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 […]
Secondary Effects
Capital Video’s Springfield Porn Shop Repels Sought-After Businesses
Capital Video’s Springfield porn shop continues to be the WMass exemplar for secondary effects. In January we noted how the Springfield police have issues with drug sales and lewd activity around the premises. Now Valley Advocate blog Urban Compass reports that the shop repels businesses that developers are trying to bring to the area: Developer […]
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 […]
Testimony in Minneapolis: Secondary Effects Around Adult Theaters; Police Suggest that Concerned Citizens Move Away
Citizens gave testimony about their encounters with porn and those who consume porn to the Minneapolis Government Operations Committee on December 12, 1983. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.124-129). Testimony of Shannon McCarthy BichaI am a resident of St. Paul, and I have been throughout the majority of […]
Activist Strategies: Indiana Feminists Block “Girls Gone Wild”; Berlin Resident Fights Strip Club Liquor License with Remonstrance Petition
Amanda Marcotte reports on the feminist blog Pandagon how activists in Bloomington, IN successfully pressured a local bar to cancel a taping of the amateur-porn phenomenon “Girls Gone Wild”. This video series produced by Joe Francis follows a camera crew to party spots in various cities as they persuade attractive, usually drunk young women to strip […]
Providence Journal Archives: Kenneth Guarino’s Mob Ties, Criminal Past, Global Empire
Kenneth Guarino owns 100% of the capital stock of Capital Video, the company planning to locate a hard-core porn shop at 135 King Street. We have documented his background and attitude in these previous posts: Capital Video Owner Kenneth Guarino “was associated with Natale Richichi, a capo in the Gambino family of La Cosa Nostra” […]
Carolyn McKenzie: Undercover with the Viewing Booths; Disease, Intoxicants Prevalent Among Strip Dancers (explicit language)
One night in Memphis about 15 years ago, Carolyn McKenzie accompanied a vice cop on a tour of adult bookstores, strip clubs, and a “modeling studio”. This mother of four and former public-health nurse had organized protests and filed complaints with the district attorney’s office over the porn shops and strip clubs that dotted suburban […]
Recommended Book: Local Regulation of Adult Businesses (2007 edition)
Those looking to draft local legislation regarding adult businesses should get a hold of Local Regulation of Adult Businesses (2007 edition), by Jules B. Gerard and Scott D. Bergthold. From the description: Provides detailed, up-to-date case law Focuses on the four main regulatory devices of obscenity, zoning, licensing, and nuisance control Examines recent United States […]
Detroit Police Testimony: What I Saw at the Melody Theater
Our opponents are insatiable for evidence about adult businesses and secondary effects, and we mean to satisfy them. In January 2000, Kevin Smith, detective with the Metro Street Enforcement Team (Detroit), gave this testimony to the Michigan House Ethics and Constitutional Law Committee regarding anti-pornography legislation… [We] began investigating the Melody Theater in June of […]
Springfield License Commission to Review Alleged Capital Video Violations for Drug Sales and Lewd Activity On or Near the Premises
Capital Video claims it enjoys an “excellent relationship with its host communities”. That doesn’t appear to be the case in Springfield. Urban Compass, a blog at the Valley Advocate, reports today that Regarding the [Springfield Capital Video] store, Police Commissioner Edward Flynn put out a call recently for downtown residents to attend a License Commission […]