Saying 'adios' to chica chica

From the Daily News:

They're called "Chica Chica" cards - and they're flooding Corona and Jackson Heights, Queens.

They look like baseball cards. But instead of featuring A-Rod or Derek Jeter, they have graphic pictures of naked or half-naked women - with a phone number offering free delivery.

They're really the business cards of prostitutes and pimps who operate along a stretch of Roosevelt Ave. in Queens - and a move is afoot to make them illegal.

Queens Democratic Sen. Jose Peralta wants to make it a crime to distribute the raunchy cards. He and his Assembly counterpart Francisco Moyo have introduced a bill making distribution of the cards a misdemeanor, categorizing them as obscene material.

"Is this going to eliminate prostitution? It's not," Peralta said. "It's the first step toward improving the quality of life on Roosevelt Ave."

The lawmakers say that on a nighttime walk down Roosevelt Ave., there will be men uttering the words, "chicas, chicas," which means "girls, girls" - and they'll thrust forward one of the cards.

Residents are fed up.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown calls the "Chica" cards "a vexing problem that is plaguing our communities."

But he said a law to ban them raises "difficult legal questions under the court's interpretation of the First Amendment."

Well where do I begin with this one? First of all, it's refreshing to see legislators trying to do something that actually benefits their constituents for a change instead of just being full of sound bytes and fury, but signifying nothing. Calling in the Guardian Angels - not the worst idea in the world. It won't cost us anything and they may actually help the situation since goodness knows we don't have enough cops to handle this.

Richard Brown, on the other hand, should have used the opportunity to let the distributors of this smut know that he is investigating and prosecuting them. Instead, he wimped out by hiding behind the first amendment. Sadly, most, if not all of the women working as "chica, chicas" have been abused and likely are the victims of sex trafficking. (Of course if Brown did start a crackdown on whore ads, it would put his friends at one local newspaper out of business.)