Slobby streetwalkers in Woodhaven

From the Forum West:

Local residents say that “working girls,” a.k.a, prostitutes, have been prowling the streets of Woodhaven for at least 40 years.

...on a recent Friday night, several women could be seen loitering and talking with stopped motorists in the vicinity of Rockaway Blvd. and Atlantic Ave.

A clerk at Prime Convenience store on the corner of Rockaway Blvd. and Atlantic Ave. said the girls can usually be seen “walking back and forth” on the street in front of his store. “I don’t bother with them,” the clerk said, declining to give his name. “They don’t know what they’re doing. They have no morals.”

The clerk said that he had not made any complaints to police because he “didn’t want to make trouble” with the girls. “They come in here often to buy gum and drinks. I don’t want any problems.”

But Jim, an employee who works at a nearby used car dealer on Atlantic Ave., did not mince words.

“Cockroaches don’t die and the hookers will be here with them,” he said. “Sometimes, ambulances come and take them away when they overdose but then they’re back within the next day or two.” He added that the typical routine is they get locked up for a short time, maybe go into rehab and then they’re back in a few days.

“They [the girls] walk from the newsstand on the corner of 80th Street and go all the way down into Brooklyn by the car wash at Grant Ave.” He added that the girls
generally don’t bother him because he doesn’t let them on his property and he has no communication.

But, he said some of the girls were becoming nuisances by contributing to litter along the street with bottles, food wrappers, etc. He also said that he’s seen some of the girls throw litter near the church, the Overcoming Love Ministry, at 78-14 Atlantic Ave. Calls to the ministry were not returned as of press time.