FERNWOOD RESIDENTS TIRED OF DRUG DEALS, PROSTITUTION

Crimes like prostitution and drug trafficking are making parts of Fernwood
unlivable, and residents want the city to take some responsibility for the
area.

Creole Carmichael, who lives in Fernwood, took her concerns to the council
last week, hoping for reassurance things will improve soon.

"Drug deals are openly being made in our parks and our school grounds,"
Carmichael said, as a group of her neighbours listened from the public
gallery. "The problem has simply been shifted from the downtown to us . . .
we have been short-changed long enough. It is time for some of our tax
dollars to come back to us."

Carmichael says Fernwood residents want a community crime watch established
in the area, something they hope will reduce criminal activity on and
around the Vic High and George Jay Elementary school grounds. They also
want the city to help deal with ongoing drug activity and prostitution at
two area apartment buildings, on Spring Road and Ridge Road.

Lloyd Martin, another Fernwood resident, showed the council used syringes
he picked up off the streets near his home. Calling the Spring and Ridge
Road apartments "an open drug market," he said "we want solutions now, not
just more meetings and studies."

After hearing the presentations, mayor Alan Lowe said councillor Rob
Fleming is working with police inspector Bill Naughton to address the
ongoing problems in Fernwood.

"We have now gone to solution-oriented policing in the communities," he said.

Fleming, a Fernwood resident, takes seriously the problems Carmichael and
Martin describe.

"I think we have an acute crisis in this block-or-two area," he says.
"We're focusing in on the hot spots, working with the residents and hoping
property owners will take some ownership of the situation."

During the 1990s, heroin usage increased in the city, and the situation
Fernwood residents now face is a direct result of that jump, he says.

"I very much feel I have a stake in the area. I want to see it improve,"
says Fleming. "Fernwood's a great neighbourhood, there's lots of different
people there. But it's frustrating people feel they can't use their parks
and public squares . . . we're trying to turn it around by making it a more
vibrant area."

Carmichael says Fleming and Naughton have been helpful, and monthly
meetings of the Fernwood Healthy Communities Coalition provide an
opportunity for community members to brainstorm ideas and work toward
improvement. But she believes putting a community crime watch program in
place is the best way for the city to deal with the situation.

"It has gotten better . . . we have more police presence now," she says.
"But it's been an ongoing problem--it's going to take time for things to
get better. There isn't going to be a quick fix."