ACTIONS TO BUILD SAFE, STRONG COMMUNITIES

Ventura Drive resident Henry Banic is on to something.

Dismayed at the "recreational" use of his local park -- use that has
little to do with sandlot baseball games, impromptu matches of touch
football, tossing a frisbee or kids climbing on jungle gyms and
swinging on swings -- Banic decided to take matters into his own hands.

We're not talking vigilante justice.

We're talking about the bold, and in this day and age rare, move to
take ownership of and responsibility over the neighbourhood where he
lives.

Take ownership of your neighbourhood, and you will tend to take better
care of it

The housing complex where Banic lives with his common-law wife and two
kids backs onto Torosian Park.

With a large swingset and playground apparatus, he considered it the
perfect location.

Until he heard tales of drug needles being found under the benches in
the park.

Until he found stubs of marijuana joints.

Until he witnessed people doing drugs.

Not content to sit idly by while illicit activities were conducted
within sight of his home, Banic acted.

Armed with materials from an American program called Drug- Free
Marshals, he "deputized" his young sons with a pledge to not do drugs
and encourage others to follow their example.

And he began keeping a closer eye on what was happening in his
community.

Banic would like the city to erect a sign declaring Torosian Park a
drug-free area. If council won't consent to his request, he'd at least
like their permission to do it himself.

He will walk through the park with a garbage bag, picking up
trash.

Banic also claims to have 90 per cent of the people living in his
housing co-op supporting a neighbourhood watch program, with plans to
expand it onto Ventura Drive and its connecting streets.

The effort is commendable, and is a good step towards making our
streets and communities safe.

"If everyone says. 'This is my home, this is my space,' it makes a
difference," says Niagara Regional Police Const. Jacquie Forgeron.

She's right.

Caring enough about the place you live, and doing something to ensure
it is a stable, safe environment in which to raise your family, is
fundamental to building strong communities.

Banic is showing that when people take ownership of their
neighbourhood, they will take care of it.

You get enough neighbours eager and willing to do the same, and the
good will push out the bad.

People will choose Torosian Park, or any park for that matter, to
shoot up their drugs or smoke a joint because they think it's a place
where they won't get caught.

If they are being watched, they will have second thoughts.

The more neighbourhoods that watch, the fewer places drug users will
have to "safely" partake in their illegal habits.

That kind of grassroots change will go much further than some
government program with a limited budget of tax dollars.

And it is the foundation of making St. Catharines a strong city of
tight communities.