START WITH NEEDLES AND CLEAN UP DOWNTOWN

Mayoralty candidates, city council hopefuls, are you looking for an
issue, a serious issue?

How about a plan to clean up downtown, particularly the corner of
Third Avenue and George Street, and specifically the damage - both
economic and physical - caused by the needle exchange site.

Before you dismiss this as the heartless ramblings of a grumpy old
man, let's look at how we got where we are, what we have now and
perhaps a positive remedy.

First, the corner of Third and George has always been a bit on the tough side.

In 1990, and in an attempt to shine up the street, the provincial
government embarked on a plan with the City of Prince George to build
a provincial courthouse.

It was a partnership first in provincial/municipal agreements. The
city would supply the land; the province would build the courthouse.

It would be a downtown showcase.

The property acquisition and construction program went according to
plan. The courthouse was built and it is a showcase building.

In any other city it would be the heart of the community.

Not so in Prince George.

Little has happened in the way of investment in the courthouse
precinct; Simon Wagstaffe and colleagues being the notable exception.

Property values are in the tank.

One local building owner I spoke to said he paid $70,000 for a small
property two years ago, and notes old tax notices from 30 years ago
show the same value.

Given inflation, that comparison shows a serious decline. Over a
30-year period - in the normal North American real estate market -
property worth $70,000, 30 years ago, should be valued at 10 times
that amount today.

This is clearly not the case at Third and George.

Who loses? All of us.

As a Prince George taxpayer, it upsets me to see city property values
diminished. It means we have lost a revenue base. A revenue base that
should be providing better city services, parks, performing arts
centres, roads, you name it.

Next the needle exchange site. Or, let's call it what it is - a
one-stop narcotics shop.

Here you'll find, dealers, needles and addicts.

Which is what makes the needle exchange centre so attractive to dealers.

It has harm reduction as its goal.

Nonsense.

Helping someone shoot up is not harm reduction.

Any narcotic injection will inevitably lead the user to more serious problems.

Narcotics are illegal. Every time someone shoots up with a clean - or
dirty needle - drugs have been purchased and a crime has been committed.

Now I'm not so naive as to think changing a drug-users site will
solve the problem.

But neither will simply giving some poor strung-out doper a clean needle.

In a recent Globe and Mail story, Stan de Vlaming, an addictions
doctor working on the Vancouver Eastside, says addicts need
supervised entry-level recovery houses far away from the street-drug scene.

He makes the best point when he says, "There is no safe way of
injecting drugs. Harm reduction without a treatment component is a
failed policy."

That is our challenge. We have a failed downtown area. We have drug
addicts contributing not only to the demise of property values but to
their lives as well.

The Northern Health Authority, social workers, addict advocates, all
the do-gooders one can gather, have not solved the problem.

I'm with Dr. de Vlaming. Rehab programs, away from the drug scene are
the way to deal with problem.

That is the issue facing our city.

Will any municipal candidate take up the remedy this fall?

Or, will any municipal candidate stand on the corner of Third and
George and say, we don't have a problem?

Stay tuned.

Driving on the left.

If you're ticked off at Gordon Campbell's carbon tax, consider this
one from the Old Sod, complements of Britain's enlightened Labour government.

For openers, gas in England is about double the price we pay in Canada.

To add to the petrol pain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is proposing
an increase in the annual Vehicle Excise Tax, specifically targeting
older and less environmentally friendly cars. Any car manufactured
prior to 2006 is on the list.

There will be no scrap-it rebate, no income tax relief and no
climate-change cheque, just a yearly increase of up to $490 a year to
keep older cars on the road.

Who gets hit? Lower income Brits without the cash to buy a newer car.
Plus, with this program in place, the trade-in value of those old
beaters is in the tank.

Revenues from the old-car tax grab would raise $860 million next year
and $1.4 billion in 2010.

But given this onslaught of socialist wisdom, I'll bet the Labour
government doesn't last that long.

Bruce Strachan is a former B.C. cabinet minister and Prince George
city councillor. His column appears Thursdays.