Legalizing prostitution in San Francisco on agenda at next board meeting

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A San Francisco lawmaker is backing a plan by sex-worker advocates and some residents to create a sanctioned red-light district in the city.

City Supervisor Hillary Ronen wants to lift criminal penalties from the sex trade altogether and is turning to state lawmakers in Sacramento for assistance, the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting.

Ronen, the representative for District 9 which includes the Mission District neighborhood, is drafting a resolution that would urge state legislators to write a bill that would legalize sex work.

State Assembly Member Matt Haney, (D) San Francisco, said he would not consider supporting he bill.

“I have no plans to carry a bill that would create a “red light district” nor have I heard from Supervisor Ronen on that issue,” told USA TODAY Thursday.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, also a Democrat from the city, could not immediately be reached by USA TODAY.

The move is part of an attempt to divert or slow down street prostitution in the Mission, where sex workers have been present for decades and where residents want the illegal business plaguing parts of the neighborhood contained to a commercial zone.

“I do feel that society’s acceptance and (ability) to get away from the morality issues is growing,” Rohen, a Democrat, told the outlet.

Lyn Werbach, an organizer with Central Mission Neighbors whose group advocates for Mission residents told the outlet she would not oppose some sort of designated red-light zone to “centralize the activity in one place, away from homes, so it can be regulated for the safety of workers and the safety of residents.”

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Corralling ‘cruising zone’ with water barriers and barricades

Though the Golden Gate City has not taken official action on a red-light zone, officials are having water barriers and other barricades installed on one street there in response to recent complaints about what Ronen called a “cruising zone,” the outlet reported.

“The SFPD and Mission Station Personnel has heard the concerns of the neighborhood and has partnered with residents to solve the ongoing problem,” San Francisco Police Department Public Information Officer Robert Rueca told USA TODAY Thursday.

Rueca did not say how long the barriers or police patrols will remain but said the department “is aware of the issues of sex workers and the potential of human trafficking on Capp Street” and wants “to ensure the community that our officers will hold those responsible and make arrests.”

SFPD is also working “to stop and disrupt the criminal activity, while being compassionate to those forced into the sex trafficking trade,” Rueca said, adding officers from its traffic force, Special Victims Unit and Mission Station “will conduct enforcement and provide services and education to identified victims of human trafficking.”

The San Francisco Police Department could not immediately be reached for comment by USA TODAY.

‘Red light’ resolution to be introduced Tuesday

Ronen told the Chronicle she supports a red-light zone, but legal hurdles and determining a designated location would be challenging.

The outlet reported she plans to introduce a resolution to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors Tuesday that would serve as an official request to state lawmakers to decriminalize sex work.

Ronen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by USA TODAY.

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“What’s happening right now on Capp Street is it’s become more brazen, and bigger than we’ve ever seen it before,” Ronen told The LA Times Wednesday.

“Instead of repeating the same cycle that we’ve repeated for decades, it’s time to try something new,” she said.

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