On March 19 the State of Connecticut filed an amicus curiae brief (PDF) to support adult-use zoning in Berlin, CT. A chain of adult shops called VIP is trying to open a new store in Berlin, less than 250 feet from a residential area. The brief argues that it is constitutional to apply zoning regulations […]
Ordinances and Regulations
Pornoland’s unwritten law: “if we tell the truth about what’s really going on here, the fan will get turned off”
ABC News presented a remarkably blunt segment on the porn industry in “Porn Profits: Corporate America’s Secret” (2003): “Even the people who enjoy looking at pornography really despise the people they’re watching, and they have no sense of protection for them,” [former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop] said… The production companies market [porn movies] over […]
Indiana: Judge Upholds Adult Zoning, Orders Adult Plaza Bookstore to Close
Reporting from Dale, Indiana, AP says that Circuit Judge Wayne Roell has upheld Spencer County’s adult-use zoning. Adult businesses may not operate within 1,000 feet of churches, schools and residences. Cincinnati attorney H. Louis Sirkin, considered one of the most experienced obscenity trial attorneys in the country, argued the county’s ordinance was unconstitutional. Judge Roell […]
Many Porn Shops with Viewing Booths Likely Fall Short of OSHA Standards
NPN has been corresponding with a former employee of a porn shop with viewing booths. Considering that semen is routinely found on viewing booth surfaces, this person suspected and confirmed that the porn shop was not in full compliance with OSHA regulations on working with bodily fluids. Responding to a recent inquiry, OSHA wrote: Your […]
Capital Video Springfield: Secondary Effects Extend to Prostitution; Actions the City Can Take
On March 7, we relayed a report from Urban Compass that Capital Video’s Springfield porn shop was inhibiting revitalization in its neighborhood, most notably by discouraging countless grocery store prospects.Urban Compass followed up yesterday with more details of the secondary effects of this porn shop…Developer Leon Charkoudian, real estate broker Fred Rowe, and property manager […]
Gazette: “Couple appeals porn shop’s building permit”
As reported in today’s Gazette, Adam Cohen and Jendi Reiter from NoPornNorthampton recently wrote to Northampton Building Commissioner Anthony Patillo, asking him to revoke the building permit issued to Capital Video for their proposed porn shop at 135 King Street. We wrote: Section 1.3 of the [Northampton zoning] ordinance includes these criteria for site plan […]
US Fifth Circuit Appeals Court Affirms that Evidence of Secondary Effects of “Off-Site Consumption” Adult Enterprises Is Sufficient To Justify Zoning
Some porn merchants claim that adult bookstores (as opposed to adult theaters) only have off-site consumption of porn, that they generate no signficant secondary effects, and that they should be exempt from adult-use zoning. The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagrees (PDF), and just found that the City of Kennedale, TX has sufficiently demonstrated […]
Connecticut: State, City and Citizens Cooperate to Combat Porn Shop Sited Next to Berlin Homes
Very Intimate Pleasures is trying to open up a large porn shop within 250 feet of a residential area in Berlin, CT. Citizens have protested, and the state has now joined city officials in efforts to get V.I.P. to comply with Berlin ordinances that forbid such a site to adult enterprises. Today’s Hartford Courant reports: […]
Code of the City of Northampton Now Online and Searchable
Ward 4 City Councilor David J. Narkewicz announces that “The complete Code of the City of Northampton–which includes all of our ordinances, zoning regulations, special acts of the legislature, and the charter–is now available online via the City’s homepage or directly by going here. The up-to-date “E-Code” contains Northampton’s recently adopted adult-use zoning and signage […]
Hartford Courant: Judge Backs Sex-Business Ordinance
A federal judge has upheld the rights of Berlin, CT residents to protect themselves from the secondary effects of a topless bar near homes. Today’s Hartford Courant tells the story… BERLIN — In a key decision that upholds the town’s sexually oriented business ordinance, a federal judge has rejected a lawsuit from Gold Diggers LLC, […]