For me its ok, no problemo. Same2 all streets in Jakarta, no big deal
I think Dolphin hits the nail on the head here. A lot of locals can be quite slow to change their way of thinking on some things/people/places that have certain reputations and thus remain totally ignorant of reality. It goes back to the history of the place.
In the '70s and '80s, a pragmatic Jakarta administration "created" Jaksa as a little "sin city" for foreign tourists interested in things (weed, all-night Pubs with beer, girlies..) They sort of took a page from Bangkok, Saigon and other places.
However, in the past 30 years, dozens of areas/streets in Jakarta have far surpassed Jaksa in terms of vice (girls, drugs, rent-boys, banci) availability and Jaksa has actually gotten much more tame, more conservative.
HOWEVER, the reputations remain for the ignorant people. Most Indonesians (young or old, educated or backward) and the media STILL think Jaksa is nothing but a "den of sin" and forbid their kids to go there.
But they have no problem letting their kids go to these sleazy disco clubs in 4-star hotels or the hundreds of other sleazy places from Kemang to Kota... IT'S all about the reputation, WHICH IS NOT ACCURATE. So I agree with Dolphin, it's the same in hundreds of other places, it's just that those other places don't have the "bad" reputation.