MAKING CITY SAFER FOR PUBLIC AND ADDICTS MAYOR'S TOP PRIORITIES

Mayor Larry Campbell says he wants the city to hire 50 more police officers
and have the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority operate the city's
supervised injection site 24 hours a day.

Those are two priorities of the former RCMP drug squad member and coroner
as he heads into the last 10 months of his three-year term as mayor of
Vancouver. The municipal election is in November.

"We should be looking at [hiring] 50 officers every year for the next five
years," Campbell told the Courier.

He said the police department hasn't hired enough police to keep pace with
the population growth in the city. The shortage has meant more overtime
policing costs and fewer officers to investigate property crime and other
non-emergency calls.

"We need to ensure that enforcement is in place," he said, noting a tax
hike would likely be necessary to pay for more police. "There'll be a tax
hike for simple cost of living, then you start from there."

Whether he will get the support of a majority of council to hire more
police is unclear, but considering councillors Raymond Louie, Jim Green and
Tim Stevenson share his vision, one more vote from one of the six other
councillors would make it happen.

As for Insite, the supervised injection site on East Hastings, Campbell
said a recent evaluation of its one-year operation suggested an average of
600 addicts a day are using the site.

The site currently opens from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m., seven days a week and is
run by the health authority and the PHS Community Services Society.
Extending the operating times by another six hours would make it a 24-hour
operation, Campbell said.

Though he would like to see more injection sites built in Vancouver,
Campbell said Insite should be operating at full capacity before a second
site is considered.

"If we're looking at expansion, we should max out our resources, so I would
say let's make it 24 hours a day. And when that capacity is built, then we
have to make a decision where we want to go and what we want to do, and
where [a second site] should be."

Campbell told the Courier last summer he would like to have a storage room
at Insite used as a safe inhalation site for crack cocaine smokers. On
Thursday, however, he admitted the crack room likely won't happen before
the next election.

He said research on the topic is limited, but he still believes such a site
is necessary in a city where crack smoking is prevalent, particularly in
the Downtown Eastside, where a pebble-sized piece of crack sells for $10.

Other priorities for Campbell this year include finalizing a development
plan for southeast False Creek and creating a more environmentally friendly
transportation plan for the city.

Campbell said public hearings are expected to occur in February for the
False Creek plan, which includes the athletes village for the 2010 Winter
Olympics. The plan calls for "living roofs" and thermal heating, which make
the plan "a model for the world," according to the mayor.

"I was talking to the consul general from China, and they're extremely
interested in [what we're doing]."

Reflecting on his first term as mayor, Campbell pointed to developing the
Woodward's building, securing the Olympic bid, legalizing secondary suites,
creating an ethical purchasing policy, supporting the RAV line and
approving slots for Hastings Racecourse as major accomplishments.

His biggest disappointment was not winning a ward system to replace the
current at-large voting system.

"The people spoke. We live in a democracy and I promote that. I listen to
them, if that's what they say, that's fine."

All of Campbell's priorities for the next 10 months in office could,
however, be overshadowed by the ongoing dispute between his own COPE Lite
caucus-comprising Campbell, Louie, Green and Stevenson-and COPE Classic
councillors, which include Ellen Woodsworth, Fred Bass, Tim Louis and David
Cadman.

The two sides have been divided over the Olympics, slot machines and
transportation, especially RAV.

At a press conference in December, Campbell said he wasn't quitting COPE
and hoped to bring the two sides together before the election. But Campbell
said Thursday he won't let the infighting inhibit governing the city.

"It's part of all of [COPE's] focus. It's not just me, it's the whole
organization. I'm not going to spend all of my time on it, but I would like
to see it resolved. But there's lots of things going on in the city and
interim that I have to keep my eye on."

Council's first public meeting of the year is Jan. 18.