LOWER LONSDALE ON THE BRINK

Unless you live on the 300-block of West 4th in Lower Lonsdale,
stories of drug dealing and prostitution overrunning apartment
buildings might seem outlandish. But rest assured, area residents are
not crying wolf. After a group of tenants on the block called a rent
strike, accusing their landlord of negligence leading to slum
conditions, The Outlook investigated and indeed found the telltale
signs of a neighbourhood teetering on the brink.

A casual observer spending any time in the back alleys of this block
will see drivers pull up behind certain apartments and zip off two
minutes later. These guys aren't delivering pizzas.

It's drug trade, area residents say. For more visual proof, watch for
the non-residents flocking to the area. Like wretched human seagulls
drawn to junk piles, piteously skinny, bedraggled women are hanging
around, soliciting whoever passes by, and quickly flipping their
earnings for drugs.

One particular woman is known for tossing rocks through windows when
her dealers won't let her in. You can hear shrieks and brawls and
breaking glass at night. Something needs to be done quick, because
this is what Vancouver's Downtown Eastside must have looked like
before a critical mass of drug traffic dragged it into a hellish black
hole of addiction and crime.

Following The Outlook's rent strike reports a number of residents
applauded the coverage and suggested ways to buttress their
neighbourhood. In alleys the city should ensure all garbage bins are
locked, perhaps streetlights should be erected and unlicensed derelict
cars should be towed away. Graffiti is proliferating and must be
addressed too. Patrick Regan, owner of a building on West 4th, said
the vast majority of landlords here are moving the neighbourhood in
the right direction. "It's about building maintenance and tenant
screening," he said. "If you have problem tenants, you can easily
throw them out."

Too often with local politicians, drugs and crime are seen as vast,
nebulous social problems without ready solutions.

Nonsense, residents of the 300-block of West 4th say -- drugs and
crime take over building by building, they don't materialize full
blown out of the ether.

The solution is as simple as this.

Landlords that are bringing the block down must be compelled by the
city to act responsibly.