NANAIMO COMMUNITY WORKS TOGETHER TO FIGHT NEIGHBOURHOOD DRUG HOUSES

When Dirk Heydemann heard about vigilantes in Victoria evicting the
occupants of a crack house last week, it struck a sympathetic chord.

While he disagrees with their approach, the Nanaimo resident knows what
it's like to live next door to a crack house.

"I can certainly understand the frustration," says the 38-year-old musician
and freelance photographer. "At some point, you've got to take a stand."

But, unlike the Speed Street residents in Victoria, Heydemann and his
neighbours took a different approach ? and it appears to be working.

Five years ago, Heydemann and his wife, Ronei Faganello, bought a small
house in the 500 block of Kennedy Street. Three years ago, drug addicts
moved in next door.

"It was a shooting gallery," Heydemann said. "You'd get traffic going 24
hours a day, emergency vehicles pulling up, having to take away overdosed
junkies. We'd see prostitutes being dumped off."

Heydemann and his wife tried selling their home, but one look at the house
next door was enough to scare off prospective buyers.

"We didn't get sleep, we couldn't sell the house, we were afraid to go out
at night," Heydemann said. "We were afraid to step on needles, walking out
our door."

Like the Speed Street residents in Victoria, Heydemann learned there are
limits to what the police can do. Fed up, he and some of his neighbours got
together two years ago and started talking.

They formed NEAT (Neighbourhood Enhancement Action Team), and began working
with city officials, RCMP and various government agencies, including the
public health office, social services, B.C. Hydro and Human Resources. They
found that, together, they could accomplish what none of them could do
alone. The result is that the police now have additional tools, and allies,
to fight the problem of drug houses.

Since implementing a new policy in September last year, the city has
targeted 38 properties, according to bylaw services.

Most were used as marijuana grow operations. The city has also closed down
four or five drug houses, commonly called shooting galleries.

There are still problems in the neighbourhood, Heydemann said, thanks to
slum landlords who don't care who rents their properties. But now, when it
gets too bad, neighbours know what to do.

"What has worked for us is that, through the process of getting together
with the NEAT group, we have built a community," Heydemann said. "We look
out for each other."