SUMMER IN THE CITY'S NOT REALLY PRETTY

VICTORIA -- The "honour system" has finally been abandoned on Greater
Vancouver buses. The establishment of "fare paid zones" beyond the
driver's seat and at least the theoretical appearance of someone to
check tickets is an effort to stem the problem of people refusing to
pay, then assaulting drivers who remind them the ride isn't free.

It seems that once a city reaches a certain size, it doesn't have
enough honour left for honour systems. Surveys indicated that Ottawa
doesn't yet have bus anarchy, but Toronto does.

A relieved Vancouver bus driver interviewed on TV said being spit on
wasn't the worst of it. He's also been punched, kicked and pulled from
his seat while the bus was moving.

Here in Victoria the Canada Day fireworks event has been known for a
finale involving drunken brawls on the upper deck of those
London-style buses. Victoria's just reaching the critical mass where
such night-time public events are surrendered and the downtown streets
given over to purveyors of the nightly buffet of blood, pee and
pavement pizza.

Then there is the illegal drug problem. Victoria's mayor still
believes in something called a "safe injection site," as the city
looks for a new home for its blight of a needle exchange program.
Nanaimo's pilot project to hand out crack pipes has sputtered out like
a spent Bic lighter, due to threats from ungrateful recipients and a
less-than-understanding public.

The Capital Regional District, which still can't keep its emergency
radio system working, is right on the ball. They've just instituted a
crackdown, not on crack, but on outdoor patio smoking. New provincial
regulations are being worked out now to bar smoking around doorways
and windows as of next year, but that's not far or fast enough for
some urban social engineers.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is offering a bit of fresh air on the
drug problems that plague his city. He's moving on from the safe
injection and needle exchange stopgaps that promote continued abuse.
Give the hardcore addicts legal pills that approximate the ups and
downs of cocaine and heroin, he suggests, and at least they have a
hope of getting off the mean streets.

But the most sensible strategy is coming from Vancouver-Burrard MLA
Lorne Mayencourt, who earlier pioneered the radical notion that
pedestrians, like bus drivers, shouldn't have to put up with being
threatened or assaulted. He has been touring the province to promote
the model of the San Patrignano treatment community in Italy, a remote
self-contained rural facility where people can check in and stay for
three to five years, drug-free and working at a real job.

Mayencourt has identified a preferred location, a former radar station
called Baldy Hughes located 30 kilometres southwest of Prince George.
It offers a dormitory, mobile home pads, welding and woodworking
shops, a bowling alley, curling rink and gym.

Prince George already has its share of big-city problems, being a
service centre for the medical, social and penal needs of the
province's north. But it too could benefit from this refreshing
approach to the low-level crime, panhandling and prostitution that is
intertwined with drugs in urban centres.

There are other remote locations around the province that could take a
similar approach. It seems like a better idea than waiting for
Vancouver or Victoria to develop something that actually has a chance
of working.

Community Courts

Vancouver is the site of another pilot project, a community court.
Attorney General Wally Oppal has high hopes for this project, which
has hearings underway led by provincial court judge Thomas Gove.

The idea is to direct offenders to treatment, housing and employment
services to break the cycle of crime and drugs.