San Francisco residents say barriers won't stop sex work in Mission

Another challenger to Ronen, Jackie Fielder, said she believes sex workers and johns shouldn't be in residential areas at all. A long-term solution, Fielder said, would be to create a regulated area away from people's homes where sex work could occur safely.

“Some need a way out, some need to pay the bills or feed families, and some are in real danger, but if your response is just more police, this decades-old problem will never change,” Fielder said in a text Monday.

Ronen did not respond to a request for comment. The watchdog has said sex work should be decriminalized and introduced a resolution last year urging the city to do so.

“If it happens in secret, it becomes less safe for everyone,” Ronen told The Standard in 2023.