DRUGS WILL RUIN OUR REPUTATION

Our family recently returned from a three-day trip to Victoria.

Our one concern centered on the signs of overt drug use by
(presumably) homeless people that we observed around the immediate
area of our downtown hotel. Leaving the hotel one morning, my three
year old son picked up a blue hypodermic plunger and asked what it
was. Even more troubling was the incident where our entire family was
walking to our car in a nearby parking lot and observed one young
woman, in a larger group of about 10 apparently homeless people,
lighting up a spoonful of drugs less than 25 feet from our vehicle.

To be clear, this letter was not prompted by the number of homeless
people and panhandlers that I saw in Victoria. I am not unfamiliar
with, or particularly squeamish about, these urban ills as I
currently work in Chicago and until very recently, lived and worked
in New York City. In both cities, homelessness remains a vexing problem.

The very public signs of drug use that we witnessed in Victoria,
however, are beyond the pale and merit an immediate and vigorous
response from local government and law enforcement as well as the
appropriate social agencies. Unrestrained drug use, particularly
close to highly trafficked areas where restaurants, hotels and other
retail establishments are trying to do business, can only encourage a
climate of fear and lawlessness which will ultimately hurt your
beautiful city's reputation with tourists as well as damage the area's economy.

James Gislason,

Flossmoor, Il.