RESIDENT SAYS WEST END GOING TO THE DRUGS

Julie Nicholls was about to do laundry in her West End apartment building a
couple weeks ago when she discovered a homeless man had broken into the
room. He'd locked the door, rigged up a towel to cover the window,
defecated in a laundry basket, then fallen asleep.

Nicholls, a letter carrier, called police, who escorted the man out of the
building at Comox and Bute streets. But for the 41-year-old, the disturbing
episode was just another sign of the neighbourhood's deterioration in
recent years.

Problems with crime and drug dealing have escalated to the point where
she's written a letter of complaint to the mayor and is calling on other
residents to follow suit in an effort to "take back the neighbourhood."

Nicholls said she's tired of regularly calling police to report drug deals
on her front steps or criminals trying to break into neighbouring
buildings. A fellow dog-walker recently told her his pet ended up with a
needle through its tongue during an outing at Nelson Park last year. Litter
is often left scattered in alleyways after people comb through unlocked
garbage cans for empty bottles, and Nicholls was threatened after
confronting troublemakers.

The most recent incident occurred last week. While walking her dog,
Nicholls spotted a young man trying the doors of several apartment
buildings, possibly looking for a place to shoot up. He found a door that
wasn't shut properly and entered, prompting Nicholls to phone 911.

"It seems like I'm always calling police. Officers have been good but you
almost feel your number comes up and they go, 'Here she goes again.'"

Nicholls suspects people's willingness to hand over change to panhandlers-a
practice she insists should stop-has made the West End attractive to
unsavory characters.

In order to keep back alleys cleaner, she wants residents to put cans or
bottles beside garage containers rather than in them, and warns apartment
dwellers never to let strangers in their buildings. Front doors should be
closed and locked, she said, since vagrants sometimes try to follow
residents inside when they return home.

Nicholls maintains police and city politicians are more concerned with
ticketing owners of off-leash dogs or arresting people for selling used
goods in Nelson Park than dealing with more critical issues like drug
dealing. Provincial cutbacks haven't helped the situation, she said, since
some people are no longer eligible for welfare and social programs have
been eliminated.

Nicholls said she's not unsympathetic to the plight of the homeless, but
something needs to be done to clean up the West End.

"It breaks my heart. I wish I could help everybody but it's people who crap
on private property, people who are peeing under my window. I hope some
people write to the mayor. The problem is not going to go away unless
someone speaks up."

Nelson Park, which sits across from Nicholls' apartment, was in the news
recently when police and school officials rejected plans to place needle
bins in the park.

For Nicholls, such developments show how the community has changed over the
years.

"It used to be such a clean peaceful area. I'm feeling I'm going to have to
move-it's not clean and safe anymore."