Should Red-Light Districts Be Saved?

Stephen Janis explores some of Baltimore's seedier elements and what the city is doing about them.

"In downtown Baltimore, a stone's throw from a Barnes & Noble and a Best Buy -- and less than one hundred yards from City Hall -- sits a red-light district known simply as "The Block." A dense assemblage of strip bars, antiquated neon signs, and grizzled doormen, the Block covers one-quarter of a square mile along Baltimore Street between South Street and Gay Street and has stubbornly occupied the same location for almost 75 years. Many of the clients of the Block's bars are businessmen willing to spend up to thousands of dollars in high-end venues like the newly-renovated Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. But it's no secret that the tourist trade -- 11 million people visited Baltimore in 2004 -- fuels the Block. According to a bartender at one of the more popular establishments, "We clean up during conventions -- tourism is very important to us." Baltimore City Councilman Nick D'Adamo, Jr., who represented the Block for nearly fifteen years before redistricting in 2003, adds that "Tourists definitely visit the Block, especially after football and baseball games." "