A few months ago, a resident of Elizabeth Street received some visitors — and they have been a daily fixture on her street ever since.
But these guests are not welcome by this resident, or by her neighbours.
The homeowner said the issue of prostitution in the streets of her residential neighbourhood is “ridiculous.”
From morning on, prostitutes hang out near her home, located in the area of Elizabeth Street and Morris Avenue, waiting to be picked up.
“That's where my kids get the school bus,” the woman said.
“I am scared ... I am terrified to get my kids off the school bus.”
She even threatened the prostitutes with taking their picture, the woman said, which did not seem at bother them.
“They don't cause any problems, but they don't back away,” she said.
The woman has phoned the Greater Sudbury Police Service day after day, for a month, but has yet to see any results.
“It's ridiculous to call the police every day,” she said.
Her neighbour has found syringes left by prostitutes on the lawn, she said.
The resident is afraid to go outside and frightened that her 12-year-old daughter may one day be ogled or approached by a person in search of a prostitute.
“I'm a regular mom,” the woman said, but she is fed up with having to change her life for fear of the prostitutes a stone's throw from her front door.
“I can't have the kids outside,” she said.
The prostitutes are not only out at night, she said. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
At 10:30 every morning, there are one or two prostitutes waiting on her street, she said.
Northern Life reporters visited the area of Elizabeth Street and Morris Avenue on several occasions and did find that prostitution was an occurrence in the morning, as well as at throughout the day and night.
The resident said that ever since the city installed cameras across from the Ledo Hotel in the CP Rail parking lot on Elgin Street, prostitution has been moving upward into the residential streets.
Const. Bert Lapalme, media relations co-ordinator with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, said there was a security camera installed in the lot a few years back.
Lapalme said charging a person with prostitution is not an easy task.
Prostitutes will not get into a car when a cruiser is present, therefore it is difficult to catch someone committing the offence.
“We can't charge them because we think they are there for that purpose,” said Lapalme.
“They actually have to be found committing,” he said.
There have been some projects over the last few months to deal with the prostitution issue in the city, said Lapalme, but it is very difficult to deal with.
The police are looking at ways to deal with the issue and people should be patient, continued Lapalme.
Even though results of a phone call to police about prostitution won't happen overnight, it is still important to make it, he said.
“We still want people to call for this complaint,” said Lapalme.
