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Ferrera floats bill to battle prostitution

Date: 7/13/2010

July 12, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD -- City Councilor James Ferrera wants to make the city a tougher place to sell or buy sex.

Last week, Ferrera asked the city's law department to draw up home rule legislation that would establish a one-year mandatory sentence for both prostitutes and "johns" caught in the act of a transaction of money for sex.

The City Council would have to pass the ordinance, which would then have to be approved by the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick.

Ferrera told Reminder Publications he was motivated to act on the issue by a number of calls he has received from residents of the South End, Forest Park and North End neigh-borhoods complaining about prostitutes working in their area.

He also noted the results of an undercover "sting" conducted by Springfield police on June 30.

According to Sgt. John Delaney, "Ramon Luis Rivera, age 42, of 310 Liberty St.; William Claffey, age 41, of 31 High St., East Hartford, Conn.; Joseph C. Ward, age 46, of 141 Daytona St.; Qosay Mohammad, age 29, of 25 Railroad St., West Springfield; and Omar Fadel, age 26, of 27 Carlton Ave., West Springfield ... approached a female undercover [officer] posing as a prostitute while she stood at the corner of Locust and Main streets. The undercover sting took place on June 30 between 2 and 4 p.m. The above males offered the police officer money for various sex acts. Both Mohammad and Fadel approached the officer in the same car, both wanting sex with her for cash."

All the men were charged with sexual conduct for a fee.

Delaney added in his press release "more undercover stings are planned for the summer."

Ferrera said prostitution in the South End could affect the economic redevelopment effort there. The neighborhood is the subject of a multi-million dollar project to renovate its streetscape infrastructure.

A mandatory sentence is "the only way really to correct this problem," he asserted.

He said, "Prostitution is not a victimless crime. It disrupts public safety, public health and economic development."

Ferrera believes such a law would drive prostitutes out of the city.

"Let them do their business outside of the city, in Chicopee and Holyoke," he said.

Although he has not polled his fellow councilors on how they might vote on the issue, Ferrera is hoping for their support.

"My sense is they feel there is a significant problem with this behavior going on in the city," he said.

Ellen Graves, the peace and anti-violence organizer for Arise for Social Justice, a group in Springfield that has in the past called for the de-criminalization of prostitution, said Ferrera's proposal doesn't address the root causes of prostitution: addiction and poverty.

Graves believes that more anti-poverty programs and a larger number of alcohol and drug detox and rehabilitation centers would have a greater impact. The money being spent on war, she added, would be better spent addressing poverty.

"Going to jail is not going to solve a thing," she said.