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Letter
from the GVBA Task Force on Prostitution and Unruly Street Behavior to
Speaker Sheldon Silver and Councilmember Peter Vallone Requesting Stronger
Recidivism Legislation —May 7, 2003
Dear
Mr. Silver and Mr. Vallone,
The Greenwich Village Block Associations (GVBA) is a community-wide
organization dedicated to improving and preserving the quality of life
for residents of
Greenwich Village. As a part of that effort and in the attempt to address
a specific concern, we formed the GVBA Task Force on Prostitution and
Unruly
Street Behavior (Task Force).
The Task Force has found that one of the major factors negatively impacting
the quality of life in Greenwich Village is recidivism. Our neighborhood
has had a dramatic increase in prostitution since the clean-up of Times
Square a few years ago. We are grateful to the 6th Precinct for the outstanding
job
they are doing, but it is of no avail if our courts do not back up effective
policing. Failure to punish repeat offenders with appropriate jail time
sends
the message that we do not take these crimes seriously. Therefore, there
is no deterrent to these career criminals to cease their activity – thus,
residents, businesses, and visitors in the Village are negatively impacted.
Where we once had a diverse array of shops and restaurants, we now have
a growing number of tattoo parlors, sex shops and head shops which specialize
in drug
paraphernalia.
Residents see a proliferation of prostitutes aggressively soliciting for
sex on Christopher, West 10th, Washington and Greenwich Streets. Side streets
such
as Charles, Jane, Horatio, West 11th , West 12th , Weuhauken and recently,
as far east as Bank Street serve as places where individuals exchange money
for sex. Sexual activity often occurs in front of and on residential property.
These individuals return on a daily basis, at night or otherwise. Increasingly,
our residents, businesses, and visitors are coming into contact with these
individuals.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been tracking repeat offenders
in our area with a program called Operation Spotlight. In the 6th Precinct
during the period from January 1, 2002 to March 18, 2003, there were 300 arrests
for prostitution and 242 arrests for loitering for solicitation. Also, 46 individuals
were classified as recidivists. Recidivists are classified by 5 or more arrests
in the last 24 months. The District Attorney’s Office considers
the figure of 46 recidivists to be an unusually high percentage, given
the
total amount
of arrests for prostitution.
The
courts have been reluctant to hand down even the minimum of sentences
to these recidivists, with the result that
prostitutes
return to our area in a matter of hours. These individuals
conduct their illegal activities
in close proximity to our elementary schools, churches, synagogues, nursing/retirement
homes and playgrounds.
The environment of historic Greenwich Village is deteriorating, making
it increasingly conducive to illegal activities. As prostitution
becomes more
prevalent, the
quality of life of residents, business owners, and visitors is further
diminished. We find this situation unacceptable. We are requesting
the New York State
Assembly to consider legislation which would mandate meaningful sentencing
for these recidivists.
We are confident the Assembly shares our concerns.