NEIGHBOURS FEAR FOR SAFETY OF AREA

Situation Is Getting Worse Every Day, Business Owner
Says

Residents and a business owner say Sunday's fatal altercation was a
wake-up call to police and city officials to do more about
drug-related violence and homelessness in the area, especially around
Besserer and Rideau streets.

"There's nothing new here," said Asif Zafar, owner of a Pizza Pizza
location beside the scene where Henry Belmore was involved in fatal
confrontation with two other men. "Things are getting worse and worse
every day." With homeless shelters such as The Ottawa Mission and the
Salvation Army just blocks away, panhandling and drug-related violence
have been spiralling out of control in the area, he said.

"You'd be surprised what goes on around here at night," said Zafar,
whose restaurant is open around the clock. As an example, he cited a
drug-rehabilitation program at the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre
across the street that he says has attracted a lot of addicts who
linger after the centre is closed, and sneak in to shoot up in his
restaurant's bathroom. While the health centre has pledged to work
with its clients to discourage such activity, Zafar said he has
noticed no change.

With several subsidized-housing units and rooming houses nearby in
addition to the shelters, the threat of violence is ever-present, he
said.

Zafar has the scars to prove it: Just above his eyebrow, three gashes
mark the place where a customer cracked his skull after refusing to
pay for a delivery. The incident, which is before the courts, happened
in mid-afternoon at a subsidized-housing unit on nearby Cobourg Street.

"Sandy Hill used to be very safe, but not anymore," said Gloria
Castro, who said homeless people often try to break into homes or the
lobby of her apartment building on Besserer near Chapel Street.

"I wish the cops would make a stand in the neighbourhood," said Jared
Denison, also a Besserer resident who was passing by the crime scene
Sunday. "It's getting really scary." He said a friend had been mugged
twice in the area, and he has also been jumped.

"You see it everywhere from Rideau Street to Laurier (Avenue) --
homeless people, drug addicts, prostitutes," Denison said.

Not everyone agrees that the area is becoming unsafe.

"That's total garbage," said Emery Nagy. A homeowner with a condo on
Laurier Avenue, Nagy said it's "a nice neighbourhood," adding that he
has lived in the area since 1986. He conceded that there are sometimes
problems, but "that's a reality in any city."

That doesn't diminish the tragedy of Sunday's slaying, Nagy added:
"That was an abomination that shouldn't have happened."