A humble beginning: What started as a simple ear-piercing stand has flourished into a local body-defacing empire.
The Admiralty Place neighborhood to the southwest of St. Paul, Minnesota has seen a lot of changes in the last 30 years as industries have changed and the ethnic communities have dissolved. "Old-timers here are concerned because crime is on the rise and the police are growing scared to patrol" says Neighborhood Watch Captain Obadiah Lessen.
Alicia Voonter tries to support the new businesses that have opened but complains that when she went in to buy a pack of Newports "the man tried to sell me baggies and a gram-scale too. He wouldn't let up until finally I agreed to come back later for an elaborate 4-foot tobacco pipe and torch-style lighter."
While some residents are concerned that things were going downhill, merchants have been vocal that it just isn't true. The head shops, nail salons, pawn shops, tanning salons, Payday check advance centers, tattoo parlors, plasma center and all-night massage parlors all agree that business is booming and that their clients are regular, upstanding citizens.
This visionary entrepenuer scouts out the urban landscape for his new 'used books & recycled t-shirt' store.
"Massage at 4:00 in the morning is no crime" says Kim Fuk of Victor Charlie's Deep Saigon Massage. "Maybe no sleep or work late, we no judge, just rub you long time."
According to some residents the businesses don't see what's going on outside. One woman who wished to remain anonymous told us, "I'm walking back from the store and this disgusting black transvestite asks me to pay him for sex. I have six grandchildren and go to mass every week. What makes him think that I would want a cheap cross-dressing whore? Wouldn't I just go to Vegas?"
Merchants at a nearby body piercing shop were asked for reaction about this sort of problem on the street and Sailor Cam responded, "What? No, I had no idea that sort of thing was going on out there. What did he look like? Was it Leon? Oh, that *#@% is dead!"
Urban markets offer fast service, multi-culture exposure and the safety of tungston steel security fences.
While many of those living in the new low-rent neighborhood have cited it as a great community for its access to affordable crack-cocaine and secondhand car stereos, others plan to take the matter to a higher authority. However, since most police carry discount stamp cards for the local prostitutes and drug dealers, citizens have been forced to call in the mob.
Order should begin to restore within six months, though contract prices have not yet been determined.
