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'A vicious cycle'

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

jpatino@tampatrib.com

Published: June 24, 2009

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Nebraska Avenue has miles of roadway and miles of history. Unfortunately, it hasn't been able to shake its notorious criminals.

For decades, prostitutes have been known to ply their trade up and down Nebraska.

Seminole Heights residents said the prostitutes are run out to another neighborhood along Nebraska but eventually return.

To help it change course, community activists have recently formed the Nebraska Avenue Alliance to fight prostitution on the road between Ybor City and Bearss Avenue.

The organization has persuaded leaders from neighborhood groups along Nebraska to get involved.

"We are trying to clean up the whole street," said Stan Lasater, a founder of the alliance. "If we only clean up one section, we are going to push them the prostitutes into another neighborhood."

Lasater said the group - made up of residents from V.M. Ybor, Ybor Heights, Sulphur Springs, Southeast Seminole Heights, Old Seminole Heights and North Tampa - is creating a priority list and a game plan. A neighborhood meeting will be held, he said.

The group wants to work with the Tampa Police Department and the court system. They want laws that are on the books to be applied both to prostitutes and the men who hire them.

The alliance wants prosecutors and judges to deal with prostitutes as felons if they have been arrested three times for prostitution. They also want the men who solicit them to have their driver's license suspended.

They want to bring publicity to deter clients from coming to Nebraska Avenue. The group is considering placing advertisements in the neighborhood or getting newspapers to publish photos of prostitutes and the clients who have been arrested.

And the organization wants to educate people who come to Nebraska to meet a prostitute. They want to show how it affects families and people who live in the neighborhood, Lasater said.

"It is a vicious cycle where nobody wins," said Lasater, who has lived in Seminole Heights since 1995 and owns an advertising agency in the neighborhood.

The group wants to communicate with residents and businesses, including the motels along the road, to create a good relationship, he said. Lasater plans to start a Web site about Nebraska Avenue, its businesses and general information.

"We are hoping that if we patrol it all at one time we'll have a fighting chance on this one," Lasater said.

In the first five months of 2009, the police department has arrested 225 people on charges of offering to commit or soliciting prostitution. For the same period last year police records show that 214 people were arrested on those charges.

The police perform sting operations to arrest prostitutes and their customers, said Andrea Davis, a police spokeswoman.

When not doing undercover work, patrol cars serve as a deterrent, she said. This summer, the police will put mobile electronic message boards in high prostitution areas that will give a warning to prostitutes and their clients, she said.

Although prostitution might be easy to spot, making an arrest is more difficult. There is a fine balance between an individual's civil rights and protecting people in the community, Davis said.

Police can't arrest someone for just standing on a corner, Davis said. Even if there was an exchange of money, police need to know exactly what was said.

"To make a good case, you have to be a part of the transaction," Davis said.

Eight years ago, Susan Long joined the Seminole Heights Mobile Crime Watch. The group, which remains active, drives along Nebraska Avenue and through surrounding neighborhoods trying to spot prostitutes and get them out of the area.

She has heard prostitutes have been on Nebraska for 40 to 50 years.

Long said the work the alliance plans to do could help. She admires that they will target several neighborhoods along Nebraska instead of focusing on only one.

"I think that is necessary," Long said.

"Cutting a wider swath is great," she said. "I think it is a piece of the puzzle that we need."

Eventually, development is needed to finally get rid of prostitution, she said.

"Until you revitalize Nebraska and the commercial corridor in the neighborhoods, it is not going to go away," Long said.

"I think it development will be a slow process, but I think it will happen," Long said.

To contact the Nebraska Avenue Alliance, call Lasater at (813) 391-5855 or e-mail stantampa@aol .com.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659.

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