Aldermen agree to outlaw loitering that’s ‘ prostitution- related’
Two months ago, West Side residents packed the City Council chambers to plead for a stronger anti- gang loitering ordinance to “take back” neighborhood streets overrunwith gang- bangers, drug dealers and prostitutes.
They described children forced to walk past scantily clothed women on their way to school and witness sex acts in broad daylight. They talked about kids finding used condoms on the street and playing with them after mistaking them for balloons.
On Friday, they finally got some measure of relief.
At the behest of West Side Ald. Jason Ervin ( 28th), the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety agreed to start by outlawing “prostitution- related loitering.”
The ordinance would empower Chicago police to designate areas of the city where hookers could be ordered to disperse for an eight- hour period.
Ervin called it a first step toward an even broader anti- gang loitering ordinance to replace the one overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court nearly 20 years ago.
Instead of “treating everyone the same,” the substitute ordinance reduces penalties against prostitutes and brings the hammer down on those doing the buying and pimping — with hefty fines, jail time and vehicle seizure.
“It’s an issue of supply and demand. We’re trying to focus on the demand side of the equation. If no one is there to purchase the service, the supply side has to move elsewhere,” Ervin said.
Tina Skahill, deputy general counsel for Chicago police, said “enforcement against prostitution is not the primary goal.” Counseling and diversion programs that help prostitutes change their lives is the focus.
The narrow relief can’t come soon enough for Kathy Allison, executive director of United for Better Living. Allison’s organization runs after- school programs. But she’s afraid to bring the kids outside to play in her large lot for fear of what they will see.
“Prostitutes come by. They’re fighting for territory. They’re scantily clothed. . . . The children understand what’s going on,” Allison said.