Editors note: Here's something that Andrew Shelffo posted at MassLive today.
There's been a lot of discussion about the so-called "secondary effects" of adult businesses in Northampton. The argument goes like this: if the City Council doesn't pass the zoning ordinances before it on Thursday and Capital Video opens on King St., then Northampton will be subjected to an increase in crime. It's worth noting, however, that Northampton already has adult businesses operating in town and has not seen evidence of secondary effects.
The NoPorn people will tell you, however, that's because the adult businesses in town are not run by Capital Video. I am not defending Capital Video and its business practices, but I did notice this week that Warwick, Rhode Island, which has a Capital Video store, was just ranked at the 42nd safest city in the country. In addition, Springfield announced last week that crime has been down this year. Yes, there is a Capital Video store in Springfield.
Today's Republican reports that Springfield's Police Chief is upset with Springfield's place on the safest cities' list. He does not, however, blame adult businesses for the city's low rankings. "We've got the same hot spots that everybody's got," Chief Flynn says.
It's quite possible that for all of the "evidence" NoPorn has presented about secondary effects, that it's far from a foregone conclusion that the sky will indeed fall if an adult business opens on King St.
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Yes, it might be hard to prove that a single adult use substantially boosted total crime or blight in a sizable city (although sometimes they do, as in Des Moines, where citizens identified an adult theater as a major blight on their downtown). However, it's much easier to show that adult uses can impact their immediate surroundings, and that's the primary concern of the zoning proposals. Putting a 500-foot buffer zone between a large adult business and homes is a reasonable, modest response to the risks. We are not talking about banning any adult use from the city.
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