Merchants adjoining the L’Amour Shoppe adult novelty store say it is attracting prostitutes and drug activity, but police say the shop has been working with the store’s owner to eliminate the problems.
L’Amour manager Ray Tagaloguin said prostitution is bad for his business and that he has increased security and has worked with law enforcement to get rid of loitering prostitutes and homeless people around his shop, The Californian reported this week.
But Doug Kenyon, general manager of BFI Waste Services located just behind L’Amour, said the store, which is the city’s only adult shop, attracts local hookers and their johns. But added that the surrounding drug addicts and homeless people also fuel the sex trade in the area.
Police say a drug network that is spread out along the adjoining railroad tracks and the homeless shelter and soup kitchen on Soledad Street has been a magnet for criminals and prostitutes alike.
Salinas’ prostitution problem is said to be the worst in Monterey County and is generally centered along Rianda, Griffin and Kern streets or within walking distance of L’Amour Shoppe, police said.
On a given day, men can be seen looking for prostitutes in the parking lots of a Big Lots store and L’Amour Shoppe, merchants complained.
But local officials say random sting operations do little to discourage local prostitutes. Local merchants are now demanding a long-term solution to eliminate the problem in the Sunset Avenue Redevelopment Project Area around the L’Amour, where part of property taxes are allocated to reduce blight.
City Attorney Vanessa Vallarta said her office tried declaring a prostitution-free zone at the urging of local merchants last year, but the city didn’t have enough lawyers to monitor enforcement of such a measure.
Officer Richard Lopez said he is working with the Monterey County district attorney’s office to ban repeat offender prostitutes from the area as a condition of their probation.
