DANFORTH'S DECLINE: DRUGS, PROSTITUTES NOW IN THE OPEN

Danforth and Ossington: Two neighbourhoods facing similar problems for
different reasons

A trip to the Danforth for many means niche boutique shopping in
Greektown, a wine list at lunch and a Starbucks for the ride home.
Three subway stops east, at Coxwell, the streetscape has changed.

Trendy eateries are replaced with fast-food restaurants. Parking lots
and sterile storefronts hopscotch one another down the Danforth drag.
And the further you go, the more it slides.

The kitsch of Greektown dries up at Jones Ave. Pass Donlands. An auto
shop. A fried chicken joint. A funeral parlour. Coxwell is the
dividing line.

By Main Street, bars on shop windows, payday loan stores and dingy
pubs are the norm. Drifters who have been turned away from the local
shelter sleep in long alleyways. Dealers work out of side-street
crack houses. Prostitutes walk the Victoria Park strip.

It's only getting worse. In the last three years, the drugs and
street workers moved into the open. Deals that used to go down in the
back of grimy Internet cafes now happen in broad daylight.
Prostitutes moved out of rub-and-tugs and onto street corners.

Now, the crime has seeped west.

Last week, a known gang member was fatally shot in the face on a
residential street just west of Pape, in the heart of gentrified
Greektown. Police are still trying to determine what 27-year-old Theo
Tiku was doing in the quiet family neighbourhood. It may have been a
blip, but it was enough to send shock waves through the community.

Residents and police are pushing back.

"There has been a general decline in the (east end of Danforth),"
said Det. Christopher Higgins of 54 division's major crime unit. "So
we're being very proactive with our enforcement."

In the last year, Higgins and his team have been going after drug
fronts, johns and rub-and-tug parlours. In October, police rounded up
70 johns. In March they netted 57. Last fall, 21.

"That doesn't necessarily mean there's more, just that we're getting
better at catching them," said Higgins.

Police have partnered with Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
to ensure local bars -- predominantly those that hawk $2.50 pints --
are following the rules.

Faced with a graffiti explosion, the Danforth Business Improvement
Area hired Scarborough-based Goodbye Graffiti to remove sprayings as
they happen.

"We call it the cockroach effect. Graffiti attracts more graffiti,"
said John Kalimeris, the company's managing director. "If you're
victimized and you clean it up, it may come back. But if you don't,
your neighbour gets it and it will just continue to spread.

"There's an implied threat, when people see graffiti, that there are
undesirables in the neighbourhood. People will shop at the big box
stores instead. People think: 'If you aren't cleaning your walls, are
you cleaning your store. Are you cleaning the kitchen?'"

Abubakar Siddique runs a struggling, 10-year-old clothing shop near
Victoria Park. He pines for quieter days.

"Customers don't come into the store because the homeless people are
standing out front. I don't blame them. It's not their fault. But
they walk around swearing or whatnot and people don't come in."

Two weeks ago, a woman scooped up a bunch of clothes, headed to the
dressing room, then came out naked, suggesting a trade. There are
break-ins in the area -- mainly junkies trying to support a habit.

Siddique isn't the only one hoping to resurrect the Danforth of the
past. Three years ago, a group of families and professionals formed
the Danforth East Community Association. They've been knocking on
storefronts in need of TLC. Eight have been revamped so far.

Concerned about drug dealers in East Lynn Park, the group campaigned
to get families out and about. They held movie nights and square
dances. Two years ago, Alison McMurray spearheaded what has become a
popular farmer's market in the reclaimed space.

"Even a little thing like revitalizing the park, when you've got so
many mommies and daddies with strollers everywhere, that isn't really
a comfortable place to do your drug deals. I'm not saying we've got
ridden of it, but we've pushed it out of the area," said McMurray.

In the 1950s, before the arrival of the subway, the wide sidewalks of
the east end created a walking neighbourhood. Once people went
underground, foot traffic dried up and shops closed. With rents
declining, landlords were less picky with retailers. The clientele
went next. And the cycle continued.

McMurray has hope. "I think there is slowly becoming a return to that
age. Where you come to the Danforth to walk and shop and eat and
spend time with friends. That's what our group is trying to do."