HAUNTED BY THE BAD OLD DAYS, SOME WANT TO NIP DRUGS IN THE BUD

You won't find any bullet shells. Sushi bars have replaced empty
storefronts. A college dormitory is going up. But one thing about the block
of West 109th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway may have gotten
worse recently.

"The drug dealers are back again," said Miriam Febus, president of the West
Side Federation of Neighborhood and Block Associations. "You can see them
exchange merchandise for money. It's out there in the open."

Residents say the dealers are smarter now about avoiding arrest, and no
longer carry drugs when they solicit business. Instead, the dealer on the
corner acts as a steerer, directing customers to an apartment building
where another gatekeeper is stationed. The deal itself then takes place
indoors.

"The operation is more underground," said Hector Santana, a member of
Community Board 7. "They have to approve of you. If you look like a cop,
they say no."

The menu includes marijuana and cocaine, sold in quantities costing as
little $5 and $20, said Deputy Inspector Raymond Spinella, the commander of
the 24th Precinct, which covers the Upper West Side. Heroin sales have not
been reported, he said, but both crack and powdered cocaine are common.

But Inspector Spinella disagreed with the residents who said drug dealing
had gotten worse recently. He and others were quick to point out that drug
activity is nowhere near the epidemic proportions of the 80's and early
90's, when gunfire sounded as frequently as car alarms, and colored crack
vials littered the sidewalk outside Public School 165.

Major crimes reported in the precinct are down by nearly 6 percent compared
with last year, and nearly 70 percent compared with 1993.

Still, residents are eager to nip any problems in the bud.

"There was more attention paid by the Police Department before," said
Marjorie Cohen, executive director of the West Side Crime Prevention
Program. "But now they are not able to, because of personnel."

The 24th Precinct has 140 officers, down from 240 several years ago. Still,
Inspector Spinella said his officers spend considerable time on 109th
Street, and have made 13 drug arrests on the block this year. But, he
added, "My primary goal there is quality of life: noise, alcohol
consumption and unlicensed general vendors."

Some residents have accepted drug dealing as a part of life.

"They've been talking about this since I've been living here for the past
45 years," said Oscar Rios, a member of the precinct's community council.
"They push it from one neighborhood to another."