MERCHANTS UNITE AGAINST ADDICT HOUSING

St. Paul Street merchants and property owners will conduct their own
research, launch a petition drive and make their own presentation to
city council on a proposed transitional housing project for street
people and drug addicts.

The St. Paul Street committee will be similar to the city's committee
and face the same March 13 deadline, but will have the added element
of intense lobbying of city councillors, the ultimate decision-makers
in the location of the 30-unit housing project.

During an organizational meeting Monday, St. Paul Street co-ordinator
Jim Carta said the ultimate goal is to convince elected officials the
city made the wrong decision in recommending late last year that the
$4.5-million apartment block be built at 1436 St. Paul St.

"This isn't about real estate anymore but the process which has
failed us and the people it was designed to help," Carta said after
the one-hour meeting with 30 people ended.

"Our game plan is to put together a model, an objective assessment
that clearly shows the city project was not well thought out."

Based on his research, Carta said placing recovering drug addicts,
alcoholics and those with mental disorders in an apartment doesn't
always work. The success rate increases when clients have access to
social activities and green space, he said in concluding the St. Paul
Street property is too small.

Since the controversy over the location erupted in early December,
Carta says he has received calls from people who own larger
properties willing to swap them for the St. Paul Street site.

"One is not too far from the downtown and even offers green space,"
he said, declining to reveal any of the owners' identities or
property locations.

"(City officials) didn't do their homework. Their decision was
founded on convenience: the city owned the St. Paul Street parking
lot, and it was already zoned. But we're not here to blame anybody;
we're not here to point fingers. We're here to emphasize the
importance of community involvement," he said.

"We're not NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard); we want this to work. All we
want to do is be heard and to be part of the process."

An effort to add a representative of the St. Paul group to the city
committee studying the issue failed at City Hall on Monday.

Mayor Sharon Shepherd and Coun. Barrie Clark were the only two who
endorsed the idea, saying members of the St. Paul group deserved to
have direct representation on the committee given the project's
possible impact on their neighbourhood.

"I would rather have them on the committee than on the outside trying
to provide input," Shepherd said.

"They're asking for a voice," added Clark.

But other councillors suggested members of the St. Paul group would
have a bias against locating the apartment block in their area.

In the debate over the makeup of the review committee, Coun. Carol
Gran suggested the facility's prime purpose - helping addicted people
beat drugs or alcohol - was being obscured.

"In the politics of this, we're losing sight of what this building is
all about," Gran said.

"(The clients) are the ones who are hurting, they're the ones whose
lives are in chaos."

The site review committee will have its first meeting 4-6 p.m.
Wednesday in City Hall meeting room No. 3. To access meetings after 4
p.m., use the staff entrance on the northwest side of City Hall,
adjacent to the parking lot, and ring the buzzer.

Meetings are open to the public, but those in the audience can only
address the committee if there's a scheduled time for public input or
through special approval of committee members.

The committee plans to hold five meetings with a report back to
council by mid-March.