COPE PROPOSES PUTTING DRUG ADDICTS TO WORK CLEANING CITY PARKS

Drug addicts should be given food vouchers in exchange for picking up
garbage and needles in and around the Downtown Eastside parks, says COPE
parks board hopeful Anita Romaniuk.

Romaniuk, who is making a third bid for a seat on the board, said drug
addicts who gather around the Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings could be
recruited from nearby Oppenheimer Park, Pigeon Park and Victory Square to do
clean-up work.

"You could give them a chit to go to a snack bar in one of the community
centres in the area," said Romaniuk, who notes Carnegie Centre already has a
program where drug users have monitored washrooms and collected discarded
needles in return for an honorarium or food voucher.

The idea is part of a COPE plan to complement the NPA-controlled parks
board's Park Partners program, aimed at increasing community involvement in
city parks.

The program is expected to be launched later this year.

Romaniuk said that while Park Partners is entirely voluntary, COPE would
support paying honorariums or giving food and snacks to people who cleaned
up city parks.

Romaniuk said the COPE model would be to work with neighbourhood and
cultural associations, along with park neighbours, to initiate
beautification and garbage removal projects in their parks.

"There's not enough parks board maintenance staff to cope with all the work
at the moment, so the staff would become facilitators. They would liaise
with and oversee the resident groups."

Romaniuk said residents would also be asked to monitor parks, although they
would be discouraged from intervening in illegal activities.

"They would either be able to alert the authorities or identify some people
as particular troublemakers and see if there's some way to get them to
co-exist in the park," said Romaniuk, who was unsure how many parks there
are in the city.

COPE wants to test its model of resident involvement on Oppenheimer Park
first, because it's considered the most dangerous park in the city. Located
a block north of Hastings Street between Dunlevy and Jackson, the park has
increasingly become a meeting place for drug dealers and addicts pushed away
from the open drug market in front of the Carnegie Centre because of
sporadic police crackdowns.

The park's deterioration has occurred despite ongoing efforts by the parks
board and community groups to encourage legitimate activities, like Tai Chi
for seniors, daily summer baseball games and sports and First Nation events.

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users refused to comment on COPE's
proposal.