By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — Greenwich Village residents and community leaders have called on Manhattan judges and the district attorney to get tougher on prostitutes who plague the neighborhood during the summer.
Lenient sentencing lets street walkers right back out onto neighborhood corners, sometimes on the same night they're arrested, with little more than a slap on the wrist, residents say.
"It's like a joke, it's a revolving door," said Dave Poster, a Guardian Angel who chairs the Task Force on Prostitution and Unruly Street Behavior for the Greenwich Village Block Association.
Prostitutes tend to work stretches of Christopher, Greenwich and Hudson streets, residents say. Many of them are transgendered, and were pushed south from the Meatpacking District once that neighborhood became a popular nightspot.
Concerns about the issue, which residents say increases with the warm weather, were raised on Thursday during a community meeting with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., and demanded harsher penalties including jail time to deter repeat offenders.
The problem, Vance said, is that the criminal court system is already overwhelmed with cases that misdemeanor offenders, which include people busted for prostitution, often get off easy.
"Judges are so overburdened and prosecutors are so overworked that we’re unable to give the attention that we should be giving to each individual case," Vance said.
The DA said he would support new state law that would give judges stricter sentencing guidelines for repeat "quality of life" misdemeanor offenders.
Complaints about Greenwich Village prostitution have reached City Hall, prompting City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to urge Manhattan judges to "consider all the issues surrounding prostitution" as they sentence prostitutes, in a September letter.
"Given the high rate of recidivism of both prostitutes and those who solicit them, individuals charged with such offenses appear before judges with great frequency," Quinn wrote.
The problem of prostitution in Greenwich Village is a gateway for other serious issues like drug use and violence, community members say.
"Recidivism is a significant problem and this can be addressed through stronger punishment," wrote Jason Mansfield, of Community Board 2, in another letter to Manhattan judges.
Local activist Ben Benson attended the DA's "town hall" session to ask about prostitution and the prosecution of other quality of life matters.
Benson said he's heard of a prostitute who was arrested 10 times getting released and arrested two nights in a row.
"It signals chaos and lawlessness, in my opinion," Benson said.
