PANDORA GHETTO: 'LIKE A CANCER THAT GROWS'

Drug Use, Camping Spiralling Out of Control: Neighbours

Victoria's inability to deal with camping and open drug use in the
900-block of Pandora Avenue has businesses and residents worried their
neighbourhood is fast becoming a ghetto.

The problems centre on an area in front of the Our Place drop-in
centre, where tents are pitched every night and addicts regularly
shoot up or smoke drugs in plain view -- or at best, marginally
concealed under tarps or blankets.

Since the centre opened in 2008, the situation has become
progressively worse, with violence, vandalism and prostitution
rampant, and people defecating and urinating on private and public
property. Nearby business owners have taken to hiring private security
and installing closed-circuit cameras, while some residents avoid
stepping outside their homes in the evening and others say their
children have been threatened and spat upon.

"It's like a cancer that grows. We are at that tipping point right
now," says Rob Randall, chairman of the Downtown Residents
Association.

Victoria police Insp. Jamie Pearce, who heads the city's focused
enforcement team, says the 900-block of Pandora -- bordered by Quadra
Street and Vancouver Street -- accounts for more of his officers' time
than any other area of the city.

He says drug arrests are made daily and people are regularly ticketed
for things like public urination, but as far as camping on the grassy
stretch in front of Our Place is concerned, their hands are tied.

"They're allowed to be there," says Pearce. "The appeal court has
actually said that camping in parks is legal and they are allowed to
do so and that is designated as a park area."

Many of the problems on the street involve 20 to 25 individuals, a
number of whom have been banned from Our Place yet continue to hang
around in the area because it's a focal point for street people.
They're well known to police and regularly cycle through the justice
system, landing back on the street.

"It's a very complex social issue," Pearce says. "We're talking mental
health, addictions and homelessness issues that we're dealing with at
the crux of the issue. You're not seeing this in any other part of
town. Unfortunately, it's now centralized."

Randall is sympathetic to the police and agrees that in many respects
they are caught between a rock and a hard place, but warns the
900-block of Pandora is dangerously close to being lost.

"I think there is a push to ghettoize it and make that the dumping
ground for all the city's social problems," Randall says, adding a
VIHA proposal to put a fixed needle exchange in the block, which was
subsequently quashed, "would have been the last straw in writing off
that whole neighbourhood."

"The people who think that was merely NIMBY concerns are simply not
understanding the issue and the dynamics of how a neighbourhood
changes," he says.

As it is, the combination of Our Place, the provincial Ministry of
Housing and Social Development -- which delivers income assistance --
and a pharmacy dispensing methadone within the same block has the
neighbourhood teetering on the brink of "total oblivion," Randall says.

Pearce disagrees that the area is on the verge of being lost, but says
short of keeping an officer in the area "24/7, there's not much more
we can do."

It's not enough for people like Hugh Kruzel, who lives in the Pacific
Monarch high-rise condominiums in the 1000-block of Pandora. He says
the residents of his building have reached the breaking point and want
the city to take action. "It's the prostitution. It's the drugs. It's
the feces. It's the urine. It's the terror that many of our residents
feel on a daily basis," Kruzel says.

He says Pandora is taking on the feel of a permanent encampment as
tents dismantled during daylight hours often become tarps for people
to sit on. Weekends, when Our Place is closed, are worse.

Some residents of his building refuse to go out in the evening. Some
no longer invite friends over. Others, when they do go out, will
deliberately skirt the block.

Verbal challenges and insults from street people are not uncommon.
Kruzel's wife Susan has been spat upon and his teenage daughter
"aggressively sworn at" because her air cadet uniform resembles a
police uniform.

Business owner Tony Mathews, co-chairman of the 900-block Pandora
Group, doesn't conceal his frustration as he reads a letter from Mayor
Dean Fortin about the situation.

"While I appreciate your motivation with regards to making Pandora
Green a no-camping zone, council has decided that at this time we are
not entertaining further restrictions on homeless persons' right to
erect temporary shelter when there are no shelter beds available,"
Fortin writes.

"This decision is in part due to the fact that the city does not wish
to be subject to further litigation by persons who believe their
rights are being unfairly restricted by the city."

In fact, in October 2008 a B.C. Supreme Court decision -- subsequently
upheld on appeal -- said the city had to allow camping in parks if
shelter beds weren't available. The city subsequently passed a bylaw
allowing camping in parks between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. -- with no mention
of shelter beds.

It has Mathews wondering what happened to his rights.

"Members of the public cannot walk up and down that road now without
being put off by these people. As taxpayers, you should have the
freedom to go wherever you want," he says.

Mathews bought his building across from Our Place, which fronts on
both Mason Street and Pandora Avenue, two years ago. He says he has
invested $200,000 -- including $8,000 for a closed-circuit TV security
system -- into transforming it into the Pandora Osteopathic and Sports
Injury Clinic. Despite the cameras and private security, he says he's
regularly dealing with people defecating and urinating in the bushes
around his building and then using drugs in the same area.

In April 2009, the city announced it was planning a makeover for the
boulevard that would include better lighting, new plantings, a square
in front of Alix Goolden Hall and a path meandering through the
greenspace, partially in an effort to discourage campers.

But tenders came in at more than twice the estimated $250,000 cost, so
city staff are looking at ways to either reduce costs or find
additional funds before bringing it back to council -- a process
that's expected to take at least a few months.

Mathews doesn't believe it's going to work anyway.

"Why would it? ... Why would that stop them camping on the grass?" he
asks.

Instead, Mathews would like to see shelters erected in the Our Place
parking lot and 24-hour access provided to its washrooms.

Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe, who represents downtown, says the
problems surrounding camping on Pandora Avenue are frustrating for
everyone, including city council.

"The issues are that we have people who require and need more support
when it comes to mental health and addictions," which makes it not
just a city problem but a provincial issue, Thornton-Joe says.

She says more funding has to be found to extend Our Place's hours --
especially opening it on weekends, if not 24 hours a day. The centre
is currently open Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"It's not something the city can win overnight and we can't do it
alone," she says.