B.C. CITIES SEEK SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS

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
and assaulting drivers.

It seems once a city reaches a certain size, it doesn't have enough
honour left for honour systems.

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.

In Victoria, the Canada Day fireworks is known for 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 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.

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

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. It
has more than 2,000 people in voluntary attendance, and claims a 75
per cent success rate.

Mayencourt has identified a preferred location, a former radar
station called Baldy Hughes 30 km 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 low-level crime, panhandling and prostitution that is
intertwined with drugs.

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 court will deal with the break-ins and other low-level offences
that form the revolving door for drug addicted repeat offenders. The
idea is to direct offenders to treatment, housing and employment
services to break the cycle of crime and drugs. If it's successful,
community courts would be established in other B.C. centres.

While this approach has had some successes in the United States, the
U.K and Australia, I have to wonder how effective it will be if it
keeps people in and around Vancouver, or New Westminster or Surrey.

Perhaps a solution lies in combining the community court or drug
court model with Mayencourt's suggested retreat. Getting people away
from the open drug and sex bazaar that is tolerated in major urban
areas, and doing it for a period of years, might make the
difference.