METRO HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY VIOLENCE

The Gangs And The Gunshots That Permeate The Region Can Be
Unnerving

I heard gunshots out my window the other night. Not that I knew they
were gunshots, as I've never heard gunfire in my life. But a car
backfiring isn't usually followed by a cacophony of police sirens.

My roommates and I signed our lease in the Burnaby community of
Brentwood Gate under the impression that our beautiful high-rise condo
was in a relatively safe area. But the recent gun shots, memos about
break-ins and what look suspiciously like drug deals going on in the
parking lot, do little to make us feel safe.

Last year, I lived in the picturesque community of Newport Village in
Port Moody. My condo was situated conveniently right across from the
residence of the gang-affiliated Bacon brothers. I can't catch a break.

Maybe it's because I'm from Calgary but there is a something decidedly
odd in your city, Vancouver. Maybe you've noticed it too. A beautiful
city with distinct whiffs of something not quite right. Behind all the
Vanoc pep and the panoramic views is something decidedly more sinister.

The violence that permeates Vancouver and surrounding communities is
unnerving. And it's not just poor communities that dominate the
headlines. Women are attacked and raped in Point Grey, decapitated
limbs wash up on the shores of a Richmond beach. The abundant
homicides in Surrey are just the surface of what seems to be a
never-ending stream of gunfire.

These are symptoms of an ailing region.

Vancouver may be one of the most beautiful and desirable places to
live in the world but it's not just "desirable" people that want to
live here. Drug dealers may push their product in back alleys, but
they live in the penthouse of my luxury condo building because there
is no community watchdog that will report them and they never have to
see their neighbours.

My building is a silo, insulating my roommates and me from the rest of
the world. We've never heard or met our neighbours. We keep different
schedules and take out our garbage at different times. I would not
knock on their door should I need to borrow a cup of sugar, not
because it would be taboo, but there is a certain air about the
building that expressly forbids it. Nobody talks in the elevator and
the gym is unnaturally quiet. To break that silence would make me an
outsider.

My keys only allow me to get to my own floor. Should I want to visit
someone on a different floor, I must go down to the ground floor, dial
their number and have them buzz me back up.

Should I want to have a "block party" where my neighbours and I
gather, I would have to book the common room in advance and pay a
substantial security deposit. Why the security deposit? Because the
flat-screen TV from the common room has already been stolen twice.

How we respond to community-destroying acts shows how dedicated we are
to preserving the city we so often brag about.

Vancouver boasts professors of the highest calibre whom I learn from
every day, doctors and nurses from whom I've received expert care,
athletes, both professional and novice, who make the very best use of
Vancouver's natural playground, and actors who entertain and engage.

Vancouver also boasts gangs that are havens for children because they
have no place to go after school and soulless condos that become
havens for drug lords because their neighbours will never complain.
You'll find people and places like this all over the world. I just
wonder whether the people of Vancouver will find innovative ways to
voice their concerns and mobilize action or simply roll over and allow
their city to be hijacked.