So it’s Saturday night and a mother and daughter are cruising down 82nd Ave, snapping photos of women they think might be prostitutes. This is part of the Montavilla in Action neighborhood activists’ plan for Community Patrols: people taking to the streets, shooting photos of women who look like prostitutes and sending those photos to the police. Montavilla in Action leaders hope the photos will help them agitate for the reinstatement of the Prostitution Free Zone, a law enforcement policy the ACLU says is unconstitutional.
edit: Montavilla in Action emailed to say they do not encourage taking photos of prostitutes by members of their community patrols. I got the impression in conversations that this is what they were asking neighbors to do – document the prostitution in their area with cameras – but I don’t have any specific quotes in my notes about it, so you’ll have to take their word for it that they never officially told members to take photos of suspected prostitutes on 82nd. end edit
So the mother and daughter vigilante photographer team rolls up next to two women sitting on a bench near 82nd and Burnside who “flash some photos” at the mom & daughter. But when the passenger points her camera toward them, the two women on the street get up and run toward the car, sprayed mace at the activist neighbors as they frantically tried to roll up their windows.
One of the downsides of vigilantism: sometimes when you’re trying to protect the public good by taking photos of suspicious-looking people on the street, the people you deem suspicious get mad. And they carry mace.
Also: Montavilla in Action warned its members to stay safe after the attempted macing, saying “a mother and daughter were attacked by two prostitutes.” But there’s no definite proof the women sitting on the street were for sale other than the way they were dressed and this confusing photo-flashing. Maybe they’re a mother and daughter pair, too, creeped out by a car taking photos of them?
If they’re really committed to this thing, then they would send their husbands out to troll for hookers and lure them back to a wired up hotel room. As soon as the pro takes the money… click click click. Just make sure you wash that man well before you kiss him for all his good work.
So which lucky cop gets to be paid to look at pictures of sexy women?
I assume you are voluteering to clean up the syringes and used rubbers from the baseball diamond before the kids start their t-ball game?
So what solutions do you offer these folks? Is taking a picture a “violent” act” that justifies getting maced? Under that criteria we should all be macing intrusive reporters and newspaper photographers.
We are getting lots of “big” ideas from City Hall, meanwhile on the front lines there are people in homes trying to live their lives and love their neighborhoods who must make way for obvious and pervasive crime, right in their front yards.
When did neighborhood watches become vigilante activities? I guess I missed that at the lastest neighborhood meeting where we where asked to be part of the solution?
I sure hope that mace thing isn’t an issue when the same standard is applied to reporters.
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! This made my day.
Sarah – how come you didn’t attach the photos or the video regarding the story? http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/oregon/stories/NW_092208ORN_prostitution_attack_TP.a1ab265d.html
These women that attacked our fellow neighbors are known & convicted prostitutes. They were seen getting in out of cars all night long and that bench is their drop off point, this occured all throughout the early evening and the attack was at 9pm. Sarah please ask us these obvious questions before you post such uninformed articles. We live here, we see and experience this crime now daily, we see these young women freely traded, we see neighborhood women afraid to walk these same streets now, we hear the johns circling our streets all days & nights like sharks, please talk to us before you write such slanted pieces.
As we have stated to you before, the working families of the neighborhoods surrounding 82nd Avenue – Montavilla, Mount Tabor, Park Rose, etc are out patrolling the streets seven nights a week, out of pure necessity due to the blatant increase in crime.
Sarah – we have told you about the neighborhood stories but you never have reported them. WHY? We have told you & can list hundreds of examples of stories of our fellow neighbors and how their safety is now being compromised – johns now freely harass women & young girls in the area – since if you are a lone women in this radius “you must be a prostitute”, a family told us that their 14 & 11 year old daughters can’t freely walk in neighborhood any more, johns are masturbating in cars & exposing themselves, johns are erratically speeding and circling down our residential streets all hours of the day & night since they are in the zone, literally. Many rental properties are being taken over by criminals as “base camps” closer to their place of work the Avenue – 82nd selling & dealing drugs. There has been two retaliation style turf war fatalities on our streets.
We have told you about the local young Mother that we always referred to. We met her at the Montavilla Kids Fair in July – she had specifically come there to sign our petition. She is a young mother of 3 and does not have a car. She told us then that unfortunately she has to walk to/on 82nd for groceries and it was only this past summer that now johns in cars are harrassing her while she walks with her 3 children.
As we told you Sarah, that she is so concerned about her children’s safety and has now moved. She did not have the funds, nor the security deposit but she put it on a credit card because her safety was being comprised by johns every time she walked in her neighborhood. How sad. She doesn’t have the money to move and it is a real struggle & we offered to help. She is heading out to Beaverton and is upset because she likes this area and likes to be able to walk (she doesn’t have a car & has 3 young children all under the ages of 5) everywhere. Unfortunately because of the crime she couldn’t walk in this neighborhood anymore & where she is moving it will be harder to walk but she has to now move for their safety.
You have also portrayed us “battling” others, which is not the case we are trying to draw attention to this increased crime that is taking over our streets. We are upset that our City leaders abandoned the PFZ and stop funding outreach for the prostitutes years ago. No wobnder why we are at where we are today.
Sarah you have our phone numbers, you have our emails please delve deeper then sensationalizing a very sad & tragic crime.
Thank you,
Montavilla In Action
http://www.MontavillaInAction.blogspot.com
Ms. Mirk,
Your reporting and understanding of this incident and its context are troubling. First, taking photos of people engaged in prostitution, an activity that poses a very current and real threat to a number of Portland neighborhoods, should be recognized as a legitimate thing that neighbors may do as part of their efforts to improve their neighborhood. In fact, it reflects basic principles of community policing and community involvement. Your suggestion that the retaliation the photo-takers in question received is simply their just desserts borders on condoning the violence that was done to them and their property. I find your sarcastic and detached stance towards two people who are working to improve their neighborhoods very troubling. On the other hand, I don’t find it out of keeping with that particular brand of Portland attitude that has mountains of sympathy for people who trash public spaces and neighborhoods but very little sympathy for the victims of these activities. I do agree that factually speaking, people who are confronted about their behavior often react negatively (and sometimes violently), but your implication that wrong-doers should be free to attack people attempting to put a stop to their behavior is something I must disagree with. Second, you seem to imply that the possibility of neighbors mis-identifying people on 82nd as prostitutes is a reason for people not to take action to deter prostitution activity. From a practical point of view, women like those whose photos were taken are nearly impossible to mis-identify as prostitutes. The two women are well-known to police as prostitutes who work 82nd and their appearance, gait and other aspects of their bearing are such that you’d have to be blind not to recognize what they’re doing. This is particularly true for neighbors and frequent visitors to Montavilla, who develop an eye for identifying prostitutes. Finally, your implication that bands of neighborhood residents are running amuck taking pictures all day and night of anyone they can see out on 82nd is simply out of keeping with reality. In fact, it’s just a straw man scenario you’ve created to over-simply reality for purposes of sensationalizing the issue. If you’re going to report on this issue, please try to be objective, fair and thorough.
Fritz Hirsch
Montavilla resident
Sarah – We thank you for your prompt response.
We realize that you shouldn’t need to state the same info consistently across all of your articles. Our concern is that you haven’t really stated the neighborhood stories concerning safety at all just the “nuisance” issues. Also we only spoke to you once & you keep reusing the same quotes, yet you have had several follow up articles and referenced new sources, angles, with regards to our group, but you did not outreach to us to – have our points specific to these subsequent postings.
Sept 11 – your post of the Mayor’s press conference – you misquoted us – but the coverage was fair.
Sept 15 – you characterized us “battling” with other blogs – as you know this was news to us since we reached out to 82nd Cares weeks ago and received no response from them (sent you the emails to prove our outreach & asking for collaboration – only to not hear anything until reading this article).
Sept 18 – in your article “Redlight” – once again you misquoted us using the quotes from 9/11’s press conference but once again it was regarding a different aspect of the issues.
Sept 23 – it was your characterization of us as “vigilantes” – that made us write to you & the Merc yesterday. You have heard the Mayor & Commander Crebs urging for “Community Policing” we are/ were encouraged to have our patrols seven nights a week due to sheer necessity of the crime taking over our neighborhoods. Please give us some credit – we live here, we see and experience this crime now daily, we see these young women freely traded, we see neighborhood women afraid to walk these same streets now, we hear the johns circling our streets all days & nights like sharks, please talk to us before you write such slanted pieces.
We value & realize that the Portland Mercury is a paper that most of our members read weekly & we realize how important it is in shaping public opinion here in Portlandia. Matt Davis has done some great investigative journalism. Please outreach to us on future articles we are fully vested in this issue, we are upset that our City leaders abandoned the PFZ and stop funding outreach for the prostitutes years ago. No wonder why we are at where we are today. We are not “battling” anyone we are asking questions.
Thank you,
Montavilla In Action
http://www.MontavillaInAction.blogspot.com