San Francisco seems to have forgotten a city report on prostitution, but
officials are said to look at ending enforcement and prosecution

OUR ROUTINE of editorial board meetings with politicians, propagandists
and peripatetic pundits was relieved the other day by a visitation from a
very different profession, the world's oldest. That's how it goes Chamber
of Commerce one day; hookers' rights the next.
These bright and wellspoken representatives of the U.S. Prostitutes
Collective were armed with press kits and buttons ("No bad women, just bad
laws"). They dropped by to bring us up to date on the business of sex in
San Francisco.
It's pretty tough, as a matter of fact. The problem just now, according to
our guests, is the police have done an unusually efficient job in sweeping
the streets clean during the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Then there's the
usual stuff: Allegations of harassment, corrupt cops, unsympathetic media,
inadequate health and social services, and a public policy that pumps $7.6
million a year into enforcing prostitution laws that do more harm than good.
Our visitors told us they had just met with Police Chief Fred Lau,
District Attorney Terence Hallinan and Supervisor Tim Ammiano about
implementing the reforms set forth last year in the final report of The
City's Task Force on Prostitution. Its major recommendation: to stop
enforcing and prosecuting prostitution crimes, a k a "decriminalizing"
prostitution.
No firm agreements, we were told, but things look promising! We're pleased
to see Hallinan follow through on his pet project.
We flipped through the report, which after its March 1996 publication
seemed to fall off the edge of Earth. Too bad, because it contains some
gems. For example, in an appended essay entitled "Open Your Golden Gates
Why San Francisco Needs Prostitution" is this: "Try to fit into a pair of
jeans three sizes too small and you have a good mental picture of the
current prostitution related laws." We're not sure exactly what that means,
but its author, Vic St. Blaise a prostitute for seven years sure has a
bold eye for images.
Muddled imagery also has been a problem for Hallinan since he became DA.
He said he'd be tough on serious crime, but he's blown a lot of big cases.
And then there's the matter of whether or not he still favors legalizing
or decriminalizing prostitution. Why so reticent?
We don't support either step. Laws should be enforced. To us, street
prostitution is a step down from sex clubs. Both spread disease, and crime
seems to follow hookers. strn, we think the U.S. Prostitutes Collective
makes some valid points.
If, as our visitors told us, cops are enjoying lots of coerced sexual
"freebies," somebody (Lau? Hallinan?) should put a stop to it. If cops
won't investigate crimes against prostitutes (physical abuse, extortion),
that's wrong everyone is entitled to equal protection of the law.
We're all for a dialogue among hookers, law enforcers, store owners and
residents. For different reasons, nobody is keen on street prostitution.
Maybe there's a better way than periodic police sweeps to control it. "The
bottom line," our visitors told us, "is that what's being done doesn't work."
One of our visitors' most riveting revelations is that they favor free
markets just like Jesse Helms not the stateregulated brothels found in
Nevada and Holland. There, as our visitors tartly put it, "somebody else
becomes the pimp."
The longer we're in this business, the more we put see the value of the
phrase "live and learn." You just never know.