Oakland mulling over blocking off streets near International to curb sex buyers

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland City Council is set to decide Tuesday whether to block off three streets at International Boulevard to curb sex buyers, commonly known as "johns."

Under the proposal, drivers would be unable to head north on 9th, 10th and 11th avenues from International, otherwise known as "the Blade," a hotbed for sex workers.

Councilmember says she wants to protect schoolkids

What they're saying:

Oakland City Councilmember Charlene Wang represents the area and says her main goal is to prevent kids at nearby Franklin Elementary School from seeing women walking their streets, their pimps and customers driving up and down International.

"These families are fed up with the problem. We should not have kids having to watch this take place," Wang said.

She said she wants to deter drivers in the area who "I hate to use such crude language, but (are looking) at the market. And then they turn on the side streets, so they use 9th, 10th and 11th to basically sort of initiate the transaction."

Wang made clear residents and business owners will still be able to drive onto those three streets from the opposite end, from East 15th Street.

Business owner concerned about sex workers - and any closures

Rameen Zereh is torn. He owns Oakland Hi Fi at 11th and International, where he installs car audio and stereo systems.  

"Hopefully they don't close entirely the street because, otherwise, I'll go out of business," Zereh said. "I need my customers to drive in to the shop."

What they're saying:

But he added, "I hope they stop the johns coming in the neighborhood because that's affecting my business negatively as well. So hopefully we'll find some middle ground."

Needa Bee, also a business owner, blasted the proposal, saying "It's going to move it to another block."

Bee said closing streets is "a typical plan of action of not addressing the root cause of the problem. It's a waste of resources. There's a solution to this and this is not it."

Nola Brantley, a sex abuse survivor and anti-trafficking advocate, agreed.

"Wherever people are yelling the loudest, they move it out of that area, to where people are not making as much noise. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever," Brantley said.

Several years ago, the city installed orange barricades at East 15th Street and 16th Avenue, near St. Anthony's Catholic Church and school to deter sex trafficking. They were still up on Monday, but women could still be seen walking the streets a block away along International.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan

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