San Francisco is considering a formal “red light district” as it attempts to cut down on illegal street prostitution while also allowing sex workers to continue their trade.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday:
As San Francisco prepares to block vehicle traffic from a stretch of the Mission District this month in an attempt to stifle street prostitution, the idea of creating a designated district for sex work is gaining traction among some advocates and officials.
A red-light district might not be a far-fetched concept in the Mission, where many residents say sex workers have been present for decades.
Though San Francisco has not taken any official action on a red-light zone, officials are having water barriers and other barricades installed on Capp Street in response to recent complaints about what county Supervisor Hillary Ronen called a “cruising zone,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The stretch of Capp between 18th and 22nd streets will be closed to vehicles except for those of residents.
Previous efforts to decriminalize prostitution have been met with controversy, and have failed to protect sex workers.
As Breitbart News has noted, Los Angeles has seen a dramatic rise in street prostitution — and human trafficking, allegedly including children — since Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law last year proposed by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to restrict arrests for loitering for the purpose of prostitution.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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