DRUG PUSHERS ARE TARGETED

Safe Streets Coalition Has City Council Backing.

Kelowna city council is the first municipal government to throw its support
behind the Safe Streets Coalition.

The coalition is a provincial group of business organizations,
neighbourhood groups and tourism associations that are seeking tougher
trespassing laws and the creation of so-called safe streets legislation.

City council received a delegation from the coalition Monday morning
outlining its aims and focusing on a private member's bill expected to be
put forth in the provincial legislature in the next few weeks.

The coalition said Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt plans to
introduce the Safe Streets Act and the Urban Trespass Act for consideration
over the summer.

Coun. Brian Given asked his counterparts to approve a resolution supporting
the coalition's goals to be considered at the Okanagan Mainline Municipal
Association convention in early May.

The request was unanimously approved.

Given was quick to say the support should not be perceived as an attack on
the homeless but rather the disorder on city streets created by aggressive
panhandlers, squeegee kids and drug dealers as well as graffiti and litter.

"We don't intend to gang up on the homeless. We're not going after the guy
whose life is in a shopping cart," said Given. "We're going after the
street level drug dealers that prey on those other guys."

Given tied support for the initiative to the Four Pillars Task Force which
is currently examining ways to deal with the street drug scene and options
for harm reduction.

"We want to work with them as part of this," he stressed.