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| Council extends prostitution-free zone to 122nd Avenue (continued) Katherine Knotson said there has been drug dealing from her apartment complex near 82nd Avenue for five years, and that addiction has contributed to burglaries and car prowls in the area. Helen Stoll, a Hollywood neighborhood activist, said prostitutes regularly perform sex acts in the shrubbery and behind the statuary of the Grotto. Woboril and Police Chief Derrick Foxworth agreed. “Chronic offenders are persistent,” Foxworth said. When arrested, “They’re back on the street in less than a day.” Woboril said that an over-extended legal system has a hard time dealing with the quantity of vice traffic now on the street. Dealers often hold drugs in their mouths and, when faced with arrest, swallow them, he said. Because it is so short-handed, the D.A. office’s standard for prosecuting such cases is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt, plus. They want be absolutely sure they’ll get a conviction.” Leonard ultimately cast the sole dissenting vote against the ordinance, saying he did so reluctantly. “I support the concept of the drug-free zones,” he said. “I believe in giving the police every tool they need up to and including doing things outside traditional law enforcement. I don’t want to send the message that I’m insensitive to the issues in neighborhoods. It pains me to look at some of my best friends and supporters - police officers - and tell them I can’t support giving them power beyond what was intended by the founding fathers.” Before placing sanctions on people “we need the involvement of the judiciary, and a hearings officer isn’t that for me. This is a popular approach, but it doesn’t make it right.” Potter said that the forums were “well-attended. We received valuable feedback, including some from those excluded from past discussions...this is a struggle for me. I’m a firm believer in civil liberties. I heard what people were dealing with in their communities and decided that this was an essential tool. It’s too bad we have to have this, but we can’t afford to ignore it. There should be a people’s right to go where they please. There should be a people’s right to be free of crime. It’s a balancing act.” The oversight committee will “give us hard data to look at, what Commissioner Sten has been asking for for years. We will ask the committee to watch this closely, and make decisions based on facts.” Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Sam Adams also voted for the law. “I’ve seldom seen a mayor take on an issue to this extent that wasn’t cutting edge,” Saltzman said. “I really think he’s threaded the needle.” The new law also changes the boundaries of the zones. A long-time prostitution-free zone on Northeast Sandy Boulevard west of 82nd Avenue was eliminated, as were parts of existing drug-free zones in inner northeast. A new drug-free zone was added on 82nd Avenue, and an existing prostitution-free zone on 82nd Avenue was widened to include adjacent residential areas within 1,000 feet. At the instigation of Saltzman, the Sandy prostitution-free zone was extended eastward to 122nd Avenue. This gained unanimous approval. Woboril said the zone boundaries, as set by the D.A.’s office, are based on “frequency of arrests” in the designated areas. “There may be other ways to determine impact, and the council could adopt them, but this is how the current code works,” he said. “It’s sort of an eyeball process.” |
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