Frequently Asked Questions
The following may help answer some of your immediate questions - or simply make you want to ask more. Please feel free to read through the responses and e-mail us if you would like to know more or think something should be added.
Q. Do you plan on using digital images, streaming media, or other types of multimedia technology?
A. The answer to all of these questions is yes. We have access to all types of technology and plan to implement them as photographs are developed and footage converted to streaming formats.
Q. Can I link my page to yours?
A. Please feel free to advertise our site in any way that you can. This project will only work if enough people are aware of what we are doing and the johns truly lose their anonymity.
Q. How can you be absolutely sure that the license numbers you have collected are actual johns?
A. It does not take a brain surgeon to realize what the cars circling our neighborhood hour after hour are after. All the license numbers that we have recorded have either picked up a hooker, dropped off a hooker, or have circled the neighborhood at least six times. Please read our disclaimer.
Q. What if I see my license number on the site and think that it should be taken down?
A. Please send us an e-mail. If our witnesses, photographs, and cameras show that you have not actually picked up or dropped off a hooker we will have no problem removing your license number. However, if you did pick up or drop off a hooker, be prepared to have your e-mail posted ... maybe in a section called "Dear john".
Q. There are other issues involved beyond the johns. Why don't you concentrate on the pimps, the hookers, or other societal ills that cause these things to occur?
A. While we are aware of these other issues, our main concern at this time is the increased traffic. The johns are the driving force behind the success of the pimps who are pushing drugs and prostitutes. If the client base dries up, the business will no longer be an economically viable career choice in this neighborhood.
Q. Why don't you target the pimps that cause these problems in the first place?
A. (SIGH) Please read the previous answer and the following. The police know who the pimps are and where they live. In order to protect our own safety and that of our families, we have chosen to leave the removal of the sex trade providers to law enforcement. The police, however, claim they are unable to do anything because of existing laws. Our community would rather not have to deal directly with such a violent element as the hookers and their pimps. Neither appear to care if you know or don't know who they are. They have actually pulled knives and attacked members of our community who have asked them to stop what they are doing.
When the police were notified ... their only response was that "whatever you're doing must be working. They wouldn't attack you unless it works." This is unacceptable. Our intent is not to become martyrs but to remove the sex trade from our area. Instead, we have decided to take on our main problem: the increased traffic created by johns.
Q. I want to help. Can I volunteer or get involved in someway?
A. The goal of this website is to get the john traffic and its related problems out of our residential area. Other parallel efforts like post-prostitute reform programs, harsher sentencing for these individuals, etc. is welcomed but are NOT part of our community's immediate goals. If you live in Victoria Park, come out and join your neighbours by helping monitor and record these "johns". For those outside of our immmediate community, we are pleased by the results of our efforts and we encourage you to create your own website.
Q. If you remove the prostitution from your neighborhood, don't you think it will simply move to another area?
A. Yes. This is a likely possibility. We hope that other communities will use our methods or create new ones to stop it from entering their neighborhood. We would like to encourage other communities to create their own websites that take away the anonymity of the johns.
Q. How can you be sure that these "johns" are not family members trying to talk the prostitutes out of their line of work?
A. We don't. Some family members have introduced themselves and asked us for assistance. They want to know if their loved ones are safe and have even accompanied us while we monitor the area.
Q. Don't you think that living downtown means that you must accept prostitution as a part of the ambience?
A. No.
|