HOUSE CREATES HAVEN FOR DRUGS

For the past several years, in a small green North Shore park on Tranquille
Road, Ed Verdon and his wife have picked Saskatoon berries and listened to
birds.

Not this summer.

This year, they're more likely to pick up used syringes and hear
bat-wielding drug dealers.

Last fall, the city moved a heritage house onto the property and that has
changed everything, the couple said Tuesday.

"Before they put that house in there, there were no problems," Ed Verdon said.

The old Wilson house, as the 90-year-old structure is known, now blocks the
park from public view. And that, said Verdon, has made it attractive to
those who don't want to be seen.

"It's a drug haven now," he said, noting the two benches where he used to
sit and enjoy the flowers and trees are obscured by overgrown shrubs and
have become a favoured spot for drug deals.

"I'm tired of getting up at two or three o'clock in the morning to call the
police," said Verdon, who lives nearby and hears fights breaking out in the
park.

Not only has park become infested with crime, it's also become infested
with weeds. The green grass that provided a soft cushion underfoot is dried
up and gone. Shrubs are overgrown, paths faded and the entire park hasn't
been watered at all this year, he noted.

The tall globe lights that mark the path to the beach and the Thompson
River haven't been lit at all this year, he observed.

Dave Hilton, city parks manager, agreed the park has deteriorated. When the
Wilson house was moved onto the lot, the irrigation and power systems were
damaged. That effectively cut off water and electricity to the back, where
the sprinklers and globe lights are.

The city has been trying to find a business owner to move into the house
and fix it up. But it's taking a long time, Hilton said.

"We've tried to do some cleanup on it," he said. "We just got the water on.
We did do the seeding in the front of the building."

Hilton said he expects once the house is fixed up and in use, the drug
dealers will go elsewhere.

"We definitely need to clean it up. No question with that house there,
it's more hidden from the street."

Earlier this year, two city councillors visited the site and raised the
idea of building a pier where the old concrete pylons from a former bridge
still stand.

Hilton said the cost of that idea is still being looked at, and once a
report is finalized, it will go back to city council.

He said Verdon has some legitimate points, and the city's intention is to
make the park a place where people feel comfortable and relaxed.

"I appreciate their concern (Verdon and his wife). I have a staff meeting
Wednesday and I'll talk about it," he said.

"I think the house -- at the end of the day, is probably a good thing. It's
just taking a long time."