resident asserts that marriage “is becoming an outdated practice more and more day by day.” We replied: I’m so glad you raised the issue of marriage being obsolete. This would certainly be news to many children of divorce. Barbara Whitehead […]
Breaking News: City Council to Discuss an Ordinance to “Regulate the location and size of adult entertainment” on 9/21
At the 9/21 Northampton City Council meeting, a new adult-use zoning ordinance proposal is on the agenda: Amend Appendix A § 2.1 and 5.2 Regulate the location and size of adult entertainment (to be referred to Ordinance Committee and Economic Development, Housing and Land Use Committee) The public is welcome to attend this meeting, which […]