News Sep 18, 2008 at 4:00 am

82nd Avenue Neighbors and City Scheme to Stop Prostitution

Comments

1
Thank you Tara for the coverage. We do however disagree with some of your comments in the above article and in your previous article. You are using words like "battle". We are not battling with other groups especially those that are trying to help the prostitutes. We are not even battling with the Mayor or the City Council - we are asking questions, we are wanting details and integrated solutions. I think in other cities our actions or verbiage would not be characterized as such, but just community activism.

Tara another key issue we have with your coverage is you are only pointing to the nuisance issues with the crime – as we have discussed and I have provided the “neighborhood stories” regarding safety concerns that have escalated in less than a year: johns now freely & blatantly 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 have been two retaliation style turf war fatalities on our streets.

Tara & Ms Tenty, we too are disgusted to learn that currently the City, nor the County fund any services for the prostitutes, NONE. We tried calling those phone numbers on the County's help page online for prostitution social services to other groups - months ago - just like Jeri Williams says those 2 numbers are disconnected & have been for a long time. Couple that with abandoning the PFZ and now we have organized crime, pimps from other states have moved in to our neighborhoods and are running these young girls day & night - and we are nearly 1 year later hearing Mr. Leonard say yet again "real solutions" are coming. We agree with Ms Tenty that the City is not getting input from those directly involved in the issues, the prostitutes and the neighbors. We had to be squeaky wheels to get our voices heard – why is that?

We have challenged our City Council on their proposal - is $500,000K really enough to fund services and support their Police Service Coordination Team? When will the money be approved?
We have a rebuttal to the proposal on our blog. There are many, many unanswered questions to their plan and many more "Ifs".

On our blog is a link to our rebuttal to the Mayor's "prostitution talking points" as he refered to them on his website. We do not need talking points, we need a well executed plan that has buy in, adequate funding and addresses the complexity of this crime. The city stated a year ago that they were going to come up with "real solutions" as they abandoned the PFZ (Sept. 30, 2007). Now 1 year later organized crime has moved in and made the Avenue into a criminal "turf war", where young women are now blatantly & freely traded day & night, neighborhood women & young girls safety is now being compromised, fatalaties have occured, residents safety & livability is effected and now Mayor refers to his talking points as an important begining?

We plan to have our "March on 82nd Avenue to Reclaim Our Neighborhood" on Saturday September 20. Please go to our blog for the flyer & more info.

We also plan on presenting our Petition to Reinstate the Prostitution Free Zone to City Council, to commemorate with the 1 year anniversary (Sept. 30, 2007) of that negligent mistake. We ask that the PFZ be reinstated in addition to all of the city's proposed plans. We also stress once again that the City leaders look to Seattle and see how they took our law and PFZ ordinance and made it effective. Petition to Reinstate the PFZ - which we will be presenting to the City Council on Sept. 30th to commemorate with the 1 year anniversary of its abandonment.

We ask now more than ever that the City please reinstate the PFZ in addition to the proposal that they have just begun the start of that still does not have approved budget or buy in from all appropriate dept. After seeing all of the "Ifs" and layers to the proposal and were it can all break down, plus there has been no timeline presented to the plan - that we feel now more than ever the PFZ is needed in addition to the plans the City is now working on.

>>>> PRIORITY REASONS AS TO WHY THE PFZ SHOULD BE REINSTATED (UNDER EMERGENCY STATUS):
>>1. The research that the Mayor cited when lifting the ordinance did not even mention prostitution in the entire 18 pg doc it was lumped with the issues surrounding the DFZ http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?a=169712&c=46244

>>2. According to the Neighborhood Response TEAM (NRT) back on 7/23/08- calls regarding prostitution have quadrupled since last year this time. Cause & Effect - Zone is gone = crime has grown considerably & formed deep roots

>>3. We the citizens around 82nd Ave are having our safety compromised each & every day (read our blog to hear comments from your neighbors: how neighborhood women are now being harassed, neighborhood young girls are being propositioned in daylight by johns that circle and speed through our streets.

>>4. Crime from all over is now coming to 82nd Ave – it is well documented that the women are being trafficked from Seattle, LA and beyond to work on the avenue due to our laxed laws. In addition, johns from all over the State & WA state are coming to our neighborhoods – we have taken on both States’ issues..

>>5. Until the city’s “real solutions” are in effect & working, we need to immediately stem the crime that has taken over our communities to bring back the safety & livability of the neighborhoods & their residents.

Thank you,
Montavilla In Action
www.MontavillaInAction.blogspot.com
2
Sigh.

The only reason the city is listening at all is that the good people of Montavilla are making such a fuss.

However, Montavilla, for what ever reason, is where the people that really run this city want the prostitutes, pimps, pushers and other prurient types. i.e., where they won't impact the investments of the wealthy, where they won't disturb the re-gentrification of the inner city.

There are two reasons that the prostitution crowd is in Montavilla.

1. That's where the mayor, the city council and the police want them. You, my friends, live in a politically weak neighborhood of a lower and lower-middle class demography. You don't donate much to political campaigns so the people who run the city don't care a whit about you. You must be aware of this by now. No? Still don't get it?

2. To be honest, in any business, the owner sets up shop as close to the customers as they can, and, the areas around Montavilla are where most of their "johns" live -- since conservative Christians make up the largest segment of their business.

Don't like them facts?
Sorry, but the truth hurts.

But keep screaming. The city will find some other relatively powerless neighborhood to force the problem to. They can't get rid of prostitution any more than we can get rid of the rain in Oregon. Prostitution is not called the world's oldest profession because it's a funny line.

Wait. I have a better idea.

Let's solve the problem.
We could legalize and control prostitution, bring in badly needed tax revenue, get the pimps and pushers and other slime out of the business. We could restrict it to an area where it doesn't affect other citizens.

We could stop or at least slow the spread of STDs by requiring health checks and licenses.

It would save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in lowered enforcement costs. It would lessen the workload on our overworked courts.

Wow. What a great idea. . . no, but wait. That won't work. The pastor of my church is against it, even though most of his male parishoners partake. Besides, it's too obvious a solution and makes too much sense. And what would the neighbors think if I supported it?

So let's just play hockey with the problem -- by making it someone else's.

Look out Gresham. They're headed your way.

Jacomus
3
"conservative Christians make up the largest segment of their business."


This is incorrect. Men who politically identify as liberal are twice as likely to use prostitutes according to research done in April 2008 on 110 (self-described) prostitute-using men:

17% Right
51% Middle of the Road
32% Left

If you want to see other results from this research into john attitudes and behaviors, the title is "Challenging Men’s Demand for Prostitution in Scotland."

4
Agree. Legalize it in a designated area. And while your at it, lower taxes on all local businesses. The reason there are prostitutes is because it's the path of least financial resistance. If there were better jobs and more of them, you wouldn't have people financially desperate. I would be willing to bet most woman don't do it out of joy. And I'm sure for some, it's their SECOND JOB. The only way you can get good jobs to Oregon is make it so a business wants to set-up here. And taxing the hell out of them won't do that. Spending taxpayer money isn't going to fix any moral problem. Nor is it going to provide any options for a living. The more any politician says they will "fix" things, it is guaranteed to get worse or not have it's desired result. And the idiots will clap their hands and ask for more spending of taxes, taken from PRODUCTIVE people, and spend on the NON-PRODUCTIVE people. All while the gov. and it's cronies take a cut.

Capital goes where capital is treated best.

Remember that, because it works on both sides of the equation. You cannot create any law that will solve a thousand year old moral issue. The supply would not be there if there was not a demand.
5
Mr. Jacomus -
Nice chatting with you again.

Don't have time to spar with you on all of your points and we do agree with you that the City keeps pushing the crime around and never truly addresses it. We do want to point out howeverthat we disagree & the facts prove that your second point is wrong:

2. To be honest, in any business, the owner sets up shop as close to the customers as they can, and, the areas around Montavilla are where most of their "johns" live -- since conservative Christians make up the largest segment of their business.

Actually the johns that come to our community are from all over Oregon State & WA State. Many also from other states who happen to be visiting Portland. Most however are from those more affluent areas you speak of, Lake Oswego, West Linn, and all points north & south east and west - Vancouver, Camas, Tigard, Beaverton, Salem, etc. OUR problem is everyone's problem.

Also once again you assume most in this area are Conservative Christians - which is once again incorrect.

We wish you a wonderful evening,
Montavilla In Action
www.MontavillaInAction.blogspot.com
6
Everyone deserves to get fucked. Give them a red light district. Everywhere else is a felony!
7
I'm with the legalize it camp - legalize it, regulate it and get it off the damn streets altogether. Of course I'm a bit biased, but I felt this way before I started screwing for money.

And I too, would appreciate not seeing people getting blown in their cars. I'm on the east side and 82nd seems to have picked up some of our hookers, but we still have a share. Nothing says fun, like explaining the BJ to my six year old.
8
Dear MV:

Please don't chase after the red herrings I post. They are intended as insults of specific deserving groups who put themselves above others and are too self-righteous to either admit it or even discuss a problem like this in a responsible, adult manner. I do it to be a burr under their pompous saddles. Personally, I care not whether a john is Christian, Buddhist or Atheist. Just don't think prostitution is going away because we legislate against it or some self-important soul preaches against it.

What matters is this:

The city, as in the mayor, the council and our fine police department care not a whit for the Citizens of Montevilla. Not even slightly.

The people that the mayor, the council and the police department work for want all prostitutes, pimps, pushers and street people out of their city. Please note, the mayor, city council and the police do not in any way work for you. If they did, the prostitutes you are trying to rid yourself of wouldn't be there, would they?

You've shown more backbone than anyone, myself included, expected. While you appear to labor under the delusion that you have some modicum of control over your own neighborhood, truly, this is just an allusion. All the power structure wants if for you to go back to being low-profile, non-demanding tax payers and to let the mayor, city council and police go back to structuring the city to the wims of the truly powerful.

To put it in a sentence: They are waiting for you to tire of the protest so they can continue to push the city's problems eastward to where they think it belongs. On the other side of 162nd. They've succeeded in moving the poor and destitute out there. Most of the dealers and users are out there. Now come the prostitutes.

Please don't think I'm just a cynic. I've lived in this town for many, many years, know its history better than most, and understand what's been going on since two Republican businessmen started corporation Portland in the 1840's.

From day one, one neighbor of the Rose City has been selected for a red light district. Illegal? Yes, but de facto. Between 1879 and the early 1950's this neighborhood was "Whitechapel" and later "Albina" then "Alberta". As long the prostitutes, pimps and pushers stayed put, no one said much of anything.

By the way, Whitechapel is today's Pearl District.

For a brief period in the early fifties, reform swept the city in the person of Mayor Dorothy McCullogh Lee, soon to be replaced with good old boy and ex-cop Terry Shrunk. Mr. Shrunk again allowed prostitution and so on to exist in selected neighborhoods much to everyone's satisfaction.

For a while it was along MLK, then North Interstate, then Sandy Boulevard. Now, it's 82nd top to bottom.

Now a problem arises for the city's power elite and their employees, the major, city council and the police: The city is re-gentrifying, and neighborhoods that were voiceless bastions of poverty and vice have found that making a fuss works.

On top of this, most of the lower income cum poor have moved out of the city proper into the suburbs, primarily Gresham between 162nd and Rockwood. The city of Portland is trying hard to continue to push the prostitutes to follow them.

This system worked fine when problem and solution existed all within the city limits. The city fathers would push these people where they wanted and could fence them in with red line policies. But what can the city of Portland do when the preferred neighborhood for encapsulating this problem is in some one else's jurisdiction?

Well, you get the prostitutes as close as you can to the promised land and hope they get the message.

As you can imagine, the people and power structure in Gresham is none to keen on this proceedure.

So good luck. Until we mature to the point of finding a suitable, acceptable legal home for this industry, its going to remain a hot potato. And until we do, you'll see underaged teenaged girls working the streets. Until we do, you'll find drug paraphanalia littering neighborhoods. Until we do, you'll hear the kind of bickering and preaching you hear today.

If you think the industry is just going to go away, you are intensely naive. It will probably leave your neighborhood. It will not cease to exist.

I remain,

Jacomus
9
Prostitution is also quite a problem in Roseburg, as well. More hidden, but very active.
http://www.traffickstop.iwarp.com/ human trafficking roseburg oregon
10
I think people who buy sex from someone off the street, are very dangerous persons. People in society always want us to believe it's a married man with a great job and children at home. I think it takes a different kind of person, DRIVEN, by their sexual needs, to not be scared of getting robbed, aids, herpes of their genitalia, and even killed, by picking up someone straight off the streets or going to the known whore houses in Portland. I think the problem is with the persons "BUYING SEX", not the persons selling sex, the persons selling sex are as young as 11 years old on Portland streets. It's person's buying "sexual perversion" from minors and others, that needs to be stopped. If it wasn't an "desire" for sex it wouldn't be a market for selling of sex for profit.Focus on the "johns and Janes" out their buying sex, not the girls and boys out there selling there sorry selves for money and "political favors", hint hint sam adams and other public servents getting in the tidy whiteys of underage boys (do we really expect him to solve the problem?or police officers buying young boys as well) It really is a problem that stems from "sexual addition", more then just having sex with a stranger. Portland has a real problem going on that is snowballing out of control. If you listen to the police scanner on your laptop on "police scanner live" online for free, you will hear people reporting people screaming cause a car pulled up trying to kidnap them on the street. How do you think the 15 year old (who had to be 13 or 14, when she first got held at the hotel) got to be held captive in that hotel, she was probley kidnaped off the street. I'm telling you Portland open your eyes because these sex addicts want your children. There are 7 to 8 runnaway reports everyday here in Portland alone. And with the sex industry getting worse here in Portland, what's to protect our very own children from being kidnaped at the bus stop or at the park or at school? Please open your eyes and look at face book, craigs list and my space, the sex addicts want your children in Portland oregon. Being a minor, does not give you a choice to be a prostiute or sex slave, it "forces" you to be one. So it's not the ones with the sex to offer that is the problem, it's the one's buying that make it bad for everyone, open your eyes, focus on the problem, make the charges greater for person's buying sex and I promise you it will stop! Why didn't the police search every room at that motel, and surround it and go door to door? and all those hotels in that area.

Please wait...

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