AFTER 4 1/2 YEARS, SHE CRACKED

Mary granger can't take any more crackheads and drug dealers on her
back step in the market

A Toronto columnist created quite the furore two years ago for calling
Ottawa a "national disgrace" because of drug problems in the ByWard
Market and other parts of Lowertown.

Christina Blizzard of the Toronto Sun wrote that she saw "dozens of
drug deals happening in broad daylight. ... (and) countless people
sitting around smoking crack." Blizzard was also dismayed that she and
her son, eating on the patio of an expensive Market restaurant, were
repeatedly interrupted by addicts begging for money.

While Ottawa police say the numerous homeless shelters, treatment
centres and other social-service facilities in Lowertown are magnets
for much of the drug woes, they believe they are making progress in
attacking the problem.

Staff Sgt. Uday Jafwal, who oversees the force's central east
district, says "one of the challenges ... is managing the open drug
markets we have here. It's really a question of management as opposed
to resolving those issues."

Mary Granger has a hard time believing that police are making inroads
in Lowertown. She lives on Clarence Street, just east of King Edward
Avenue and not far from the Shepherds of Good Hope, a shelter for many
people with addictions, mental-health issues or both.

Granger, 32, says she's awakened at all hours of the night by
crackheads who gather on a stoop leading into the side door of her
home. There, they shoot up, smoke up and make drug deals.

She moved to her neighbourhood 41/2 years ago.

"And it's getting worse," says Granger, who is preparing to sell her
century-old house and move. "I've just had it."

The other night, after being roused from sleep by slurred chatter
outside, Granger went to a second-floor window and spent 10 minutes
arguing with the three men below that they had to leave. As she
persisted, one of the men replied: "Do you want us to come up there,
bitch?"

Granger, a ministerial liaison adviser in the federal government's
Human Resources and Skills Development office, says now that the good
weather is here, they will be on her stoop regularly, sometimes
several times a night and even during the day.

The small stairway is at the end of a narrow pathway between Granger's
home and her neighbour's, and partly concealed by a big bush. Spotting
intruders would be difficult in the daytime, let alone at night.

With so many nooks and crannies in Lowertown's residential streets,
crackheads and drug sellers can find privacy almost anywhere, even if
police are patrolling. Many lots are narrow but deep, with driveways
giving drug users easy access to the back of the properties.

Granger has given up calling the police, she says, because when she
did regularly report the problem, it would take officers forever to
arrive -- if they showed up at all. And when they did come, the
druggies were long gone. "So what's the point?" she asks.

Granger says she also called the police following a break-in at her
home two years ago, and was soured by the experience. She says she
felt police showed "little interest" in making an arrest -- despite
the information she was able to give them about the culprit -- and
that the officers "left after about half an hour of pointless chit-chat."

Though police say Granger should call them whenever the crackheads
appear and that they would even monitor her home if they are a
constant problem, other residents with similar concerns say the force
would have to be on the street virtually around the clock.

And not just Clarence. Residents on Murray and Nelson streets, for
example, say they face the same problems.

One man, who didn't want to be identified, says the crackheads often
go behind his house. It doesn't matter how often you scare them away,
he says, "they keep coming back. I'd be calling the police four times
a night." He adds that he doesn't like to confront the trespassers for
fear that they would "come back and break a window. They have nothing
to lose."

Brigitte Gregoire says crackheads and hookers collect behind an
abandoned rowhouse, part of which backs onto the side of her home on
Clarence. Her husband will shoo them away, he says, but they
eventually return. Besides the syringes and other drug paraphernalia
they leave behind, Gregoire says one morning, she found a condom on
her steps.

Sandi Lawlor moved to the neighbourhood two months ago from Aylmer and
wonders if she was ready for such a change. Twice already, she's found
intruders on her deck going through her garbage bin. "There's a
constant (movement) on the street," says Lawlor. "At all hours -- one,
two, three in the morning. It's non-stop."

Says Granger: "I fully realize that living downtown comes with its share of problems and
abnormalities, but this is really getting out of hand. Nothing is changing."

While Rideau-Vanier Coun. Georges Bedard admits the drug problem in
Lowertown is serious and not about to go away, he stresses the
community has to get involved, too, in helping police. Residents have
to be vigilant, particularly with drug pushers who are the root of the
problem, and report any suspected crack houses.

Bedard notes the success that Vanier residents have had in reclaiming
their streets and parks from druggies and hookers. It's similar to a
Neighborhood Watch program, with residents contacting police at the
first sign of trouble, and being visible so that intruders are less
likely to return.

Says Bedard: "It's amazing the number of calls we're getting, and the police are saying:
'This is great because we are able to actually pinpoint the areas that we're getting
complaints from and then we then look for a drug dealer in that area.'

"(Calling police) may be a burden because people say, 'Oh, well, I'd
be doing it every third day," says Bedard. "(But) if it's done every
third day, it will be registered, and it means more resources will be
applied to ensure those areas are covered."

Jafwal says a recent roundup that resulted in more than 100 arrests,
many of them drug pushers, brought "temporary relief" to the area
immediately. There were fewer minor crimes, such as theft from
vehicles, he says. Jafwal notes a Vancouver study determined that a
drug user commits as many as eight to 10 crimes a day to fund his habit.

The staff sergeant says police will continue to make their presence
felt with their bike and foot patrols, and will monitor the drug trade
in an attempt to thwart as many pushers as possible. Control is the
key, he says.

And Bedard remains optimistic that the situation will improve despite
the high concentration of shelters, rehabilitation centres and
subsidized city housing in Lowertown. There are more than 550 beds for
the homeless in the Market area, but the city now has a moratorium
preventing any more from being made available there.

As well, Bedard says Ottawa Community Housing recently received
provincial approval to purchase two apartment buildings, one in New
Edinburgh and another on Merivale Road. One building will house single
people, some of whom now live in shelters in Lowertown, and the other
will be for homeless families. These people will also have access to
support and treatment services, such as those available for tenants at
other Ottawa housing facilities.