Community leaders and business owners on Grant Street have been discussing strategies for addressing prostitution on the business strip.
At a time when many people have expressed excitement about new businesses opening and residents moving into the area, some caution that prostitution cannot be ignored.
Herb Rigby, a lifetime resident on the West Side, said as long as hookers and their clients – known as “johns” – have a presence on Grant Street, the commercial district’s resurgence could be jeopardized.
“It could be fantastic area, but because nobody’s chasing them out of here, they’re going to stay,” Rigby said. “You’re not going to see them up in Allentown district or the Elmwood Village because they won’t put up with it.”
Some business owners and a city leader believe law enforcers should focus on the johns.
“We are targeting our efforts on the men themselves that are coming down here,” said Jeanenne Petri, who owns Westside Stories on Grant Street. “The woman have a lot of issues and a complex history that has led them out here and if we can target our efforts on the men that are preying on the community that would really be great.”
Last Friday, WBFO reported that yellow signs have popped up on store windows and lamp posts letting johns know that “you are being watched.”
Niagara Council Member David Rivera, represents the neighborhood in City Hall, says he believes law enforcers should revive a tactic that was utilized a couple years ago when the photos of convicted johns were posted on the Police Department website. Activists note that similar “shame campaigns” have been effective in reducing prostitution in other cities.
Prostitution can pose a threat to residents, Petri said.
“What it does effect are the women that are walking alone on Grant Street. I think they are seen as potential prostitutes and then are treated as such. So we’ll have men that circle the block, that will follow girls home from school that will follow women who are running their errands home. We’re in a neighborhood where a lot of people walk.”
As a WBFO reporter talked with merchants and residents on Grant, a woman who identified herself as a prostitute approached him and complained that he was trying to stir up trouble on the street.
