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I live off 82nd avenue. This past year I?ve seen an increase in spent condoms on my street (84th Ave). Some prostitutes routinely ?take a break? by walking down my street. Some johns will circle our neighborhood looking for them. I?ve even had a bleeding prostitute show up at my front door at 11:30 pm because she needed urgent help. She was scared, barefoot and constantly looking over her shoulder. She didn?t want me to call the police. She wanted me to call a private number, which I assume was her pimp. I still called 911 as she ran off. When the police showed up and found out the victim was a prostitute, they just shrugged their shoulders and said, ?Oh well?. They explained that even if they found the prostitute, she would never press charges and pursuing it would be a waste of time.
The prostitution problem on 82nd is out of control. My wife & I make a game of pointing out prostitutes as we drive down 82nd. At first I thought it was funny but now it just is just a sad comment on the deterioration of our neighborhood.
We need the exclusion zone brought back. The crime that is tagging along with prostitution will make my neighborhood less livable, more dangerous and will eventually drag down the property values. We purchased our house 6 years ago and the neighborhood was looking up. Now, I?m wondering if I want to live here anymore.
When Potter talked about the exclusion zone pushing prostitutes out of the zone, where did they go? I didn?t hear of other neighborhoods complaining about spill-over prostitution from the exclusion zone.

Obviously, banning prostitution will never fully eliminate the problem. I think that the city should consider legalizing prostitution. We need prostitutes off the streets and get them into brothels. Look as Amsterdam as an example. We can regulate it, license it, tax the transactions and help keep women safe by mandating health exams regularly. An article in the New York Times in February 2008 stated that officials estimate that sexual transactions in Amsterdam account for about 100 million US dollars per year. The red light district is also a popular tourist attraction, so the revenues that Amsterdam earns in tourism can be partly linked to brothels and the unusual appeal they bring to city. Obviously we can?t count on that kind of boost in revenue but I think we see the benefits of regulating prostitution vs. outlawing prostitution.

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
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