Gay Youth Center Draws Flak From Prostitution Foes

On the eastern end of West Hollywood, neighbors and police have been waging war against prostitution. Ruth Williams has helped lead the battle, and until three weeks ago, she thought the enemy was in retreat.

Over the past year, Williams, a longtime community activist, says she has seen fewer transvestites loitering on corners on weekend nights. Fewer shirtless male hustlers hunkered down on bus stop benches. Fewer used condoms and drug needles littering the sidewalks near her home.

But now she and many neighbors are worried that the tide may have turned.

Residents are fighting plans by the Hollywood-based L.A. Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center to open a new youth facility at 7506 Santa Monica Blvd. The proposed facility, which would be open from 4 p.m. to midnight, would provide food, clothing, showers and laundry facilities, as well as HIV testing and drug and alcohol counseling, to at-risk youth on a drop-in basis.

Neighbors say the center has picked the wrong time and place to open its new service. The east side--an eclectic mix of grungy taco stands, upscale nightclubs and tidy bungalows--was just beginning to solve some of its problems when this latest threat came along, they say.

“We don’t need to bring more problems into the neighborhood,” said Williams, who led a local anti-prostitution march last year that focused attention on the problem.

“We’ve had a great deal of problems with hustlers here,” said Donna Saur, who has battled prostitution as a member of a neighborhood watch group and lives about a block away from the planned drop-in facility. “We’ve cleaned it up fairly well . . . [but] this is a very vulnerable area.”

Residents said they are especially angry that the Community Services Center, which receives about $400,000 in annual grants from the city, signed a lease for the new space without first consulting the West Hollywood City Council.

But Darrel Cummings, director of programs at the center, said the controversy is the result of a misunderstanding between neighbors and center officials. The drop-in facility, which will have an annual budget of about $170,000, will perform a useful community service, he said, by diverting young people from prostitution.

“Our goal and the neighbors’ goal are one and the same,” Cummings said. “We don’t want to see young people involved in that lifestyle.” Recent crackdowns have merely forced hustlers into transient hotels and abandoned buildings, he said. The controversy comes at a time when the center is taking aggressive--and sometimes controversial--steps to reach teen-age gays and lesbians. Just this week, the nonprofit organization opened an HIV clinic catering to young people at its headquarters in Hollywood.

Cummings acknowledged complaints--including some from City Council members--that the center did not give the community enough notice of its plans.

“We certainly apologize for any lack of process on our part,” he said. “We were unaware that renting a space required that kind of interaction” with neighbors and city officials. Center staff has met with city officials and residents to answer questions and concerns, he said.

In the meantime, center officials are moving ahead with plans to launch the drop-in service, though no opening date has been announced. Cummings said he hopes to obtain funding for round-the-clock service.

But he may face a round-the-clock struggle with residents first.

“I will picket the place 24 hours a day if I have to,” said Williams, who also plans to plead her case before the City Council. “This is a slap in the face to everyone in West Hollywood who has supported the center.”