Advice from the experts on how to clean up your town the right way.

Don’t wait until you have a problem
Protecting a community before problems arise pays dividends for years. “We’ll never be able to count what businesses have not opened simply because the right steps have been taken ahead of time,” ROCK President Bryan Wickens says.

Stay focused
“Determine what your priority is and then stick to it,” Wickens says. “Be the best you can be at it. If you try to tackle all of the problems, you won’t be good at any of them.”

Develop a long-term plan
A common trap is to push for quick results without building a foundation for lasting change. This can leave supporters discouraged when setbacks occur. Bryan Wickens tells people to develop five- and 10-year plans for change, and to never lose sight of their goals.

Be strategic
ROCK found creative ways to shut down illegally operating businesses. Besides passing strong, constitutionally sound ordinances, citizens can check license applications for false information, request building and health inspections, and challenge liquor licenses. Violations should be documented and presented to authorities.

Focus on harms, not morality
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that communities can restrict sexually oriented businesses based on their harmful secondary effects, but not because of religious conviction or general concerns over morality.

The Family Foundation in Kentucky advises people to focus public arguments on the legally permissible reasons for restrictions: health, safety and welfare.  Dozens of land-use studies in communities across the nation have shown consistent harms to the community from sexually oriented businesses, including increased crime, decreased property values and urban blight.

Educate your public officials
For years, Americans have been told by law enforcement or district attorneys that sex shops are a First Amendment issue. Former FBI agent Roger Young calls this “miseducation.” “Citizens need to re-educate law enforcement, prosecutors, investigators and judges with the truth and the total picture,” he says. “Then they really understand and see how obscenity, prostitution and sexual exploitation of children are all tied together very closely.”

Be a positive force in the community
Retired Pastor Bob Russell says successful efforts must promote a positive good in the community. The goal is to create a movement people want to be part of. “You’ve got a lot of good Christian people who are really concerned about the declining culture and want to do something about it,” he says, “but they don’t want to be identified with a group that is only shouting and coming across as extremists all the time.”

Bypass political differences
Once a community starts cleaning up, people from all walks of life will notice and appreciate the effort. “It’s not a conservative or liberal issue when you get to a certain point,” says Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values. “Community standards are high and low, not left and right.”

Show them an army
Phil Burress believes there are three essential elements to cleaning up a community: strong law enforcement, dedicated elected officials and concerned citizens. According to Burress, concerned citizens account for 85 percent of the success. “If you have a big enough base of concerned citizens and they’re well organized,” he says, “the elected officials and law enforcement will do their job. But you have to show them an army.”

Work with people, not against them
“I think we hurt our cause when we’re perceived as people who are just against things,” Bryan Wickens says. “If you can help people understand how they’re doing the right thing for their community and let them be the heroes, you have a friend for years to come. You have to keep your eye on the goal, not who gets credit.”

Alliance Defense Fund President Alan Sears saw the evidence that positive engagement is changing Louisville at a meeting in the city last year. “Everyone in attendance knew of ROCK’s efforts,” he says. “Even those who disagreed, the critics, commended the professional way that those at ROCK are doing their jobs.”

Be prepared for politics
If your concerns have been expressed and nothing changes, you might need to elect better leaders to tackle the problem. “You may not have a pornography problem, you may have a political problem,” Phil Burress says. “If the tipping point has gone too far, then you have to fix the political problem before you can fix the porn problem.”

Stay vigilant
Many communities work hard to clean up and then make the mistake of relaxing. “Once you run them out of town, that’s when the work begins, because they love a void,” Phil Burress says. “They’ll do anything they can to come back in and set up shop.”

Invest yourself
“I suspect there are people across this country sitting on passions, sitting on calling,” Bryan Wickens says. “Whether it’s apathy, whether it’s busy schedules or whatever it might be, they’ve got to ask themselves, ‘If they’re not going to do it, who is?’”

This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Citizen.

Daniel Weiss is the senior analyst for media and sexuality for CitizenLink, an affiliate of Focus on the Family.

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