FOUR PILLARS REPORT AIMED AT CURBING CRITICISMS

In response to the perception that it's going nowhere, the Central Okanagan
Four Pillars Coalition is rushing through an interim report to Kelowna city
council.

"They're coming to council on Monday and I've been pushing them to do
that," said Coun. Sharon Shepherd who is the council liaison to the
coalition's steering committee. "They're feeling not quite ready but they
know there's been some criticism and questions of where are they in the
process and what are they doing."

The coalition was launched with much fanfare just over a year ago during a
public forum by Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray in response to what was seen as
an out-of-control street drug scene.

It was based on the Four Pillars approach used in Vancouver to deal with
its drug-plagued Downtown Eastside.

It's based on the concept of equal parts harm reduction, prevention,
enforcement and treatment and was the impetus behind the controversial safe
injection site which opened last year in Vancouver.

From that initial forum, the Kelowna coalition has met regularly and has
held a series of local community forums although some of them were poorly
attended.

But last month, the resignation of coalition chairman Alan Lueck was
announced with no explanation, leaving the heads of the four subcommittees
as joint leaders of the coalition.

Those committee heads --Shelley Cook, Carmen Lenihan, Rand Zacharias and
Gwen Dombrosky--will be addressing council on Monday.

"We'll be getting an interim report from each of them about what they've
found out in the community," Shepherd said. "They're going to bring forward
some suggestions of things council can look at quickly. The mayor is
meeting with the premier in early December and we want to have some
potential action items the mayor can take forward."

She denied rumors the coalition has been hamstrung by infighting and has
stopped functioning.

"I know they are working extremely well together," said Shepherd, who met
with the four subcommittee heads on Thursday. "Maybe those rumors are from
the previous structure."

However, Shepherd cautioned the interim report would not likely contain all
the details of what the coalition is recommending.

The Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition will be addressing council at
Monday's public meeting at 1:30 p.m. in council chambers at Kelowna City Hall.