CLIFF BUNGALOW MOBILIZES AGAINST CRIME

Offences Against People, Property Double City Rate

Residents in Cliff Bungalow are mobilizing to deal with an influx of
undesirables they say are bringing the drug trade, prostitution and
property crimes to their doorstep.

"The crime on our street has become extraordinary," says Sebastian
Gault, who has lived in the area for five years with his two-year-old
daughter and his wife, who is expecting their second child.

"People feel that we are in a state of social emergency."

The small, upscale, inner-city neighbourhood is comprised of only a
few blocks, stretching north to south between 5th and 6th streets S.
W., just west of Mission. Yet crimes against people and property there
are more than double the city rate.

According to city police statistics, the average rate of person crimes
per 1,000 population in Cliff Bungalow was 19 last year, compared with
eight per 1,000 city-wide. Property crimes in Cliff Bungalow were 103
for every 1,000 residents last year, compared with 51 for every 1,000
citywide. Person crimes include prostitution, drug trafficking and
assault.Theft and vandalism are examples of property crimes.

The community of Mission, a much larger neighbourhood right next door,
has significantly lower crime rates than Cliff Bungalow.

Residents who met this week in Cliff-Bungalow to address the issue say
they're constantly seeing drug addicts on the street using
crack-cocaine in hidden areas, women prostituting themselves on residential
roads and a regular flow of drug transactions, particularly along the 4th
Street S. W. business district near Mission.

"People are becoming afraid for their safety, and they are afraid to
go out with their families," says Eilish Hiebert, the community
association past-president who has stopped walking to her morning yoga
class for fear of running into home-less people using drugs on the
Mission bridge.

Residents who work along 4th Street S. W. between 18th and 25th
Avenues, she added, frequently witness drug deals at the phone booths
along the street.

"It's happening right in front of our eyes everyday."

The community, as a result, is building teams of walkers to patrol the
area on a regular basis to monitor and record patterns. Some groups
will go with dogs, others will go without dogs, all at staggered times
during the day and night, Gault says.

Once they are armed with details of when and where crime occurs, they
hope to mobilize city bylaw officers and police.

Local alderman John Mar says that thanks to a budget approval to hire
more than 300 additional police officers over the next three years,
about 60 of them will be available to focus specifically on District
1, which includes Cliff Bungalow.

"We will always have crime that has to be addressed in this city, but
we don't want it to have a stronghold on a community," he says.

Mar vows to work with the community to help develop foot patrols, "to
focus citizens' eyes on the street."

Gault adds there is also an effort to remove phone booths from the
area, to prevent drug dealing, often done using pay phones since the
calls are not traceable. The community is trying to negotiate with
Telus.

Gault hopes that within two years, the community's efforts will turn
crime around in the area--otherwise, families will be forced to move.

"In order for the inner core to be vibrant and hospitable, you have to
have families living there," he says.

"But if the situation doesn't improve, we are all leaving," he said,
referring to his family as well as six others who are good friends in
the community.