TREES FALL AND DRUG USERS LEAVE

GONE: People Glad Brush Cut Down At CP Rail Yard Sent Addicts And
Squatters Packing

Businesses and residents along Esplanade in downtown Nanaimo are
celebrating a gain and a loss.

Gone are drug-addicted squatters who lived along the banks above the
CP rail yard. Gained is a panoramic view of one of the prettiest
harbours on the east coast of the Island.

The dramatic changes were achieved Monday and Tuesday, when CP Rail
cut down trees and brush along the banks.

"It's amazing," said Denise Perkins, who has worked at Harbour
Chandler for 20 years.

For a number of months Perkins, her co-workers and customers were
faced with a white cube van that did a poor job of shielding drug
addicts who called the treed bank home.

"There were continual drug deals going on," said Perkins. "It was
like they didn't even care."

Last month, one of the people living on the bank said they were not
squatting but "camping." Residents in the area had complained about
noise and fights at night.

Perkins said the activity was also intimidating customers, some of
whom she thinks won't be coming back. The store gets a fair amount of
business from tourists who arrive in Nanaimo by boat. They also saw
the amount of theft at the store increase.

Businesses and residents complained to the RCMP and the city, and
police started to crack down, but Perkins said the problems remained
serious, though muted. She returned from her holiday to no more drug
addicts and the new view.

"Property values just went up, I'm pretty sure everybody here is
ecstatic."

The problems began, she said, when the Salvation Army New Hope Centre
opened. Though glad the problem is solved for them, Perkins is aware
it's only moved.

"It's sad it's just gone somewhere else," she said.

City bylaws officer Tim Davidson said they were acting on concerns
about noise at night as reported by local residents. He said safety
is also a factor because the rail tracks are not abandoned.

"Once in a while they use them," he said.

He said the tree cutting was based on those concerns, not kicking out
the homeless people.

"We're just trying to make it safe for everyone," he said.