• Previous story: Ypsilanti police, sheriff's department team up to discourage prostitution on Michigan Avenue

Several years ago, Scott Northway, an Ypsilanti resident living on Miles Street near East Michigan Avenue, got an unexpected trick or treater — one of the regular neighborhood prostitutes.

“I was so dumbfounded that I just gave her a handful of candy and shut the door,” Northway said. “I recognized her. She was always walking up and down the street.”

Over the last year, the Ypsilanti Police Department, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department and county social workers from the Project Outreach Team started taking a new, multifaceted approach to addressing persistent prostitution along the East Michigan Avenue corridor.

In it, the two police agencies collaborate and run sting operations along the thoroughfare. When targeting johns, offenders are cited for a misdemeanor and their cars are impounded. When netting women, the prostitutes are arrested and meet with social workers who try to steer them toward county resources for mental health and drug addiction issues.

The aim is to eradicate prostitution in the area by going after its root social issues, thus keeping repeat offenders from returning to the streets.

City residents and township businesses off the stretch of East Michigan between Prospect and Ridge Roads have been the most impacted by the issues.

Northway has lived on Miles Street for six years. Although the situation has improved, he likened it to cockroaches scattering when lights are turned on, then returning when it’s dark.

As for the new approach law enforcement officials are taking, Northway is hopeful but skeptical.

“I don’t see how it can hurt,” he said. “But these girls are some hardcore addicts. When you see the same girls over and over again, you can kind of watch their steady physical deterioration. It’s remarkable, it’s disgusting, it’s the basest elements of humanity laid bare.”

Northway also questioned how some residents can view prostitution as a “victimless crime.” He said he understands the legality debate or debate over how police should be spending their limited resources, but underscored that kids and the neighbors are exposed to open prostitution.

“How can you justify that?” he asked.

At 2052 E. Michigan Ave. in the township, Washtenaw Door and Trim owner Laura Spear said the situation has improved in front of her store. Truck drivers bringing deliveries to the store arrive early in the morning. Occasionally, they used to be woken up by prostitutes tapping on their windows and offering sex for money, Spear said.

She said that isn't happening any longer, and people who visit her store from outside the area also have made fewer comments in recent years.

Chris Curtis manages Ypsilanti Imports at 1200 E. Michigan. He said his store has never been seriously affected by the issue, which he theorized might have to do with his lot's relatively isolated location.

One of the major improvements in the corridor was the recent clearing of remaining abandoned trailer homes in the Ypsi Mobile Village, which had become a known haven for drug and prostitution activity.

Mark Hergott has lived in Ypsilanti for 15 years and recently moved to his home at Miles Street and Martin Place, less than a quarter mile from the intersection of Ecorse Road and Michigan Ave.

He has two young daughters and says the prostiution issue has gotten slightly worse over the last year. Short of creating a police state, the problem could only marginally improve given the dynamics of the area, Hergott said.

East Michigan and Ecorse form a major intersection, and the nearby bridge over the railroad tracks provides a hidden area for illicit activity, he notes.

“The thing about the girls is that if you catch seven, there are seven more,” he said. “It’s just not possible to take it out from the supply or demand end, you have to create some sort of management scheme.”

Hergott said the new social program implemented by the police agencies is a good first step, but he said he believes decriminalizing and managing prostitution is ultimately the best solution.

“I believe that’s the only reasonable way to do it,” he said. “It’s not going to go away.

"It’s unhealthy, it’s ugly, and we should be decriminalizing it and managing it so it’s less unhealthy and less ugly.”