THE VIEW FROM HERE

Skid Row Residents Clash Over Drug Plan

VANCOUVER -- Ask anyone living in Vancouver's skid row about the
infestation of crime and drugs, and they'll tell you something must be done
quickly to help this drug-plagued part of town.

But how to rid this area of heroin and cocaine is separating people in a
bitter way.

In the past week, one by one, drug addicts, parents of addicts, business
people, politicians and residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside stepped
up to a microphone and pleaded with city officials to listen to their
concerns. Outside the building, people in Grim Reaper costumes were milling
around on the sidewalk, while others were distributing information on drug
addiction.

They are coming out in droves, either to support or oppose strongly the
health board's drug strategy initiative for the Downtown Eastside. The
health board wants to develop four new centres to improve treatment,
enforcement and harm-reduction services in order to control the heavy drug
market and to reduce deaths and diseases in the area.

The health board has asked the city for development permits for four sites:
a health centre to replace an existing one, a new life skills training
centre, an addiction-treatment clinic and a contact centre.

It's one of the biggest fights city hall has seen in some time, with close
to 700 people signing up to give bureaucrats an earful. So far, 150 people
have spoken to a three-member panel. More are scheduled to speak at another
meeting tomorrow, after which the city will decide on new centres.

Opponents say more centres in this neighbourhood will simply attract a
greater number of dealers and users from elsewhere.

Supporters, such as Nicola Hall, say these buildings will keep their
children alive. Addicts are drawn to the drugs in the area, not to the
social services, she says.

Ms. Hall described herself at a meeting last week as the mother of two sons
struggling to break their heroin addiction.

"These children make some bad choices in the first place. But once they
make the mistake -- and who among us doesn't make mistakes -- it becomes
fatal," she said.

Ms. Hall is not alone when she says treatment is lacking in the Downtown
Eastside. The city received 2,500 letters of support for the health
centres, and 900 opposing it.

Opponents are not happy with anything in the package.

"I think it's very unfortunate that the health board has not undertaken a
complete and necessary study of the health needs of all the people down
here, not only the addicts," said Mark Budgen, chairman of the Strathcona
Area Safety Society.

Mr. Budgen, who lives in the area, said the city should have had proper
consultation beforehand, to hear what residents want. "We just feel they're
moving too quickly," he said.

Charles Lee, who owns a dental clinic in the area, presented 6,000
signatures from residents and business people in Chinatown, part of the
Downtown Eastside, opposing the city's plans. Mr. Lee said residents are
already afraid of the dealers and addicts near them, and don't want centres
built around them to house these people.

"I think [the city] has to weigh the concerns of those who operate within
the law and those who operate outside the law," said Mr. Lee, who is the
vice-chairman of the Chinatown Merchants Association.

But Muggs Sigurgeirson, a resident of the area and vice-president of the
Carneigie Community Centre Association, said the drug scene will not
disappear without the help of these social services.