DOWNTOWN DRUG CRISIS NEEDS ACTION, COUNCIL TOLD

Frustrated and angry business people as well as residents took to the
microphone Thursday night to demand that Victoria council take action
against a growing injection-drug problem that has already put downtown
Victoria in an "urgent crisis.''

Eleven speakers addressed council on the issue, brought into the spotlight
recently by complaints about the grim situation in the Johnson Street
parkade. But they made it clear that the problem is an epidemic in many
areas of downtown and parts of Fernwood.

"I can't believe that it's come to this -- that somebody hasn't done
something about this,'' said David Siegel, who owns several properties
downtown and said he pays more than $200,000 annually in city property
taxes.

"Why aren't the police there? Why aren't they moving (the addicts) out? It's
intolerable ... I'm upset. I want something done for my money.''

Speaker after speaker complained of the downtown being overtaken by drug
users and dealers, of crime increasing and hazardous litter such as needles,
blood, human waste and condoms putting residents, customers and business
people in great danger.

Siegel owns the Maynard Court building across from the parkade in the
700-block of Johnson Street. "I'm having a problem keeping my tenants,'' he
said. "By spring, that building will be half-vacant.''

Downtown resident Tatianna Montgomery said she wasn't there to "junkie
bash." But she regularly encounters human feces on sidewalks and stairwells
around her building. A young resident in her building was molested by
dealers recently, she said, and she saw an addict shooting up just outside
her apartment minutes before attending Thursday's meeting.

"I challenge you to step up and reclaim our city,'' she told council.

David Beiles, owner of the Ocean Island Backpackers Inn, said he has
recently noticed a heavy increase in drug activity right outside his door.
Addicts and dealers demand to use his business's telephones and washrooms
and some of the same types were recently involved in a scuffle in the lobby.

"If this kind of activity continues, we're going to be losing staff and
turning away guests,'' he said.

Bernie Keppler, a partner in John's Place Restaurant for more than 20 years,
said the problem has gotten "completely out of control in the last nine
months. ...

"Right now, there's really nothing being done ... Urban blight begins this
way.''

Denyce Burrows, who owns Old Fashioned Flowers near the parkade, presented a
petition contained 311 signatures of people concerned about the lack of
safety and security on downtown streets. Her presentation included a picture
board of items such as needles and blood droppings found in the parkade.

"We demand responsible leadership from you, now before decay reaches the
situation of (Vancouver's) Downtown Eastside,'' Burrows told council. "We
demand results as justification for the taxes we pay and the jobs we
provide. We don't want to hear what you can't do. We want solutions that
will take effect immediately.''

Mayor Alan Lowe asked speakers to be patient with council as it works hard
to find a solution to a complex problem.

Fences, security guards and better lighting will only be Band-Aids on the
parkade, Lowe said earlier.

Council, sitting as committee of the whole Thursday morning, heard about a
variety of measures city staff will take to remove illicit activity from the
parkade. But wider-ranging social issues, such as how to help addicts and
prostitutes, will be the subject of a meeting next week between council and
the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Lowe is hoping to pressure other levels of government to come up with more
money to deal with these social issues.

He is scheduled to meet with health authority chief executive officer Rick
Roger next Wednesday at City Hall.

"Mr. Roger is looking forward to meeting the mayor and Chief (Paul)
Battershill to discuss the complex and critical issues of substance abuse,"
health authority spokeswoman Shelby Chamberlain said.

The health authority is integrating its mental-health and substance-abuse
programs, because more than half of addicts also suffer psychiatric
problems, she said. The health authority has about 1,000 open files on
addicts.

Meanwhile, city staff has a strategy to clean up the Johnson Street parkade
with white paint and more lighting in the trouble area, gates to close off
the parkade in non-peak hours, and round-the-clock security for the rest of
the month.