Re: We can live with adult businesses – Jim Harrington Editor: I would rather say: “We are forced to live with adult businesses.” Every day students that attend both a middle and high school in Pinellas Park walk a route that takes them past two of these adult establishments/nudie bars.
Both are located in one of those residential areas where adult establishments are not supposed to be. These children live in homes and apartments and attend schools less than a quarter of a mile away from these nudie bars. I wonder just how practical and tolerant our county commissioner would be if her family were subjected to this.
As for the legal status the court has bestowed upon them under freedom of speech and the tweaking the commission has done to satisfy the courts, it would seem that our community has been short-changed, although it would appear that someone on the commission has not been. What we have here is not freedom, but license. A deviation, an abuse of freedom. We all know that the bare (pun intended) requirements of covering breasts and buttocks, “a little skin here, a little skin there” is ludicrous.
That, however, is not the point. Our children, families and community are. As our children walk the streets in our town, what do we wish for them to see and experience? Would it be nudie bars, drug/sex paraphernalia shops, vans in front of these establishments emblazoned with pictures of half-naked women, parked so near to the street that driving by with your family you couldn’t avoid seeing them? Our children are being introduced to soft porn whether we like it or not. We do not have a choice in the matter. How free does that make you feel citizens of Pinellas Park/County? We have abdicated our freedom of speech to a nudie bar. They are stealing the innocence of our children, and they are stealing our freedom and right to make decisions about what we want our children to be exposed to.
How do you feel about living with adult businesses now?
We all want what is best for our families. We want our children to grow up in a town they can be proud of. I would like to squire out-of-town visitors around town and be proud to do so. I cannot respect a stand that diminishes my town and in turn the people within. It will ultimately diminish our county. Yes, the commissioner is being tolerant, and after all, they are operating under the law. We, the people, should exercise our freedom of speech and not tolerate what is being done to our communities and in turn our county.
It would seem that Hillsborough County is raising their standards in trying to eliminate these establishments. They have taken to heart what should be at the core of establishing a truly great community and county. What do we want to hold up to our children and families? Our town should be a place we feel proud to be a part of. Where we will not be ashamed to walk/drive down the street. Let’s not be afraid to work toward that standard, not throw up our hands and say: “It’s not going to happen.”
