Neighbors say sex workers and johns are returning to National City after a law enforcement tool installed to deter crime in the area was damaged by a hit-and-run driver.
National City police installed a Skywatch surveillance tower along Roosevelt Avenue in August 2024, and, the mayor said, it reduced the number of sex workers in the area.
“They have G-strings and sheer blouses, so they really have gone to the part where people are uncomfortable seeing them in the street,” San Diego’s Leather Coat Factory owner Nancy Estolano said.
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Estolano has been in business in National City for 25 years, and she has seen it all. Roosevelt Avenue was plagued with sex workers, pimps and customers.
Estolano noticed a significant change with the installation of the surveillance tower last year.
“It went from five or six on every corner to one or two,” Estolano said.
The tower stood tall and had an imposing tinted overlook.
The police tower was struck by a hit-and-run driver last October when it was set up in the back parking lot of the leather jacket shop. It’s such a unique tool that there are no available replacement parts, so parts have to be made, and, the mayor said, that’s going to take some time.
“As soon as we can get back out here, we’ll get it back out here,” Mayor Ron Morrison said. “I don’t anticipate a long period of time —maybe by the first of the year.”
Meantime, Morrison said, those soliciting sex work are using the opportunity to move back into the neighborhood. He said police are limited by state laws prohibiting aggressive enforcement.
The fear of being photographed or recorded on video made the watchtower most effective.
“We’re trying to use as many resources and as many tools in the toolbox to deal with as possible, but we have to be very careful to work around laws that Sacramento has given us,” Morrison said.
Estolano’s business future is in the balance. Besides the coat store, she owns a 12,000 square foot warehouse next door.
“Probably lost a few potential tenants because of the prostitutes,” Estolano said.
The mayor said that, in the absence of the surveillance tower, the city has deployed more patrols in the area. His officers are encouraged to fill out their reports around that location just to enhance the law enforcement presence.
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