In a wonderful opinion piece in the AJC, Jim Osterman chimes in on the recent Love Shack ruling in Johns Creek. Osterman is a resident of Sandy Springs and has this to say:
Last week our new-city neighbor to the north, Johns Creek, won a round in its ongoing battle to deny the Love Shack a business license. Down here we have our own versions of the Shack, and I know a lot of you wish they’d go away. Count me in.
Such places put nothing of worth into a community. They add nothing of substance to a community. Indeed, they erode community in the truest sense of the word.
Jim Osterman hits the nail on the head. He challenges us, the community at large to look past the government and at ourselves for the solution:
Forget the mayor and city council. Forget some super-lawyer crafting a law that drops the hammer on the adult business. Are we capable of channeling our moral indignation into starving these places to death? Exercise some control and strive to improve our minds and spirits? Do the same for our children?
Do we, as a community, have that in us?
I have never heard of one single benefit to having such businesses in a community. Not one. What I usually hear is the “victimless crime” cliche, as though there can be a crime and not a victim.
The true solution to ridding any community of its porn palaces does not lie with elected officials. It’s not a government solution —- it’s a you-and-me solution.
Dry up the demand and the supply will starve. Government can’t legislate morality. That, kids, is an inside job. Do not ask anyone to do for you what you are not willing to do for yourself.
