PORTSMOUTH — Three porn shops have agreed to dismantle their video viewing booths under pressure from the city’s health and legal departments.
Tuesday was the deadline for the trio of city porn shops to submit plans showing how they would comply with an ordinance requiring the booths to be well lighted, without holes, clean and visible from all “common areas” of the stores. Toward the close of the business day, health inspector Kim McNamara told the Herald that all three planned to eliminate the booths.
They have 30 days to comply, she said.
“I really do think this is coming to a pretty quick resolution,” said McNamara.
The Spaulding Book store on the Spauding Turnpike and The 5th Wheel on the Route 1 Bypass both reported plans to remove their booths altogether, said McNamara, adding it was her understanding that the Moonlight Reader intends to do the same.
Del Paone, owner of the Moonlight Reader, confirmed, adding he disconnected his booths and closed the viewing booth area to the public 10 days ago. Meanwhile, he said, he’s waiting for the Rhode Island company that owns them to come pick them up.
“I can’t just snap my fingers,” he said.
Paone said he’s “really upset” that his six viewing booths were constructed under city supervision and he now faces costs associated with city-mandated removal.
“If I wanted to spend a ton of money, I could beat this,” he said. “They let me put them in. They gave me the permits.”
At The 5th Wheel on Tuesday, workers were removing large pieces of wood from the shop and dumping them into a metal trash bin in the parking lot. That shop was temporarily closed 10 days ago, following a routine inspection by McNamara, who found violations of the viewing booth ordinance and shoddy bathroom plumbing.
At that time, city attorney Bob Sullivan told the Herald the ordinance “is intended to protect public health.”
“These have proven to be places where there is anonymous sexual activity and indiscriminate dispersal of bodily fluids,” he said. “By requiring the booths to be lighted and visible from common areas of the business, the theory is that anonymous sexual activity will decrease.”
Sullivan said the most egregious violations found by the health inspector were the discovery of bodily fluids at The 5th Wheel.
In April 2007, notices from the Web site Craigslist inviting sexual encounters at The 5th Wheel were mailed to the Herald. Owner Linda Rossetti said at the time that she disapproved and promised to take remedial action.