Protecting Our Neighborhoods

Recently President Reed introduced Board Bill # 153.  This bill has passed the Board of Aldermen and is waiting signature by the mayor.

Board Bill # 153CS is  an ordinance pertaining to prostitution loitering which repeals ordinance 57831, Section 827.280, codified as Section 17.16.270 of the Revised Code of the City of St. Louis pertaining to demonstration on or near street; and enacting in lieu thereof a new ordinance pertaining to prostitution loitering and containing a penalty, severability and emergency clause.

For a copy of the legislation please click onto this link http://www.stlouis-mo.gov/internal-apps/legislative/upload/committee-substitute/BB153CS.pdf

The reason this legislation was needed is that the current legislation regarding “demonstrating”  was ruled unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Here is a transcript of a story that KMOV  News Channel 4 produced this past summer which summarizes the problem.  Now residents in the Cardondelet neighborhood are telling News 4 that prostitutes have moved in and have practically taken over part of their neighborhood along a two block stretch of South Broadway. They’ve seen litter and vandalism increase and there have been several times that teenage girls who live in the area were chased down by johns who thought the girls were prostitutes.

Resident Adam Kustra and others have organized a neighborhood association in hopes of embarrassing the johns and sending the prostitutes elsewhere.

“It’s almost like a circus out there on the street and to the point that they will yell at us and scream back at us as if we’re on their turf,” he said.

Police tell me they’ve got to catch someone in a lewd act to lock them up. But residents say police don’t seem to be looking very hard.

“I wouldnt go so far to say the city is failing us but they’ve made it left up to us,” said Kustra

We talked with the St. Louis Police Department to ask what was being done to get a handle in the problem till the board of aldermen reconvene on September 14th and can begin work on a new ordinance. Police tell me they’re organizing undercover operations and checking with their legal department to see if they can publish the names of johns who have warrants returned against them.