Ever since Vallejo filed for bankruptcy a couple years back, we've been pulling for the home of Six Flags Discovery Kingdom to experience a miraculous renaissance. Well, that hasn't quite happened yet and despite attractively low home prices, our neighbor to the north-east is apparently attracting as many hookers as is it homebuyers. According to the Chronicle's exposé on the growing problem, the town is now a draw to working women from all over the West.
Women like "Dog Girl", who commutes from Berkeley to turn tricks with her pet chihuahua in tow, or Toothless - who is 43-years-old and (surprise!) lacking teeth - have figured out that the same bust that led to those low property values also slashed funding for police forces. So Vallejo doesn't have the cash or FBI support of say Oakland or Hayward, where recent busts have brought down large-scale prostitution and human trafficking rings. Still, Vallejo could learn a thing or two from Oakland, where they may not have as many empty "squat-brothels" (which: ew) but they've at least found a way to shake down the sleazeball motels who tolerate prostitution.
In the meantime, it sounds like Vallejans have started taking matters in to their own hands by organizing "Ho Patrol" neighborhood watch groups who "walk their streets and ask streetwalkers, pimps and johns to go elsewhere." To the johns, however, they're not quite as polite: locals have started circulating photos and names of known customers at City Council meetings and storefronts.
