POLITICIANS WADE INTO REHAB FRAY

A Vancouver city councillor says a drug recovery centre for the mentally
ill in Southeast Vancouver may need to be delayed because of misinformation
circulating in the neighbourhood, which she says has been stirred up by the
local MLA.

City staff say a postponement is premature.

Coun. Anne Roberts said she may ask the city to "take a step back" from the
construction of the housing project near 41st Avenue and Fraser Street,
which is due for approval before council Dec. 7.

An estimated 1,000 people attended the first of two public forums Oct. 4.
Many were opposed to the project.

The centre is funded by the Vancouver Agreement. It would be staffed by two
people from Triage Emergency Services and house 39 residents who have been
off drugs for at least two months but also suffer from serious mental
illnesses.

A second forum is scheduled for Monday night, Oct. 18, at John Oliver
secondary, one of the two schools within 500 metres of the proposed centre
site.

At the Oct. 4 forum, Roberts said city staff overheard volunteer
translators call the project a "drug centre" and that unnecessary concerns
were raised about property values going down because of the project.

Roberts said Vancouver-Kensington B.C. Liberal MLA Patrick Wong "fanned the
flames" at the end of the last meeting when he said the community had a
right to be frightened.

Wong said information letters about the project the city distributed to the
community in June were at the root of the anxiety. The letters said the
deadline for public consultation was in August.

"It appeared to me there was an urgent need for [the citizens] to express
their views," Wong said.

He helped form a committee involving representatives of the Fraser Street
Merchants Association, a senior's group, Block Watch, social workers and
doctors. The committee in turn called for the public forums to be held.

Wong said he did not involve Triage or the city in these meetings because
the group was meant to be community-based. The group met with hundreds of
people in the neighbourhood in August.

Roberts said the public consultation deadline was extended when residents
raised concerns, and although the city did not mail out correction letters,
she said several articles were published in local newspapers.

She called Wong's formation of the committee "an inappropriate intervention
in the city process" in light of the provincial government's support and
funding for the recovery centre.

"I don't know if his premier knows exactly what [Wong is] doing," Roberts said.

Wong acknowledged the provincial government supports the project.

"The government is serious about this. I think all British Columbians are,"
Wong said, despite the hundreds of residents from his riding who came out
to oppose the project two weeks ago. "My office, as far as I know, has not
received any concern about providing help for the patients. They are
concerned because there are a lot of questions unanswered."

Wong said Roberts may be right in suggesting the project be postponed.

Not everyone at city hall agrees.

"I think it's premature to do that," said Cameron Gray, director of social
housing projects for the city. "We are providing housing for folks who are
trapped in the Downtown Eastside. They're there because they're forced to
be there, because that's the only opportunity where they can afford
accommodation."

Gray said the city, Vancouver Coastal Health and Triage will be better
prepared Monday night to address the community's concerns about staffing
levels, the project's size and the people who will use the centre.

"We're just going to have to get past these issues and find a package that
works for the community. We need drug-free housing for the mentally ill in
Vancouver," Gray said.