HOME FOR ADDICTS RILES NEIGHBOURS

Opponents Of The Plan Promise a 'Down-And-Dirty' Fight

Thousands of residents in the Fraser Street area won't give up their fight
to keep a home for mentally ill drug addicts out of their neighourhood.

On Tuesday, Vancouver City Council endorsed the controversial facility at
5616 Fraser St., which will now be up before the development-permit board
in early spring for a final decision.

"All it's done is make us more furious," said Mary Ellen Foster, a retiree
who's organizing the opposition in the area of Fraser Street and 41st Avenue.

"We won't accept anything other than not having it in our community," she
said yesterday.

The facility will house 30 "dual diagnosis" patients who are both mentally
ill and in drug or alcohol recovery.

Foster expects the board to rubber-stamp the proposal, but says she will
still appeal.

She's also been getting help from the local Indo-Canadian and
Chinese-Canadian communities and has even been asked to run for council
next election.

"My phone has rung off the hook with people offering me support," she said.
"It's going to be a down-and-dirty fight."

More than 1,000 people turned out at public meetings in October, and 3,200
signed a petition, opposing the home.

Ken Mason, chairman of the Fraser Street Business Association, said the
area is at the mercy of drug dealers and prostitutes, but nothing's been
done about that.

Two weeks ago, a woman was stabbed 11 times outside his house at 5:15 p.m.
and prostitutes are down on the corner by 10 p.m.

"The community's been going downhill," he said. "Enough is enough. We don't
care what it is. We don't want anything more here."

Mason figures the home is coming but wants strict drug testing of residents
and mandatory 12-step programs.

Local councillor Anne Roberts is organizing a neighbourhood forum early
next year to grapple with crime, safety and business concerns.

She's also asked city staff to look at ways of better informing
neighbourhoods, in languages other than English, when a similar home is
proposed.

There are currently no new applications for dual diagnosis homes, but up to
six are ultimately planned for around the city.