Prostitution in San Diego has exploded since a controversial California law went into effect this year. As a result, businesses have taken on additional security costs and have warned customers they will likely see near-naked women and pimps if they visit the area, a business owner told Fox News Digital.
"Costs for business, costs for security. We've had to put lights — at our cost — on the roof to try to deter them, and because of the bill, the lights now help them when they want to come in front of my building to shake and do different things … so they get attention versus being in the dark," a San Diego business owner told Fox News Digital.
The business owner spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity out of concern that pimps or prostitutes in the area might retaliate against the business owner’s vehicles, property or employees. The business owner has been operating at the same location for the last 25 years.
"They'll break into cars, they'll pop tires. We've had a neighbor …. who had his vehicle broken into multiple times and stolen the tools out of it," the business owner said.
"Due to the Safer Streets Act, local business owners now need to hide their identity while exposing the problems that the bill has created, which was never a problem before," the business owner added.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 357 in July 2022, which repealed a previous law that banned loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. The bill was championed as one that would help protect transgender women from being targeted by police.
"The author brought forth this legislation because the crime of loitering has disproportionately impacted Black and brown women and members of the LGBTQ community," the governor said when signing the bill into law.
"To be clear, this bill does not legalize prostitution. It simply revokes provisions of the law that have led to disproportionate harassment of women and transgender adults. While I agree with the author's intent, and I am signing this legislation, we must be cautious about its implementation. My administration will monitor crime and prosecution trends for any possible unintended consequences and will act to mitigate any such impacts."
The law took effect in January this year, which the business owner argued emboldened prostitutes and pimps to prowl city streets for johns with few repercussions.
"It makes me still blush at times. These are some very confident women. … They are wearing G-strings. …. Their breasts are completely exposed. There was one that was wearing a Letterman's jacket and nothing else," the business owner said.
A concentrated area on the city’s Dalbergia Street has long been a hot spot for sex solicitation and sits near San Diego’s border with the neighboring town of National City. National City's mayor, Ron Morrison, spoke to Fox News Digital earlier this month to highlight how prostitution has also become more pronounced since SB 357 began making headlines, adding police essentially have their hands tied from addressing the crime.
"Senate Bill 357 … for all intents and purposes, made prostitution legal because what it said is that officers can no longer contact people based on the idea of loitering for the purpose of prostitution. So, it basically tells the police your hands are off," Morrison said.
The San Diego business owner described scenes akin to a gritty crime thriller, where pimps play loud music in cars as prostitutes walk the streets in heels. When the women find a john, they’ll drive to a local hotel or around the block if the john’s request is "something that can be done quicker."
"It's the residents that are feeling the most of this. There's children that are having to step over byproducts. Parents are having to explain to children why, at 7:30 in the morning, when they’re going to school, that there's two women in G-strings shaking their butts and showing their breasts and trying to stop vehicles," the business owner said.
With the clocks falling back an hour next month, the business owner predicted the situation will go "from bad to worse" as more prostitutes hit the streets.
The business owner stressed that the hands of police are tied from doing much to deter the crime and argued that politicians in the city have taken a hands-off approach. City council member Vivian Moreno has not personally visited local businesses to hear their concerns, the business owner said, while Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria has said "not a word" about the issue to the business owner or others in the area.
NATIONWIDE PUSH TO LIBERALIZE PROSTITUTION LAWS PROMPTS CONCERNS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
"I have yet to have anybody from the local city council's office contact anybody here in the neighborhood, come by, try to say, 'Hey, we're trying to help. How can we put some resources in like maybe some additional lights, maybe some additional cameras?'" the business owner said.
"Mayor Gloria has visited the area and has spoken publicly about the issue," the mayor's office told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, The office also touted how the police department has carried out sting operations, including one earlier this year that netted 48 arrests in San Diego County.
"The criminals who were taken down as part of this operation abused and exploited women for their own enrichment," Gloria said at a news conference this year following the sting operation. "We will continue to disrupt these criminal operations that seek to do our people in our communities harm.
San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit told local media this month that SB 357’s repercussions with crime were "all predictable."
"This was all predictable. We've seen shootings down there. We've seen stabbings," Nisleit told 10 News. "Part of the predictable consequences of this very bad bill is now you're having a community being impacted. They don't feel safe in their own homes."
Local media attention has even made traffic in the area worse as out-of-town johns catch wind of San Diego’s sex workers.
"Every time we get a local news story, the traffic increases. The prostitutes don't go away. It's not like, ‘We better lay low for a little while.’ We get additional traffic because of out-of-town johns now notice, ’Hey, look what we can do,’" the business owner said.
He’s hoping the law gets repealed, especially if local leaders visit the area to see firsthand how residents and business owners live in fear for their safety and are forced to spend more on security systems or even clean vomit and feces from the streets.
The business owner is now even warning customers of the issue and sends employees to meet some female clients who are hesitant to travel to the prostitution hot spot.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office and Councilmember Moreno but did not receive comment on SB 357 and prostitution issues in San Diego.
