On Long Beach Boulevard from Rosecrans to Alondra streets, scantily dressed, young women can be seen looking down at their cell phones while walking on both sides on the street. Neighbors said at first glance, the women could easily blend in as residents dressed with minimal clothing because it was hot outside. But then cars would pull up and the women would walk up to the drivers and passengers and begin talking with them sometimes right in the middle of the street. One neighbor, who didn't want to be identified on camera due to fear of retaliation, said the women could be seen loitering sex at all hours of the days and nights.
I mean this is something that's against the law, as we all know, and nothing is being done about it," he told reporter Leah Uko. If you do try to record them or try to report them, they're not even running away. As evening hours approached, more women would come out to attract customers. Mike Dardashti owns property on the street. He said after getting complaints from neighbors about the prostitution traveling to their area, he was going to look into having a fence installed that would close off the property.
But he said the city was giving him the runaround with getting approved. Darshati was unavailable to speak at the time FOX 11 covered this story, but said he would speak at a later time. The issue was also affecting nearby businesses. Charles Jones, who worked at R. S Community Care Clinic, said many times the women's' pimps would force them to approach patients waiting to go into the clinic.
Jones said the site of seeing the young girls selling sex didn't make him angry, but rather sad. This here, it doesn't make no sense really. Brown responded, tweeting the city had worked on the issue for years by launching diversion services and other programs dedicated to treatment instead of criminalization. She added in another tweet that, "it takes community members to get involved.
Problems are easy to identify, working toward solutions takes commitment, hard work. He told Uko when the women are arrested, they can only be held for 24 to 48 hours then released. And whenever deputies patrolled one area, the women and their exploiters would relocate to other areas. Hall said the bureau was working to tackle the issue by going after the sexual exploiters and customers, rather the women because they were considered as victims, not criminals.
