COPE LOSING ON SAFE STREETS

Politicians have a way of smelling trouble. COPE councillor and
wannabe NDP MLA Tim Stevenson is no exception. He made that clear
Tuesday, in the midst of a city council debate on a motion by NPA
Coun. Peter Ladner endorsing the Safe Streets Coalition and two pieces
of proposed provincial legislation dealing with aggressive panhandling
and trespass.

One after another, COPE councillors rose to denounce this legislation,
championed by Liberal MLA for Vancouver-Burrard, Lorne Mayencourt. It
was an attack on the poor; it didn't deal with the root causes of
poverty and crime in the streets.

Stevenson rose to define what was unfolding as a "wedge
issue."

Nothing has divided this city in recent times more than the perception
of growing public disorder and what should be done about it.

It has given the law-and-order crowd the advantage and put COPE in a
corner. This situation didn't develop overnight.

Go back a year and a half ago, when Vancouver Police Chief Jamie
Graham decided to unilaterally deploy 40 more cops in a crackdown on
the Downtown Eastside. It was all done without the knowledge of city
staff, police board chair Mayor Larry Campbell and the Vancouver
Coastal Health Authority-all partners in the Four Pillars drug strategy.

It was a brilliant move by Graham. Not just because it took a problem
that was centered at Main and Hastings and spread it to adjacent
residential neighbourhoods including the West End. But because,
unwitting citizens newly beset by drugs and homelessness they thought
only existed elsewhere in the city demanded-you guessed it-more police.

Mayencourt, a politician who was in trouble with his constituents, saw
an issue he could run with. While COPE belittled his efforts to deal
with aggressive panhandlers and squeegee kids, public sentiment
swelled behind him.

A year ago the Vancouver Board of Trade report on property crime-based
on outdated and inaccurate data-drew widespread headlines from a media
that consumes crime as a major part of its diet. It put Vancouver just
behind Miami as the property crime capital of North America. Yikes!

The growing problems of homelessness, drugs and panhandling weren't
limited to Vancouver of course. Aggravated by provincial cuts to
welfare and social housing and a failure to respond to needs for
treatment, cities and towns across the B.C. were starting to notice an
increase in problems on their streets. The Safe Streets Coalition was
formed and Mayencourt was the man with the plan.

It all came to a head at the recent UBCM meeting in Kelowna, an event
COPE councillors tend to ignore as a gathering of upcountry bumpkins,
preferring instead to do civic business in Barcelona, or London or
Ottawa. They sent Ellen Woodsworth off to the UBCM, proof of the
priority they gave it.

But it was there Premier Gordon Campbell was elevated to sainthood for
feeling their pain, for turning over parking fine revenues to
municipalities to be used to make streets safe. The vast majority of
delegates endorsed Mayencourt's legislative initiatives.

The majority of Vancouver politicians couldn't have been more offside
not just with UBCM but with the sentiments of their own citizens.

Look, for example, at the volcanic reaction last week to a
rehabilitation centre for mentally ill drug addicts planned near
Fraser Street and 41st Avenue.

COPE appears lost in the fog of their election victory two years ago,
when the whole city was onside, wanting treatment centres spread
beyond the Downtown Eastside.

But perceptions have changed, demands have changed and Stevenson would
be the first to admit he's not the only member on this council who is
in trouble as a result.