CITY SHOULD PUT CHILDREN FIRST

To the editor:

The city wouldn't allow a Wal-Mart-a pretty innocuous place with cheap
shopping for families-yet it's pondering putting a drug rehab centre for
the mentally ill a short distance from two schools ("Residents will get say
on rehab centre," Sept. 12).

What does this say about how much we care about children? No doubt none of
the city councillors have children in the area, so it won't be their
five-year-olds who need comforting after an encounter with a rehab resident
who wants to "make friends."

I don't live in that neighbourhood either, but unlike the people at city
hall, I believe that our children do come first, before drug addicts, dogs,
panhandlers and everyone else the city seems to put ahead of them.

Anne Pepper, Vancouver