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onceburned -> Allentown takes legal action against store (4/9/2005 1:42:33 PM)
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NCSF Action Alert
Leather Masters II forced to close!
Please take a moment to support
Leather Masters of Allentown, PA www.leathermasters.com
After four successful years of serving the East Coast, the city of Allentown is
using a vaguely written and interpreted adult book seller ordinance to shut down
Leather Masters II. The store sells leather clothing, fetish gear, whips and other
similar fetish items, and has met every single zoning inspection and licensing
requirement each and every year of operation. Ironically, last year Leather Masters
was featured as an outstanding business on the front page of Allentown's local
newspaper business section in clear recognition of their value to the local
community and economy.
Leather Masters, II has been a tax-paying, community minded outstanding
establishment and has never operated as an adult bookstore, yet they are being
forced to comply with adult bookstore requirements. The owners are choosing to
close because the legal fees and costs associated to fight the city, approximately
$25,000, are just not feasible for a small business, especially with no guarantee
(s) that their business would remain open or that the ordinance would be defined,
rewritten or varied.
They need our help. Let the City of Allentown know that its officials'
discriminatory, unjustified attacks on a valued business will not be tolerated.
There are elections for a new mayor, zoning, city council and congressional
officials the next two months so now is the time to write a letter to the Allentown
Zoning Board protesting their unfair treatment of Leather Masters II.
E-mail is fine, but fax or snail mail is even better. Suggested language can also
be used from the postcard that follows, or you can cut and paste the entire
postcard and sign your name:
City Of Allentown Planning and Zoning
Community and Economic Development
435 Hamilton Street
Allentown, PA 18101
FAX: 610-437-8781
James M. Toth, Zoning Officer
PH: 610-437-7630
E-mail: [email protected]
Barbara M. NEMITH, Zoning Supervisor
PH: 610-437-7649
E-mail: [email protected]
Dear Mr./Ms. XX,
I am writing to protest your unfair treatment of Leather Masters, II - a legal, tax
paying, law abiding, community minded business. The store owners have met every
city licensing requirement and have complied with every city ordinance in their
four years of existence. They were even featured as an outstanding business on the
front page of your own local newspaper business section a year ago. Leather Masters
II is not an adult bookstore and should not be regulated as such.
You are denying adults their right to access and purchase legal products as well as
owners' rights to free enterprise. Discrimination against alternative forms of
sexual expression should not be perpetuated in the 21st century and the actions of
City of Allentown are unacceptable.
I will not do business of any kind in Allentown until the city acknowledges its
discriminatory practices and changes them.
Sincerely,
your name
contact number (not for publication)
###
A project of NCSF and the NCSF Foundation
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization committed to
creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that
advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual
expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in the SM-
leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face discrimination
because of their sexual expression.
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127
Baltimore, MD 21202-3707
410-539-4824
[email protected]
www.ncsfreedom.org
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