RESIDENTS FIGHT DRUGS, CRIME

Grange Park residents, merchants ask for help to clean up summertime trouble

A group of downtown Toronto residents is fighting to reclaim a once peaceful
neighbourhood overrun by drugs and violent crime.

With five beatings in the area in the past few weeks, storekeepers and
residents the victims of chronic thievery and assaults, and stolen wallets
discarded in gardens and alleys, residents of Grange Park are determined to
rid their neighbourhood of crime.

The area, bounded by Dundas, Stephanie, McCaul and Beverley streets, has
morphed into a seasonal hub of lawbreaking, where young people snatch
purses, deal hard drugs, break into homes and commit assaults during
daylight hours.

Criminal activity has exploded and is spilling into nearby playgrounds,
churches and residential streets, said Helen Hatton, who yesterday led a
meeting of police officers, politicians and residents to discuss ways to
rehabilitate the neighbourhood.

People attending the meeting were asked to raise their hands if they had
experienced violence first-hand; 19 people in a crowd of about 100 did so.

Among them was a young woman whose home was invaded by a man who crawled
through a skylight while she slept. She chased him down the street with a
hammer she keeps under her pillow.

The young woman, too afraid to be identified, said she reported the incident
to police but received little help.

She wondered why police have not arrested the obvious drug dealers.

"This is now known as Chemical Park," the woman said. "There's always been
homelessness in the park, but that has never been a real problem. Now,
there's a visible criminal element that deals in the park, and we haven't
seen enough police."

She said police arrive about 7 a.m. and kick the homeless out of the park.
"They should be there at 4 in the afternoon, when all the drug deals are
happening, or at 9:30 in the morning when all the suits are coming in to
pick up drugs."

Yesterday's meeting was held at St. George the Martyr Church, at the
southeast corner of the park, which area residents say is a crime magnet.

The church's priest, Max Woolaver, was attacked near the front door of the
building by a young man who later returned to steal the church's bicycles.

"It's a seasonal thing," said Tim Holman, the church caretaker for 20 years.
He has been assaulted three times in the past four months. The most recent
occurrence involved three assailants who left him with two black eyes and
bruises covering his body.

"They always start to come out each spring, but it seems to be getting worse
every year."

Police officers who attended the meeting said they had made 150 arrests in
and around Grange Park this year.