As a Co-op cab driver, over the last 20 years, I have seen a lot of strange things happening on the streets of Toronto. But most recently I was shocked by what I saw in the early morning of October 18th, 2009 on Danforth Ave near Victoria Park. At first glance, I thought I had a customer flagging me down. What I saw was a tall, attractive, well-dressed young girl leaning into the roadway with a smile, trying to make eye contact with me. I was worried she could be in some sort of trouble, so I stopped. Her first words were, “How much do you want to spend?” Without an answer I asked her into my cab. She refused. I was curious. But thought that there was something wrong here. So I closed the window and drove down Danforth Ave. Within a block or two a second girl was leaning into the roadway. At this point I realized what was wrong. I haven’t seen a Street hooker in a long time. The younger cabbies tell me they are all on Craigslist. When I did see street hookers they were old, ugly, smelly and looked bad, often indicating years of drug abuse. Often they dressed like men,never stopping in one spot, and nervous about being caught. They were not someone you would want to contact for a sexual encounter. There is an old expression “ Never go down a dark alley with someone who has nothing to lose.” As a cabbie I have seen that their customers are in just as bad a shape as they are. You would have to be looking for these girls to buy drugs from them but could stomach having sex with them. As for the drugs, Craigslist has “420” posted all over it.

So next week the local media reports 70 guys got arrested for saying the wrong thing to an attractive policewoman. Of the 70 guys guess how many were cab driver whose first language is NOT English. As for the rest, they now have a criminal record and a wife that wants a divorce. Were they looking for a cracked out, smelly, ugly street prostitute? Maybe—but not likely. You need to be on drugs to NOT see how bad they looked.

I ask you: does this help the Danforth become a better street? Makes for good headlines, sells newspapers, makes the cops look like they are doing something about prostitution; and gives the local city councillor something that they can brag about in their re-election speech. But should the money not be spent on helping these girls get off the streets, and off the drugs? The local homeless shelter at Main and Danforth does not have an addiction councillor. They just house them so they can go out and post an ad on Craigslist to feed their habit.

Co-op Cabbie Name Withheld

Editor’s note: As a part time DJ, I had just finished a late night party for a lovely couple from Scotland. I was looking for an after work slice of pizza at 3 a.m on the same Saturday night. And yes I saw the very nice looking, so when I got this submission I knew it was true.

P.S. About a year ago I was walking down Danforth Ave. and shot a picture with my iphone of the police cleaning out a "rub and tug". It took them about ten years to close them down;just in time for Craigslist to take over where they left off.