TEARING DOWN THE PARK IS NOT THE ANSWER: HIV NORTH

Germaine's Demolition Won't Curb Problems, Say Critics

Tearing down Germaine Park will do little to curb drug activity in the
downtown, says the executive director of the HIV North Society.

As the park's direct neighbour, executive director Brenda Moore sees the
social and criminal problems that occur there on a daily basis, but she
believes turning the park into a bare lot and fencing it off will only just
move the problem on to downtown streets.

"The businesspeople think it's going to be off the block; I don't
necessarily think it is going to be off the block," said Moore.

"They're not leaving town and they're not going to quit doing drugs just
because there's fences."

Without a plan for what to do with the homeless and drug users in Germaine
Park, the city should never have gone ahead with a plan to simply tear down
the park, said Moore. It just moves the problem and reduces the chances of
groups like HIV North had of helping those people when they knew where to
find them.

"It was contained - it wasn't great but it was contained - so you had an
opportunity to go in and do programming with people where you knew where to
find them and we had built up a bit of a rapport with them."

On Monday, after downtown businesses continually complained that rising
drug activity in the park was driving customers away, city council voted to
rip it up and leave it as a bare level lot until a redevelopment plan could
be made. A high chain link fence could also be thrown across the front and
back of the one-time park.

It will be good to finally see it go, said one nearby resident who didn't
want his name used for fear of retaliation. He had never noticed how much
crime was happening around him until he started taking a new puppy for
walks several weeks ago. He couldn't believe the situation was as bad as
what he saw.

"I have been amazed. Literally, I was flabbergasted. I didn't realize what
was really going on down here with the crystal meth, the crack whores, the
drug dealers running up and down the street here."

He often sees people in company trucks buying drugs there. Once, a semi
full of chickens was parked in front of his home without a driver in sight.
He came back later, high and carrying drugs, and drove away. People once
even destroyed his home's deck.

The people in the park are a blight on the city, he said.

"We have a great downtown, it's really nice. There's lots of good
businesses, there's stuff to do. It's just a few people causing the problem."

Getting rid of the park and developing it into something else will only
enhance the downtown, he said.

It will enhance the downtown, agreed Wapiti Community Dorm Society
president Brian Laver, but it won't enhance the park population's lives.

"We can't allow this sort of thing to continue on in the middle of our
city. Something has to happen," said Laver.

"These people need to be out of that particular area, but the difficult
question is where do they need to go to or where can they go. This is where
I think we need everybody's help to perhaps be out with these people. We
need outreach groups and other organizations to be out with these people
trying to help them with their particular issue."

The city does try to help street people, said Donelda Laing, manager of
Family and Community Support Services. Acting in a supporting role to other
agencies, the city collaborates with groups to help provide preventative
services, such as the street outreach services van that works with the
homeless.

"It's providing support and working in partnership with agencies to support
programs and services that are going to prevent people from going further
down the road of addictions or homelessness," said Laing.

"Part of our role, such as doing the homelessness survey, is to determine
what is the actual problem. So we're trying to look at what are the
problems and what are the best practices in terms of working with these
issues."

If the city wanted to help, they should actually go to the people in
Germaine Park and ask them what should be done with the park, said Moore.

"If we were to go into Ivy Lake Estates and say we're going to take out
that park that's in the middle of it there would have been a stakeholders
meeting. I know these people are participating in illegal activities, I get
that, but I also know that they're the ones who use the park all the time
and no one has asked them what they think. Doesn't it make sense to go in
there and ask them what they think and get them to be part of the solution
rather than part of the problem?"

Moore is hoping to ask the city for support to do a survey of the people in
the park to ask where they would go once the park was gone and what they
believe they could to do help deter the problem of criminal activity. If
the city doesn't support it, she said HIV North might do it on its own.

In the meantime, what Moore would like to see done with the park is to put
a fence across the front and allow artists to paint over it.

That would keep the issue away from the businesses but give the users a
place to go, she said. Barriers in the back should be removed to give
police quick access to the park, she said, and there should be some form of
constant surveillance to keep drug dealers away.