CRESTWOOD PROTESTERS FORM WATCHDOG GROUP

After staging nightly protests for almost four months, opponents of a
recovery home that moved into their Richmond neighbourhood are forming a
watchdog group to protect citizens' rights.

The initial priority of the group, tentatively called the Richmond
Residents' Association, will be to resolve the issue with the Turning Point
recovery home, said Crestwood-area spokesman Steven Wong.

Then the neighbours envision their organization recruiting members from
across the city to help Richmond residents whose "rights are being
offended," he said.

"We need some organization to be regulating, or at least helping, residents
when they feel they are being unfairly treated," Wong said.

The residents have been protesting the relocation of the recovery home, run
by the non-profit Western Steps to Recovery Society, to their neighbourhood
for more than three months.

Protest signs still litter the lawns in the area near No. 4 Road and Cambie,
and a group continues to gather each night with placards outside the
single-family home on Odlin Road.

"We don't want to give up. We want to keep up the pressure because we
believe eventually they'll have to move," said Clifford Chan, a taxi driver
who lives near the recovery home with his parents.

The facility, which houses up to nine male drug and alcohol addicts for an
average stay of three to seven months, moved to the centre of the Crestwood
neighbourhood in April, as a result of new provincial licensing
requirements. For the previous seven years, it had run quietly out of a home
in another Richmond neighbourhood, with the support of many of its neighbours.

City regulations permit group homes with up to 10 residents to set up in
residential districts without community consultation. But many of the Odlin
Road neighbours felt cheated that they weren't consulted.

Others feared it would draw more crime to the area.

Richmond RCMP Sergeant Willy Laurie said the facility has maintained its
spotless record since its relocation.

Western Steps executive director Viki Engdahl said her clients have proved
themselves to be good, law-abiding neighbours since their arrival, and not
the "monsters" some residents were expecting.

But Chan said the house has drawn more strangers and traffic to the community.

"They're not good neighbours because they're not welcome, because people
don't want them here," he said.

The residents have hired a lawyer to help them get registered as a society,
and have begun to collect donations door-to-door, Wong said. So far, said
Chan, they have collected about $10,000.

Chan said group members have been discussing the coming city election, and
haven't decided whether to run their own candidates or simply support
someone who supports their cause.

Richmond Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt formed an "integrated service team" to
resolve the neighbourhood issues around the recovery home.

"We told them that Turning Point is operating within the law, and invited
the group to sit down and talk about issues they have with Turning Point,"
he said.

But, while the RCMP, health board, recovery home and city are represented on
the team, which meets a few times each month, the protesting neighbours
refused to join.

Wong said the residents believed the team was not objective, as it was
formed on the premise that the home would stay. But the residents' group,
has met independently with both the mayor and Engdahl.

Engdahl said the centre, currently serving eight clients, plans to remain at
its new location.

The protests have not dissuaded clients from staying there, she said. "We're
almost immune to it."

She said she thinks the summer weather and the accompanying vacation season
will work to dissolve the protests.

"I'm looking forward to a peaceful coexistence in the summer time. I have a
suspicion it might happen despite the gloom. People will eventually want to
get on with their lives."