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Updated: 2:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 | Posted: 4:58 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, 2013

Prostitution a major problem for store owners

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Local store owners want to put a stop to prostitution
Walking into Richard Miller's drug store is like going back in time.

By Jon Lewis

Walking into Richard Miller's drug store is like going back in time.

On the shelves you will find items such as Dristan, Father John Cough Syrup and Absorbine Horse Liniment.

But it is not what is inside his store that has Miller concerned. It is what is happening outside that frustrates the long time Atlanta merchant.

"If you walk by a couple of the doorways of each store, the ones that are indented, you'll find all kinds of paraphernalia from prostitutes," he says.  "From them and other people who use these little alcoves to perform their business at night."

Miller's Rexall Drugs is a staple of downtown Atlanta, located in the same spot on Broad Street since 1965.  The storefront was made famous by Paul McCartney who used it for the cover of his album, "Run Devil Run."

Now Miller, and other downtown businessmen, want the city to run prostitutes out of town.

The Atlanta City Council is considering several possible remedies to the issue of prostitution, including a plan that would banish convicted prostitutes from the city.

For Richard Miller such a solution is a log time in coming.

"The police do a wonderful job of patrolling and all," he tells WSB.  "There's just a repeat business.  The same people keep coming down after they've been arrested.  They come back in two or three days and continue."

They operate at night and Miller, and his neighbors, find harsh evidence in the morning that the hookers were busy.

"We find condoms, needles and different things every morning," says Miller.  "For most of the business owners down here, they have to do general clean up outside, on the sidewalk and the doors next to them.  It's quite frustrating."

Miller says enough is enough and wants the city to take action.  And he does not buy the argument that prostitution is victimless.

"It's a crime," he says.  "We want to take care of the city, and a city is what it allows itself to be.  If we don't address it then we're stuck with it."

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