An Open Letter to Kenneth Guarino & Capital Video

October 4, 2006

Via Facsimile and Regular Mail

Mr. Kenneth Guarino
Captial Video Corporation
780 Reservoir Ave.
Cranston, Rhode Island 02910

Re: 135 King Street, Northampton, MA 01060

Dear Mr. Guarino:

I am a resident of the neighborhood in Northampton, Massachusetts where you intend to establish another Amazing video store. By speaking out at City Council and relevant committee meetings, and running my blog, http://www.blogger.com/, I have become what some characterize as a member of the responsible opposition to the proposed amendments to the City’s zoning ordinances to banish your store to the outskirts of town. You may believe that I write to offer my support, but I write, instead, to call you out.

My complaint is that you have done nothing to address the concerns of the community about the secondary effects that your establishments have caused elsewhere and might cause here. While I do not subscribe to the theory that secondary effects inherently flow from adult entertainment establishments, there is no doubt that secondary effects flow from owners of retail establishments who are irresponsible members of the communities in which they operate, be it owners of porn stores, bars or Chinese restaurants. The mere content sold within your establishments is not responsible for the secondary effects. You are.

It is mostly because of irresponsible operators of adult establishments who are insensitive to the communities in which they locate that porn has the near universal bad reputation that it has. Little wonder that even our liberal community accepts as gospel truth that secondary effects flow as inevitably from a porn shop as light from the sun. For that reason, few people anywhere disagree with the sentiment that hard core porn retailers like you deserve whatever treatment they get.

Perhaps you prefer it that way, basking in your defiance, or just don’t really care. But, acting as a responsible owner of an adult establishment in the community is, if nothing else, just good business. The pendulum of First Amendment protection is swinging further and further away from you, and may get stuck there far, far away for a long, long time.

The public is becoming more and more accepting everyday of censorship measures more commonly associated with China, of all places, than the USA – so do not expect the Internet to save your business empire. Have you noticed how the government lately has shut down off-shore on-line gambling operations? Curtailed on-line tobacco operations situated on Indian reservations? Purely as a business decision, it’s time to rely upon something more than the First Amendment and your lawyers.

In light of first, the prevailing public perception that plagues hard core sex establishments, and, secondly, the advantages that may flow from reliance upon more than your shrinking First Amendment rights, you may be better off requiring your stores to be community leaders in the neighborhoods where they are located.

I visited your store in Springfield this last week. It is a small, low class joint with a bland cinder block store front in a neighborhood that needs a good sweeping, wash and paint job, at the very least. There was no reason to believe your store has hastened the demise of, or improved upon, the neighborhood. But I submit that it is in your best interest to require your stores to be better than the rest of the stores in a neighborhood. For starters, why was the sidewalk in front of your store no cleaner than the sidewalk in front of the neighboring stores? Why have you not spent the pocket change to put up an attractive mural on the storefront? Etc., etc.

Here in Northampton, you can start by acting as, or even better than, any other responsible local business owner would. Any other local business operator carrying on a type of business associated with undesirable secondary effects, be it noise, drunken patrons or refuse, in this small town must face the community in person and address its concerns, be it in the coffee shops, or in formal city council or committee meetings.

Why not you? You could pro-actively appear in person, negotiate and agree to specific measures to prevent and be held accountable for the secondary effects that may flow from the irresponsible operation of an establishment such as yours, like any other local business owner.

Sure, legally, I suppose you could send representatives in your stead, or hope your lawyers prevail in court, but that will only reinforce the impression among us that you do not respect the community, and if you do not respect it, why should it respect you?

You may think you need not prove to us that you deserve respect. You have reputedly partnered with tough characters in the past. But that hardly engenders the respect you seek, and may ultimately need, from this community.

Other owners of adult enterprises, such as Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt long ago began to step up and still step up to face the public. But so far you have proven merely that you are afraid that a small town city council and its community members can stare you down.

In short, Mr. Guarino, you have proven nothing but that you are a coward, unworthy of respect. So, take your shoddy operation and get the hell out of town, or step up, face the public and be a real man.



Very truly yours,



Peter L. Brooks