|
Honolulu Lite
Charles Memminger
|
Getting rid of prostitutes no easy trick
Innovative government officials have made Waikiki and parts of downtown Honolulu "prostitution-free zones," but it's not working. An undercover investigation by the Honolulu Lite Streetwalker and Adult Entertainment Strike Force has determined that not only are the prostitutes not free, they aren't even reasonable.
When we shared the results of our findings with various enforcement agencies, we were told -- and get this -- "prostitute-free zones" are not established to provide free prostitution, they actually are intended to bar prostitutes from providing their services in the designated zones. That's pretty harsh. It's almost as if Hawaii is against prostitution, which it clearly isn't. If we actually didn't want prostitution, as I've pointed out before, we would legalize it. Then the prostitution industry would be subject to all the taxes, workers' compensation filings, registration fees, inspections, regulations and permits that any small business in Hawaii is subject to and quickly forced to leave the state.
The only other way to get rid of prostitution, other than regulating it to death, is to make the penalties so harsh on working gals and their pimps that Hawaii would be the last place on Earth they would want to be. I suspect the death penalty would pretty much put a stop to prostitution, but all those ardent anti-prostitution forces slink away when you mention that commonsense solution. Then there's the ancient religious method of fighting crime that would probably work: An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, foot for a foot and, well, you know, other offending body parts.
But, let's face it, we really don't have the stomach (or other body parts, if you catch my drift) for getting rid of prostitution here. The best we can come up with are these "prostitution-free zones" that have the effect of moving prostitutes to different areas of the city like pieces on a chess board. Or more like trying to herd drops of liquid mercury. You push here, the mercury squirts to somewhere else. And that's what's been happening.
The traditional popular venues for prostitution, the Waikiki and Hotel Street areas, have been made "prostitution-free zones," meaning that prostitutes caught operating in those areas face draconian sanctions like, gasp, 30 days in jail. A hard-working professional prostitute doesn't consider 30 days in jail punishment, she considers it a breather. The other "punishment" for peddling sex in the prostitution-free zones is to be barred from entering those areas even for non-sex-related activities from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for six months. Admittedly, for prostitutes, that is more than a breather, that's more or less a vacation.
And it just moves the prostitutes to other parts of the city, which is what is happening. Streetwalkers have been strutting their stuff around Kukui Plaza, home to roughly 5,000 citizens who suddenly find themselves sharing the sidewalks with scantily clad ladies (and a few exotic males) in clear plastic high heels. (How clear plastic high heels became the foot fashion of choice for prostitutes is a mystery. You'd think that, considering the dangers inherent in the sex biz, a good pair of Nike running shoes would be a better choice.)
The situation came to a head when a pimp gunned down a guy on Nuuanu Avenue in what police say was a prostitution-related killing. It actually was a pimp-related killing, but pimps are better at PR than prostitutes and so usually aren't blamed when business-related conflicts rise.
The reaction to the shooting was to try to expand the downtown "prostitution-free zone" to include the Nuuanu Avenue/Kukui Street area. This will have the effect not only of clearing prostitutes from that area, but forcing "johns" or "tricks" to buy a city-and-county map to figure out where the herd has migrated to.
We apparently are well on our way to making all of Oahu a "prostitution-free zone," but because we are doing in it in little chunks of property at a time, we eventually will get to the point where the only place you'll find streetwalkers is Kaena Point. Then Kaena Point will be made a "prostitution-free zone," and the prostitutes likely will have to swim to Kauai or Maui. And I tell you, doing that in clear plastic high heels will be no easy trick.
Charles Memminger, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' 2004 First Place Award winner for humor writing, appears Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. E-mail
cmemminger@starbulletin.com