By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Contents Copyright © 2012-2025 Southwest Chicago Post.
All rights reserved. SWCP readers are welcome to share and post links to SWCP pages--however, unauthorized copying and/or re-posting of page content is prohibited by law.
All rights reserved. SWCP readers are welcome to share and post links to SWCP pages--however, unauthorized copying and/or re-posting of page content is prohibited by law.
Complaints about prostitution along Cicero Avenue (basically from the Stevenson Expressway south to Archer Avenue) are not new. But what's different in 2025 is the resurgent anger and frustration of homeowners living immediately west of Cicero.
That anger and frustration boiled over at the September meeting of the Vittum Park Civic League.
"We're fed up. We're tired of being lied to by the police and by politicians. It's just that simple," said VPCL President Steve Fischer at the meeting held at Our Lady of the Snows School. More than 30 local men and women attended, filling a faculty break room.
The number was significant. It was more than three times what VPCL meetings sometimes attract. Further, it was done at the same time Our Lady of Snows Church was packed with worshippers drawn to the visiting image of Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos.
In the weeks leading up to the VPCL meeting, local Facebook groups starting buzzing with complaints about sex workers along the west side of Cicero Avenue, mostly from 48th Street south to Archer--as well as along La Crosse, the first sidestreet west of Cicero.
Those complaints sometimes included cellphone photos of scantily-clad hookers--one in nothing more than a string bikini and high heels.
Some Vittum Park residents reported seeing prostitutes fellating their male customers in the alley between Cicero and La Crosse, as well as cleaning up the aftermath of sex encounters, including used condoms, needles, syringes and more. The illegal activity usually occurs between about 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., residents said.
"Is that something we want our children to be seeing when they go to school in the morning?" one woman at the VPCL meeting asked.
"No one should have to view what we view on a daily basis," a man added.
Several residents claimed that both 911 call takers and police at the district level are apathetic about prostitution--and that calls often are not responded to, leading some Vittum Park residents to simply give up on calling 911.
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| Neighbors sometimes take matters into their own hands, as this local woman did in 2018. |
Fischer saved most of his ire for the Chicago Police Department, but threw in one of Mayor Brandon Johnson's deputy mayors, whom he accused of doing nothing after hearing the group's complaints, months ago.
Also at the meeting was 22nd Ward Ald. Mike Rodriguez, whose ward comes as far south as 50th Street in Vittum Park. He acknowledged and empathized with the residents, and also criticized police, implying that a CPD sergeant he saw was sitting in a police vehicle, ignoring the crime.
That said, the alderman encouraged residents to continue calling 911 to report prostitution and other crimes. Further, he acknowledged CPD's recent Operation Angel sting operation in the immediate area, which resulted in the impoundment of a dozen vehicles, as well as warning citations to a dozen men accused of being sex customers.
He spoke well of Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart's Office, who he said was working on addressing the prostitution in the neighborhood.
Beyond that, Rodriguez attempted to steer the discussion away from immediate concerns to larger issues.
He said part of the reason prostitution exists in the area is that the sidewalks along Cicero "are too narrow." He said if Cicero were more pedestrian friendly and bicyclist friendly, local residents would be outside in greater numbers (and presumably crowd out hookers and johns). He also talked about bringing new businesses to Cicero as a way for prosperity to push out crime and improve the quality of life.
In any event, the concerns are not going away soon and will doubtless be discussed at the next VPCL meeting, set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 7 at Our Lady of the Snows, 4810 S. Leamington. It may also be discussed at the next CAPS Beat 814 meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, October 9 at Vittum Park, 5010 W. 50th Street.
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