[URBAN NOTE] "Mammoliti wants prostitution on the Islands, away from the city"

[rfmcdonald]

Among other things, this would require much improved transportation connections between the Toronto Islands and the mainland. Ferry routes which stop--in summer!--in the late evening wouldn't be enough.

A Toronto councillor has an idea to help the cash-strapped city raise a little extra revenue: build a red light district on the Toronto Islands.

Giorgio Mammoliti, the recreation chair on Mayor Rob Ford's executive committee, has advocated the establishment of legalized brothels before, and he reiterated the suggestion during a Tuesday morning show interview on radio 640, and proposed the islands as a suitable location.

“The Islands become an area that people are calling me on and saying ‘maybe you’re right, Councillor Mammoliti, perhaps it should be the Islands, away from the rest of the city,’” he said.

Mr. Mammoliti has argued that, as prostitution happens anyway, by allowing it in certain areas, the city could regulate it and collect tax revenue from it.

The North York councillor made the red-light district part of the platform for his mayoral campaign last year, along with the construction of a floating casino in the harbour.