first of all, i have never set myself up as a member of the monger lifestyle. that is a fabrication typical of you, to make yourself feel important by putting others down. secondly, i am not a hypocrite. you youself used to patronize prostitutes, but since you purportedly have stopped, those who do are targets of your calumny. i will not debate this issue with you, because rather than getting into yet one more round of personal attacks with you, i want to see numbers, something you cannot produce. "nightlife", the actual spend on prostitute services, is an unknown, because it is a part of the informal economy, and, as such, cannot accurately be calculated from GDP. secondly, mongering does not simply include the actual fees of the prostitute. it includes villa and hotel rentals, food and beverage, transportation, and shopping, just like the non mongers do. as i said before, and i maintain forever, absent an exit survey about who availed themselves of the services of a prostitute, and who did not, these figures reduced to decimal points are worth absolutely nothing.
Blah blah blah.
Many models are constructed without your oh-so-important survey, gorgon. You've never constructed one so you have no idea.
I understand your staunch defense. No problem.
Fact is the DR gubmint produced THEIR numbers, not me. Mine were 5 times as large.
Fact is prostitution is going no where. It's a matter of "where" it will be.
Most every city-not just the DR-has "issues" with prostitution. Not so much in and of itself, but *where* it congregates. Yes, you hassle the hookers and they move on, just like clockwork. But eventually they move on to where the local politicians get less public flack.
A good example is my hometown of Tampa. There is a most excellent amusement park/zoo there called Busch Gardens. Back in The Day Busch Gardens was in a fine neighborhood several blocks off I-75 and was a major tourist attraction for many years, and an entire support industry surrounded, hotels, restaurants, gift shops, putt-putt courses and smaller recreational venues, etc.
But over time the neighborhood cratered, went "urban", and drugs, streetwalkers, gang-bangers, crime, vandalism, drive-bys, cheap strip clubs, pawn shops, massage parlors, fleabag hotels, etc. Busch Garden attendance went down and many wondered if it could survive. There were many documented stories of car jackings, car theft, assaults, rapes, burglaries, home invasions, you name it...all affecting Busch Gardens attendance. So the City and County fathers got together in a prolonged crack down of the area. Of course some locals-those who moved in when other citizens fled for their safety and property-complained because of the constant "harassment" of their innocent, special snowflakes. Yes, strip club aficionados complained about the strict enforcement of the "6 foot rule" that was more enforced there vs. other areas.
It took a good two years of constant work to "reclaim" the surrounding area-as well as the Univ. of So. FL area, but now attendance is back up and last time I drove down Busch Blvd. it seemed to be a success, with new hotels, restaurants, etc. sprung up and seemed more "family friendly." The residential areas are suffering, but there is progress there.
Similar stories are in most major communities.
It's just not the hooker themselves that are a problem in a tourist area. It's the folks that frequent them and an element that seems to gravitate toward it. Even in the DR, you know that mongers get robbed and assaulted by hookers and their friends, that drugs are in the area, etc.; and it's getting worse. To deny this (even without a survey) is folly.
Seems the DR gubmint doesn't want Sosua to go the way of Boca Chica. I don't see a move to get rid of prostitution at all-and you can't find ONE gubmint dictate or law that does (if they wanted it gone, just make it illegal with some stupid law like other areas; but that's not what is happening). They just want to remove it from certain areas that have tourism development potential. Move it elsewhere as far as I know. They know certain clubs and rub shacks attract that element, so the harassment you're seeing is the same harassment one sees in every city in the US when the political mucky-mucks have had enough and want change.
Seriously: if the hooker bars and rub shacks were in Los Chrimicos do you think there would be any real issue? Do you think mongers wouldn't go to LC? Do you think there wouldn't be hooker-related bars and hotels there? LC has beach access also-not like Sosua, but it's not landlocked either. But LC doesn't have the same tourism development as Sosua.
