Drugs, sex sign gets city council attention

Drugs, sex sign gets city council attention
By Cliff Radel August 6, 2008
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WALNUT HILLS – John Wallen’s controversial sign – pointing out “Drugs & Sex For Sale 24/7” near his apartment building on Churchill Ave. and calling for help from City Council to combat rampant drug-dealing and prostitution – attracted two forms of attention, one favorable and one unfavorable.

The favorable attention came in the form of a motion Councilmember Roxanne Qualls introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

The motion calls for: monthly trimming during warm-weather months of underbrush on city-owned property used by dozens of drug dealers to hide their wares near Churchill Avenue; closing down a near-by speakeasy, next to a day-care center; increasing lighting on the street; considering installation of a surveillance camera.

Qualls’ office arranged for the underbrush to be trimmed by city workers last week.
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Before Wallen put up the sign, drug-dealers used the mailboxes in his apartment building as drug drops. The dealers and prostitutes also repeatedly broke into his basement and ran extension cords into the street to power their television sets while they waited for customers.

Such behavior intimidated Churchill’s law-abiding residents. The dealers and prostitutes do not live on the street.

The unfavorable attention to Wallen’s sign came in the form of thieves. They stole the $400 SOS shortly after Wallen unfurled it Friday from the second-story porches of his apartment building.