This small, mostly liberal community of 30,000 residents known for its writers, artists and its sizable gay and lesbian community is divided over a proposed adult store to be located on its busy downtown area.
A controversy over the proposed business has put a local conservative couple, Jendi Reiter and Adam Cohen, at the heart of the matter as they pressure the city to keep the store from opening, claiming adult stores would bring down the community through crime and other potential problems, the Boston Globe reported this week.
But others have railed against the couple, saying they are violating the store owner’s rights to free speech.
It was just last July that the couple first heard that Rhode Island-based Capital Video Corp., a part of adult entertainment giant Metro Global Media, planned to open a 6,000-square-foot store, just four blocks from their home.
Store opponents who include residents and some local feminist groups said they object to the adult videos which they say are addictive, violent, degrading to women, but also capable of influencing those who watch them.
The store, they said, would be located too close to an elementary school and a mental health counseling facility. They also claim it will drive up crime rates. And they said they are troubled by Capital Video’s recent troubles. The company went to court in May to fight Kittery, Maine officials, after they banned private viewing booths in its store. Eventually, the store complied.
Reiter and Cohen, moved to Northampton from New York City three years ago to run their online business which reviews poetry contests. But today, the couple is seen by many as a divisive influence after putting pressure on city officials and posting the phone numbers on a Web site of a local couple which owns the building where the store would open. They urged resident to call them to express their opposition to the store.
But Carol Gesell, co-owner of the Oh My! novelty shop near downtown, said she is concerned by the tone of the couples anti-porn activism. She said they portray adult video viewers as “immoral” and “sordid people.”
Likewise, local resident James Giordano-Lanza, 18, said he is tired of those who want to control what others do in the community. So much so that he led a demonstration recently to show his support for free speech.
