'REPUGNANT' BYLAW A HIT WITH BUSINESS

Resident and business asociations in New Westminster support a
public-nuisance bylaw that the B.C. Civil Liberties Association has
called "repugnant."

"This bylaw should be repugnant to all Canadians who value democratic
freedoms and the rule of law," said BCCLA executive director John
Westwood after his group filed a legal challenge to the bylaw Tuesday.

The BCCLA contends the bylaw excludes convicted drug dealers from huge
areas of the city, something that is outside the legal authority of
the city and violates dealers' Charter rights.

New Westminster is reserving comment on the legal action. But the
associations that support the bylaw feel their members' rights were
violated when they were afraid to walk down the street or conduct
business because of crack dealers on the street corners.

Laura Walley called the bylaw "excellent".

"It was a real valiant effort to deal with the problems of the
downtown core and the rest of New Westminster," said Walley, a member
of the Front Street Merchants Association.

"They really had to do something."

When Walley opened her antique shop on Front Street five years ago her
friends were shocked.

We had people saying, "Why would you ever go there?" she
recalled.

"They were actually scared to walk down the street."

Now there's a thriving antique district on Front, helped in part by
the bylaw.

Before the bylaw, Ernest Richmond used to see such things as drug
deals going down openly in the elevator at the SkyTrain station.

"I don't see that any more," said Richmond, president of the Downtown
Residents Association.

"The bylaw has made a big difference," he added.

Jack Bass, executive director of the Downtown New Westminster Business
Improvement Society, questioned the BCCLA challenge.

"It defies common sense," he said.

"We know we have something that works, why would you get rid of it?"
wondered Bass.

But Westwood said the bylaw does not eliminate the dealing
problem.

"They're just shifting the problem elsewhere," argued Westwood, who
feels the illicit-drug situation is really a "health and social problem."