Of Adult Entertainment, Sex Offenders and Casino Strippers

Milford is a community which has always sought to improve itself. It’s municipal buildings are first class. It has rehabbed old schools and its Town Hall is probably one of the best preserved in the Commonwealth. Over the decades, Milford has built new fire stations, a police station, library, senior center and it must one of the few towns of its size with a youth center.

The Town has sought to improve itself with the Neighborhood Restoration Committee and numerous grants which have improved sidewalks, drainage and roads on Jefferson St., the Heights, Church St. and other areas.  Milford has outstanding public service from its police, fire and highway departments and scores of people -- elected, appointed and volunteer -- have worked hard over the course of many years to maintain Milford’s financial stability.
 
The Board of Selectmen has routinely taken action when licensed establishments have run afoul of the law.  Milford successfully concluded a long legal struggle to prevent a local establishment from providing entertainment in the form of nude dancing.

Articles 19 on the current Milford Town Warrant seeks to further  “protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizenry; protect the citizens from crime; preserve the quality of life; preserve the property values and character of surrounding neighborhoods and deter the spread of urban blight”  by regulating sexually oriented businesses.

Article 39 of the Warrant seeks “to promote, protect, and improve the health, safety, and welfare of the people within the Town by creating areas around locations where children, elderly, and people with intellectual or physical disability congregate and wherein certain registered sex offenders are prohibited from loitering and establishing temporary or permanent residence.”

These two articles seek to protect the residents and preserve the quality of life in Milford.  Yet Milford continues to hold the door open to the possibility of siting a casino complex in town.

The website Backpage.com has been mentioned in the local news lately. First, the Milford Police Department raided a massage parlor on East Main St. which was allegedly a front for prostitution. According to published reports, the police became aware of the massage parlor thru an ad placed on the website, Backpage.com  Second, the Hopedale Police arrested a driver and a woman who reportedly made their connection thru an ad placed on Backpage.com.

You can go to nomilfordcasino.blogspot.com and see samples of ads that strippers place on Backpage.com.  Some of the strippers who place these ads highlight the fact that they are available at Connecticut casinos.

Casinos attract money and this type of activity is one of the things attracted to that money.  Would you think that these kinds of ads and the activity offered would occur in a casino if it were built in Milford?

It just does not seem to add up to be working to put bylaws in place to preserve the quality of life in Milford and at the same time hold the door open for the possible siting of a casino here with secondary effects all its own.

Will what happens in Milford, stay in Milford?