SUPPORTERS STAND BY SITE

Proponents of a proposed shelter for addicts in downtown Red Deer said they
know of no other cases of such a program successfully blending with retail
shops.

City councillor and shop owner Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer had asked members of
the Safe Harbour Society to give her an example of where these two
disparate services have effectively been combined in any other city.

"We don't know of any examples," said Jim Taylor, project development
manager of the Safe Harbour Society, which aims to open a detox centre and
shelter for addicts in the Scott Block, at 4816 Gaetz Avenue.

Both the shelter and detox centre would serve up to 40 people who are
addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Despite a lack of hard evidence, Taylor listed many examples of why this
Gaetz Avenue location would be successful.

He said addicted people are already in the area, so having a shelter and
detox centre accessed from the back alley would improve an already bad
situation.

The society is proposing to put more windows and lighting at the rear of
the building. The programs would have 24-hour staffing and the shelter
would only open at night when businesses are closed.

Overnight clients could not leave once they were admitted to the shelter at
8 p.m. And they must leave for the day probably at 7:30 a.m. Taylor sees no
reason that addicts would loiter since they could not be readmitted until
evening.

But Watkinson-Zimmer does not believe this "positive spin."

She said many business people have invested a lot of money in making the
downtown attractive to shoppers.

Already a methadone clinic runs a block away and the councillor believes
there is "more (drug) activity on the street."

Downtown retailers have also had to contend with problems that have arisen
from several bars in the area, said Watkinson-Zimmer. "The downtown should
not be the place all the time for these kinds of services."

The councillor's sister, a director for a national society that helps
female inmates, told her that the society does not put rehabilitation
shelters in areas where there are vice and temptations.

Watkinson-Zimmer also heard that a group of angry Lethbridge retailers
successfully got a homeless shelter moved out of their downtown neighbourhood.

Diane Randell, manager of community and social development for the City of
Lethbridge, said many retailers in the downtown core brought forward
complaints of loitering and panhandling.

The homeless shelter for adults was moved out of the city's core, to
another downtown location, this time along one of Lethbridge's main
six-lane streets.

A few retailers and light industries remain nearby - but most are across
the street, said Randell, who believes this new "more visible" location,
combined with better programming, security and resource programming has
contributed to a successful transition for the shelter.