The New York Times has an interesting story on teen runaways and prostitution. Apparently, the city of Dallas has had some success in fighting the latter by focusing on the former. The story ended with this accusatory graf:
In 2007, Congress nearly approved a proposal to spend more than $55 million for cities to create pilot programs across the country modeled on the Dallas system. But after a dispute with President George W. Bush over the larger federal budget, the plan was dropped and Congress never appropriated the money.
Of course. It was George W. Bush and those heartless budget hawks! But… wait a minute. How did Dallas manage to create its system? Indeed, how does anyone manage to do anything without a $55 million pilot program? My guess is the police department shifted resources from inefficient ways of fighting prostitution to this new, more efficient way of doing it. Would it be possible for other cities to emulate Dallas without spending $55 million?